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​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Introduction to the Interim Disability Assistance Programme for the Elderly

​The Interim Disability Assistance Programme for the Elderly (IDAPE) is an assistance scheme that was set up in 2002 for a small group of seniors who were not eligible for ElderShield at the time, because they were too old or had pre-existing disabilities.  

If these seniors develop severe disabilities, they can receive $150 or $250 monthly cash payout (depending on their financial circumstances) for up to 72 months. There is no restriction on how the payments should be used, as long as they are used for the care of the disabled IDAPE claimant. 

For example, the payments can offset:  

  • Medical bills 
  • Nursing costs 
  • Hiring a foreign domestic worker (FDW) as a helper to care for the disabled IDAPE claimant  

The senior may nominate himself/herself, a caregiver who is 21 years old and above, or a nursing home that the senior is residing in to receive the IDAPE pa​yout.​

Downtime Notice

There will be a system upgrade during the following periods:

  • Friday 3.00pm, 27 January – Saturday 2.00pm, 28 January 2023: eFASS Application Portal will not be available i.e. users will not be able to log in

Of note, there will be no processing for IDAPE applications during the following downtime periods:

  • Friday, 27 January to Tuesday, 31 January 2023, and
  • Monday, 6 February to Thursday, 23 February 2023

You can still submit your application on eFASS during the system upgrade. Processing of your IDAPE scheme application will resume once the system upgrade is over.



How to Qualify

To be eligible for IDAPE, the care recipient must meet the following criteria:

​Age

  • ​Born on or before 30 September 1932; OR

  • Born between 1 October 1932 and 30 September 1962 (both dates inclusive), with pre-existing disabilities as of 30 September 2002.

Means Tested

Household monthly income per person*
Mon​thly Cash Benefits
$0 – $2,000
$250
$2,001 – $2,800
$150

*For household with no income, annual value (AV) of property must be
≤ $13,000​

​

Eligibility for Other Schemes

Must not be a policyholder of

  • CareShield Life and/or supplement, or,
  • ElderShield and/or supplement

​​And did not make any claims for

  • CareShield Life and/or supplement, or,
  • ​ElderShield and/or supplement
​

Nationality

Must be a Singapore Citizen.

Lives in Singapore


Requires Assistance with Activities of Daily Living

Unable to perform three or more of the six Activities of Daily Living, as certified by an MOH-accredited severe disability assessor. These six activities are:




​

How To Apply

1​. Contact an MOH-accredited severe disability assessor to undergo a disability assessm​ent​.

​a. Click here for the list of assessors.​

b. The assessor will conduct the disability assessment and​ collect an assessment fee from you. If the care recipient is assessed to be severely disabled, the full assessment fee will be reimbursed to you.

​

​The fees are as follows, if:​ ​

  • You visit an assessor's Clinic: $100
  • An assessor visits your house: $250​

c. ​If the care recipient ​is residing in a nursing home, the nursing home can help submit a Resident’s Assessment Form (RAF) in place of the severe disability assessment. Please approach the nursing home for assistance.

​

Login to AIC’s eService portal (eFASS) with your Singp​ass.

We strongly encourage you to apply online as there is a shorter waiting time for application approval. If you are unable to submit your application using eFASS, please email us at apply@aic.sg or walk in to any of our AIC links to request for a hardc​opy application form.

Care recipients in Nursing Homes can arrange for payments to be made to the Nursing Home to offset their bills. Please contact the Nursing Home for assistance with the app​lica​​tion.

If you are applying on behalf of someone who lacks mental capacity, please read the Additional Gu​idance.​

Please ensure that you have read the Terms and Conditions before sub​mitting your application.




System Maintenance Notice

Please note that the AIC eServices for Financing Schemes (eFASS) is currently unavailable. We are working to bring back online service as swiftly as we can. We apologise for the inconvenience caused. For assistance, please call our AIC Hotline at 1800-650-6060.



Video Guide on eFASS Application Portal

 

Note:

If you need to update your household information or if you have previously disallowed the access of your Financial Information for eligibility checks, please visit the MediShield Life Household Check e-Service.


After the application is submitted

We are currently experiencing a high volume of applications. During this period, we may take up to eight weeks to process your online application. We will inform you of the outcome in writing. If your application is successful, payouts will be made to your nominated bank account in the following month, which may include payouts from the month the application was submitted.

The care recipient will continue to receive monthly payouts in the nominated bank account by the end of every month as long as the care recipient remains eligible.

Please contact AIC at 1800-650-6060 if you require any assistance.


For Existing Scheme Recipients

1. If you would like to change the care recipient’s scheme details, please login with your Singpass on eFASS under “Manage My Schemes” > “Change in Scheme Details”.

  • Please download and submit the Mental Incapacity Certification (if recipient lacks mental capacity).
  • If the care recipient is residing in a nursing home, and you are nominating the nursing home to receive the payout, please approach the nursing home for assistance.

2. If you wish to opt-out from receiving IDAPE payouts, please login with your Singpass on the eFASS. Go to “Manage My Schemes” > “Change in Scheme Details”.

3. If you are unable to update scheme details or opt out of scheme using the eFASS, please email us at apply@aic.sg, or walk in to any of our AIC Links to request for a hardcopy application form. We seek your understanding that hardcopy applications have a longer processing time.



Frequently Asked Questions

​ Do you have questions about IDAPE? We may have the answer here:

​​​​​​

Additional gu​idanc​e f​or care recipient ​who lacks m​ental capacity to​ provide consent

1. The care recipient's donee/deputy# may provide consent on the care recipient's behalf. If the care recipient does not hav​e such a donee/deputy, the caregiver* may make the a​pplication on care recipient's behalf.

#​Donee/deputy must be appointed​ in accordance with the Mental Capacity Act (Cap 177) and is authorised to make decisions on behalf of the care recipient in relation to the care r​ecipient’s property and affairs.

*For successful applications without a donee/deputy and paying to 3rd party​ bank accounts (not applicable to nursing home accounts), ​the caregiver or another family member has 12 months to obtain a court order appointing him/her as a deputy, failing which the payouts will be suspended. ​For more information on how to apply for a deputyship, please visit the Family Justice Courts website.

Doctor’s certification for mental i​nc​a​pacity is only valid for six months, unless stated permanent.


2. Please submit the f​ollowing addtiona​l supporting documents:

  • Doctor's certification that the care recipient lacks m​ental capacity OR court order of deputy appointment OR recent medical report stating that the care recipient lacks mental cap​acity; and
  • Copy of​ bank book or statement IF you are nominatin​g an account belonging to a deputy or trustee of the care recipient.

AIC requires the input of the NRIC ​issue date for ver​ification purposes.


​

You can login with your SingPass on eFAS​S and navigate to “Manage My Schemes” > “Ch​ange in Scheme Details”.

If you are changing the nominated bank account on behalf of a care recipient who lacks mental capacity, you will need to submit a Mental Incapacity Certification if you have not done so before. Please refer to Additional Guida​nce for more information.

If you are nominating a nursing home to rece​ive the payouts, ple​ase approach the nursing home to help you submit the Change in Application Details Form to AIC.

Do keep a copy of the application documents for your own reference.

You would need to visit a MOH-accredited severe disability assessor to be assessed whether you are severely disabled. You are likely to be assessed as severely disabled if you are unable to perform at least three activities of daily living (ADLs). These ADLs are bathing, dressing, feeding oneself, using the toilet, moving around and transferring.

For example, at least three of the following scenarios apply to you:

  • You may need to rely entirely on your caregiver to be fed
  • You may need to rely entirely on your caregiver to be bathed
  • You may need to rely entirely on your caregiver to manage your diapers or catheter
  • You may need to rely entirely on your caregiver to be dressed
  • You need to rely entirely on caregiver to move over a distance, e.g. cannot walk on one's own or push oneself in a wheelchair
  • You need to be fully supported when being transferred from bed to chair, or chair to bed

You will be reimbursed fully for the assessment fee if you are assessed to be severely disabled. If you are assessed to have mild/ moderate disability, you may still be eligible for mild/ moderate disability assistance schemes like the Pioneer Generation Disability Assistance Scheme, Home Caregiving Grant and FDW Levy Concession.

​For information on the different levels of disability and how to apply for IDAPE and other for​ms of financial support, please refer to the informati​on on www.aic.sg/financial-assistance.

​

If you wish to apply for IDAPE or any of the severe disability schemes, you need to undergo a severe disability assessment by an MOH-accredited severe disability assessor who has undergone a rigorous training programme to learn how to assess disability accurately. You may wish to check if your own d​octor or healthcare professional is on the list of MOH accredited severe disability assessors. This can be fo​und at www.aic.sg/assessors-list. If they are not, you will need to make an appointment with one of the assessors on the list for an assessment.

The fees for clinic-based and non-clinic-based assessments are $100 and $250 respectively. Assessment fees will be reimbursed only if the care recipient i​s assessed to be severely disabled.

An applicant with dementia or other cognitive impairments will not automatically qualify for IDAPE, and will still need to undergo a severe disability assessment by an MOH-accredited severe disability assessor. This is because dementia or cognitive impairment could affect the applicant’s functional abilities to varying extents. The MOH-accredited severe disability assessors have undergone a rigorous training programme to learn how to assess an applicant’s level of disability, including taking into account the impact of cognitive impairment on an applicant’s functional abilities.​

An annual periodic re-assessment may be required to assess if a care recipient of a severe disability scheme continues to meet the criteria for receiving payouts/withdrawals. Periodic re-assessment fees are waived, regardless of the outcome of the assessment. We will write to the care r​ecipient if a periodic re-assessment is required.

Care recipients who are assessed as permanently severely disabled will be exempted from disability re-assessments, unless new information comes in to suggest that the care recipient’s condition has improved.

Yes, you can reapply and receive IDAPE payouts again if assessed to meet all eligibility crit​eria.​
The priority of IDAPE is to provide support for Singapore Citizens living in Singapore. PRs will not be eligible for IDAPE.​
The priority of IDAPE is to provide support for Singapore Citizens living in Singapore. Singaporeans residing overseas will not qualify for IDAPE.​

The IDAPE eligibility criteria is stricter than that of PioneerDAS and HCG.

For PioneerDAS and HCG, which are moderate disability schemes, individuals only need to require some assistance with three or more Activities of Daily Living (ADLs). For IDAPE, which is a severe disability scheme, individuals need to be unable to perform three or more ADLs (i.e. require significant assistance) in order to be eligible. As the IDAPE eligibility criteria is stricter, care recipients who are eligible for IDAPE can automatically receive PioneerDAS or HCG payouts without going for a separate assessment (subject to meeting the other non-disability eligibility criteria for these sch​emes), but not the converse.

To be eligible for IDAPE, the care recipient must not be a policyholder of CareShield Life, ElderShield and/or its supplement plans. Additionally, the care recipient would not be eligible for IDAPE if any claims related to CareShield Life, ElderShield, CareShield Life or ElderShield supplement plans have been made.

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