by Jeremy Lim
ISBN: 978-988-14105-0-4
Publication Date: October 10, 2015
Myth or Magic is an exciting study of Singapore’s healthcare revolution by Jeremy Lim, one of Asia’s leading experts on healthcare systems. Jeremy wrote this book specifically for international healthcare policy makers and professionals. Interest in Singapore’s healthcare system has soared because of Singapore’s impressive health statistics. The country regularly ranks at or near the top of OECD Healthcare rankings despite spending only 4% of GDP on healthcare. This is less than the WHO recommended minimum of 5% and less than half as a percentage of GDP of what the UK spends.
Singapore has also emerged in the past thirty years as one of the world’s leading healthcare system innovators. The country now boasts the world’s only functioning national health savings account model, while its Medisave scheme has attracted widespread policy and academic interest.
While the Singapore model cannot be imported or transplanted wholesale onto foreign soil, the Singapore experience is a valuable testlab for complex issues such as healthcare savings accounts, preventative care and rationing. No wonder that Myth or Magic has been described as an essential primer for anyone interested in the philosophy of health care systems.
Jeremy Lim
One of Asia’s leading experts in healthcare systems, Jeremy Lim has worked in senior executive roles in both public and private sectors, including time spent as a senior official in the Ministry of Health, Singapore. Jeremy also chairs the steering committee of NIHA (NUS Initiative to Improve Health in Asia,) an initiative to strengthen health policy research and education in Asia. He holds appointments at several universities, and teaches an influential course on healthcare systems at Singapore Management University.
A medical doctor by training, Jeremy holds a Masters in public health degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and a Masters in medicine (surgery) from the National University of Singapore.