Every Singapore Citizen qualifies for a CHAS card, and most people who already have one underuse it. The Community Health Assist Scheme gives you government subsidies on visits to participating private GP and dental clinics, so you pay less out of pocket for common illnesses, ongoing chronic conditions, and dental work. Your card colour decides how much you get back. This guide covers the three tiers, the special Pioneer and Merdeka Generation rates, the exact subsidy amounts in 2026, who qualifies based on household income or home Annual Value, and how to apply or check your tier.
CHAS is a subsidy scheme run by the Ministry of Health. When you visit a CHAS-participating private GP or dental clinic, the clinic deducts a government subsidy from your bill at the point of payment, so you do not claim anything back yourself. The clinic settles the rest with MOH. You show your card, the clinic looks up your tier, and the subsidy comes off the total before you pay. No reimbursement form, no waiting for money to come back.
Not every clinic takes part, though most private GP clinics are on the scheme. Use the official CHAS clinic locator at chas.sg to find participating GP and dental clinics near you and confirm the current count. Polyclinics already give citizens subsidised rates, so CHAS matters most at the private GP and dental clinics you would otherwise pay full price at.
All Singapore Citizens are eligible. That includes higher-income households, who still get the Green tier and its chronic-condition subsidies. Permanent Residents and foreigners do not qualify. The card is free to apply for and lasts two years before you need to renew. There is no annual fee and nothing to pay to hold it.
One group skips the application entirely. If you hold a Public Assistance (PA) card, you do not apply for CHAS at all. You already get full CHAS subsidies by showing your PA card at the clinic, so there is no separate card to chase and no tier to work out.
The scheme also covers two senior groups with their own higher rates: the Pioneer Generation (citizens born on or before 31 December 1949 who became citizens on or before 31 December 1986) and the Merdeka Generation (broadly, citizens born in the 1950s who meet the citizenship rules). These cardholders get the highest subsidies of all.
Your card is one of three colours. Blue is for the lowest-income households and gives the most generous subsidies. Orange sits in the middle. Green goes to higher-income households and to anyone whose subsidy is assessed on a higher-value home; it covers chronic conditions but not acute visits or dental.
A point that trips people up: a higher income means a lower subsidy, so Green is the tier higher earners land on. If that is you, the card is still worth holding for the chronic-condition coverage. Someone managing diabetes or high blood pressure on a Green card still gets up to $112 a year off simple chronic visits and up to $160 off complex ones, which adds up over years of repeat appointments.
Two people in the same household can hold different colours only if their income or living situation is assessed differently, but in practice everyone in one household is usually assessed on the same household income per person, so the whole family lands on the same tier. When you apply for everyone at once, the system works out one figure for the household.
Your tier is set automatically when you apply, based on either your household monthly income per person or, if no one in the household earns an income, the Annual Value of your home as assessed by IRAS. Household monthly income per person is the total gross monthly household income divided by the number of people living in the home. Gross income is the figure before CPF and tax deductions, so use your salary before anything comes out.
A worked example: a household of four with two earners bringing in $7,200 a month between them works out to $1,800 per person, which falls in the Orange band. Add a third earner or a pay cut and the per-person figure shifts, which can move the household to a different colour at the next assessment.
The Annual Value route only applies when no one in the household has an income, for example a retiree household. AV is the estimated yearly rent your home could fetch, set by IRAS, not your property's market price. You can check your home's AV for free on the IRAS website.
The Annual Value thresholds were revised from 1 January 2025. The second AV tier now runs up to $31,000 rather than the previous $25,000, which moved some households into a higher-subsidy tier. If you were last assessed before 2025 on the AV route, it is worth checking whether the change bumped you up a tier.
| Tier | Household monthly income per person | Or home Annual Value (if no income) |
|---|---|---|
| Blue | $1,500 and below | $21,000 and below |
| Orange | $1,501 to $2,300 | $21,001 to $31,000 |
| Green | Above $2,300 | Above $31,000 |
Before working out the dollar amounts, check whether your reason for the visit is on the list. CHAS splits coverage three ways: common illnesses (the one-off stuff), a fixed set of chronic conditions, and dental work. A visit only draws a subsidy if it falls under one of these, so a cosmetic procedure or a health screening you choose to do on your own does not count.
Common illnesses are the everyday complaints you would see a GP for: abdominal pain, cough, cold and flu, diarrhoea, fever, headache, skin infections and rashes, sore eyes, and urinary tract infections. The official list is not exhaustive, so a participating GP applies the acute subsidy to most run-of-the-mill consultations.
The chronic list is fixed and longer. CHAS covers a defined set of long-term conditions under the Chronic Disease Management Programme, and a visit only earns the chronic subsidy if your condition is one of them. The table below is the current set. Note the mental health conditions on it, anxiety, bipolar disorder, major depression and schizophrenia, are only claimable at selected clinics, so call the CHAS hotline on 1800-275-2427 (1800-ASK-CHAS) to find one near you before booking.
Dental coverage runs across the common procedures at participating CHAS dental clinics: consultation, scaling, polishing, topical fluoride, X-rays, fillings, extractions, removable dentures, denture reline and repair, root canal treatment, permanent crowns and re-cementation. Green cardholders get no dental subsidy, so this list matters for Blue, Orange, Pioneer Generation and Merdeka Generation holders. If you are unsure whether a planned condition or procedure qualifies, the clinic can confirm on the spot before you commit to treatment, and you can read how routine costs sit against the rest of your cover in our guide to insurance in Singapore.
| Category | Conditions |
|---|---|
| Heart and circulation | Hypertension (high blood pressure), ischaemic heart disease, lipid disorders (e.g. high cholesterol), stroke |
| Metabolic and hormonal | Diabetes mellitus (including pre-diabetes), gout, osteoporosis |
| Lung and airways | Asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, allergic rhinitis |
| Mental health (selected clinics) | Anxiety, bipolar disorder, major depression, schizophrenia, dementia |
| Bones and joints | Osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis |
| Other | Benign prostatic hyperplasia, chronic hepatitis B, chronic kidney disease (nephritis/nephrosis), epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, psoriasis |
Common-illness (acute) visits cover things like coughs, fevers, and the flu at a participating GP. The subsidy is per visit and is capped at 24 visits per patient per calendar year across all CHAS clinics, so the limit follows you, not the clinic.
Green cardholders get no acute subsidy, so for a one-off cold the card does nothing for them. Pioneer and Merdeka Generation seniors get the most back. The amount in the table is a maximum: the clinic applies up to that figure, so if your consultation costs less than the cap, the subsidy is limited to your actual bill rather than paying out the full amount as cash.
| Card | Subsidy per visit (up to) |
|---|---|
| Green | Not covered |
| Orange | $10 |
| Blue | $18.50 |
| Merdeka Generation | $23.50 |
| Pioneer Generation | $28.50 |
This is where CHAS earns its keep for most people, because chronic conditions mean repeat visits for years. CHAS covers a set of chronic conditions under the Chronic Disease Management Programme, including diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, asthma, and several mental health conditions such as depression and schizophrenia.
Subsidies are split into simple and complex. Simple is a visit for a single chronic condition. Complex is a visit for two or more chronic conditions, or one condition with complications. Each comes with a per-visit cap and an annual cap that limits the total you can draw in a year. Green cardholders do get chronic-condition subsidies, unlike acute and dental.
Read the annual cap as your yearly budget for that category. A Blue cardholder with a single chronic condition can draw up to $80 per simple visit until the $320 annual cap runs out, which is roughly four subsidised visits a year at the full amount. Once the cap is hit, you pay the unsubsidised rate for further visits that year, though MediSave may still cover part of the cost. The caps reset each calendar year.
| Card | Simple per visit / per year | Complex per visit / per year |
|---|---|---|
| Green | $28 / $112 | $40 / $160 |
| Orange | $50 / $200 | $80 / $320 |
| Blue | $80 / $320 | $125 / $500 |
| Merdeka Generation | $85 / $340 | $130 / $520 |
| Pioneer Generation | $90 / $360 | $135 / $540 |
Singapore Citizens who enrol in Healthier SG and see their enrolled GP for chronic care draw from the Healthier SG Chronic Tier instead, which adds subsidies on selected drugs and has its own annual caps. The per-visit amounts mirror the figures above, but the structure rewards staying with one clinic. If you manage an ongoing condition, ask your GP which tier you are billed under, because you cannot stack both for the same visit.
Dental subsidies apply at participating CHAS dental clinics for Blue, Orange, Pioneer Generation and Merdeka Generation cardholders. Green cardholders get no dental subsidy. The covered work runs from consultation, scaling and polishing to fillings, extractions, root canal treatment, crowns and dentures.
From 1 October 2025, MOH raised the dental subsidies. CHAS Orange was extended to ten basic and preventive procedures (scaling, polishing, consultation, fluoride treatment and X-rays), with a subsidy of up to $45.50. Subsidies on seven restorative procedures, including root canal treatment, permanent crowns and dentures, went up for Pioneer Generation, Merdeka Generation, Blue and Orange cardholders.
The exact subsidy depends on the procedure and your tier. As a sense of scale after the October 2025 increase, a routine consultation is subsidised in the region of $13.50 to $30.50, a molar root canal up to roughly $389.50 to $594.50, and a permanent crown up to about $410 to $625, depending on the card. Always confirm the figure for your specific procedure and tier with the clinic before treatment, or check the current dental subsidy schedule on the insurance and health protection reading list and the official CHAS site.
Any Singapore Citizen aged 21 and above can apply online with Singpass at chas.sg, and can apply on behalf of everyone in their household in one go. There is also a hardcopy form if you prefer. Processing generally takes up to 15 working days, after which approved applicants get a physical card and welcome pack showing their tier.
CHAS handles the subsidy at the point of payment. It sits alongside other parts of the system: MediShield Life and Integrated Shield Plans cover large hospital bills, and MediSave can pay for some outpatient chronic treatment and selected procedures. For chronic care, the CHAS subsidy reduces the bill first and you can use MediSave for part of what remains, subject to the MediSave withdrawal limits.
If you are mapping out your wider health-cost protection, see how the national MediShield Life floor and long-term-care CareShield Life cover work, and weigh up your hospital plan in our guide to insurance in Singapore. CHAS keeps your routine and chronic visits cheaper; insurance handles the large, unexpected bills.
If you also want to keep your household budget under control around these costs, our personal budget calculator helps you see where medical spending fits against everything else.
All Singapore Citizens qualify, regardless of income. Permanent Residents and foreigners are not eligible. Higher-income citizens get the Green tier, which still covers chronic conditions.
Blue is for the lowest-income households and gives the highest subsidies across common illnesses, chronic conditions and dental. Orange is the middle tier. Green is for higher-income households and covers chronic conditions only, with no acute or dental subsidy.
Per GP visit for an acute illness, you get up to $10 with Orange, $18.50 with Blue, $23.50 with Merdeka Generation and $28.50 with Pioneer Generation. Green gets nothing for acute visits. Acute subsidies are capped at 24 visits per year.
Yes, for Blue, Orange, Pioneer Generation and Merdeka Generation cardholders at participating dental clinics. Green cardholders get no dental subsidy. From 1 October 2025 the subsidies on basic and restorative dental procedures were increased.
Apply online at chas.sg with Singpass if you are a citizen aged 21 or above; you can include your whole household. Cards last two years, after which you renew before expiry. A digital card is also available in the Singpass app for those aged 15 and above.
Yes. The CHAS subsidy is applied to your bill first, and you can use MediSave for part of the remaining cost of eligible chronic treatment or procedures, within MediSave withdrawal limits. They reduce different parts of the cost.
It is based on your household monthly income per person, calculated as total gross household income divided by the number of household members. If no one in the household earns an income, the Annual Value of your home as assessed by IRAS is used instead.
Three groups. Common illnesses such as cough, cold, flu, fever, diarrhoea and urinary tract infections; a fixed list of chronic conditions including diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, asthma and several mental health conditions; and dental work from scaling and fillings to root canal and crowns. Mental health conditions are only claimable at selected clinics.
No. Public Assistance (PA) card holders do not apply for CHAS. You already receive full CHAS subsidies by showing your PA card at a participating clinic, so there is nothing extra to apply for.
This is general financial information for Singapore, not personal financial advice. Figures change — verify current rates against the official sources above before acting. See our full disclaimer.