It starts small. A scratch in the throat on the MRT home, a fever by the time you reach the flat, and then the sum every kabayan runs in the dark: can this wait until my day off? You lie there converting a cough into pesos, because back home you would walk to the botika and be done, and here you have no idea what a doctor costs, or whether asking to see one makes you look like a problem to the boss. That quiet fear is why a lot of us wait too long and get worse than we had to. So before the next fever arrives, let us walk through it while you are still well and thinking straight.
First, find out which door is yours
Singapore does not run one health system for everyone. Your bill, and who settles it, turns on the pass in your passport, and kababayans sit in three different situations.
If you are a domestic worker, your kasambahay contract puts your medical cost on your employer, not on your sweldo. The Ministry of Manpower requires your employer to buy you medical insurance of at least S$60,000 a year for hospital stays and day surgery, and to cover your medical bills while you work for them. You should not be paying for your own doctor visits out of your salary and staying silent about it. We wrote a fuller breakdown of that S$60,000 rule and what it does and does not cover in our guide to employer medical insurance.
If you hold a Work Permit in construction, marine shipyard, or the process sector, or you live in a dormitory, you sit inside the Primary Care Plan in most cases, and there is a fixed low fee waiting for you. More on that below.
If you are on an Employment Pass or S Pass, or you already have PR, you use private GPs and your company insurance, and PRs get some subsidy that plain foreigners do not. Your first move is to read your own insurance letter so you know your panel clinic before you need it.
The S$5 clinic, and who it is not for
The Primary Care Plan, or PCP, came out of the pandemic so migrant workers could see a doctor near where they live for a flat fee. A worker pays S$5 a consultation, and the employer pays a set amount each year that MOM revised down to between S$97 and S$113 per worker. For a lot of our kababayans on Work Permits, that S$5 is the cheapest honest care in the country.
One line matters before you tell a friend to go: the PCP does not cover foreign domestic workers. If your kasambahay friend walks into a PCP clinic expecting the S$5 rate, she does not have it, because her care runs through her employer and that S$60,000 insurance instead. Send her to the right door, not this one.
From 1 April 2027, MOM is tightening the map so clinics sit within 2km of where workers live, with four providers splitting four zones. If you are on a Work Permit, that is worth knowing now, because a clinic you can walk to is a clinic you use.
The night clinic in Geylang that charges S$8
Some of us fall between the cracks. Maybe your employer is dragging their feet, maybe you are on a Special Pass while your case works its way through, maybe you cannot get to a clinic during working hours. HealthServe, a charity that has looked after migrant workers for years, runs a clinic at 1 Lorong 23 Geylang, near Aljunied MRT, in the evenings on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 6:30 to 9:30.
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HealthServe pitches its prices for a worker's pocket. A visit for something acute, a fever or a bad cough, costs S$8. More complex care runs S$15, a simple dental job S$15, and Special Pass holders pay nothing. You can reach them on WhatsApp at +65 3157 4458 to check that day's hours and whether your pass qualifies. Save that address in your phone tonight, and text it to the kabayan you already know is toughing something out.
What "no subsidy" means at the polyclinic
People assume the government polyclinic is the cheap option for everyone. Since 2006, MOH has not subsidised foreigners at polyclinics, so a Work Permit, S Pass, or EP holder pays the full unsubsidised rate there, and a citizen next to you in the same queue pays far less. That does not make the polyclinic wrong for you, but it does mean a neighbourhood GP is often about as cheap for a simple thing and a lot faster. Whatever you choose, keep the receipt, because if your employer or your insurer owes you the money back, that piece of paper is your proof.
Save A&E for a real emergency
One number stops people cold. Walking into a public hospital's emergency department costs money before a doctor has done a single thing. At Changi General Hospital, the A&E attendance fee is S$174 including GST, which the hospital set on 1 September 2025, and it is the same figure for a foreigner and a citizen. That fee opens the door and nothing more. Scans, medicine, and a bed all sit on top.
So A&E is for chest pain, trouble breathing, heavy bleeding, a bad fall, a head injury, the things that cannot wait for morning. A fever or a sore throat is not one of them. If someone collapses, call 995 for an ambulance and do not stop to price it. For everything smaller, the clinic tomorrow will cost you a fraction of that S$174 and treat you as well.
What may change, and where to check
Health fees in Singapore move, and this year is no exception. MOM's PCP reshuffle takes effect on 1 April 2027, MOH revises public clinic fees from time to time, and your own employer's insurance has its own fine print. Before you rely on any figure here, check it at the source: MOM at mom.gov.sg for your pass and your employer's duties, MOH at moh.gov.sg for public fees, and the clinic's own website for its current price. If you are a domestic worker unsure whether your employer is doing right by you, the 24-hour helpline for kasambahay is there for that, and it is free to call.
And if what is weighing on you is not a fever but the loneliness that creeps in when you are far from family and unwell, that is real too, and there is help for people like us. Our piece on burnout and where to find Filipino-friendly support has the numbers.
You are not a burden for getting sick. Getting seen at the first sign is cheaper than waiting, in money and in worry both. So save these numbers while you are well, tell one kabayan where the S$8 clinic is, and then go rest. Uminom ng maraming tubig, matulog nang maaga, at bukas, kape muna.
