Table of Surgical Procedures (TOSP) and Your Shield Claim

If you’ve ever looked at a Shield plan claim and wondered why one surgery paid out thousands more than another, the answer usually isn’t your insurer being difficult — it’s the Table of Surgical Procedures.

The Table of Surgical Procedures, or TOSP, is how MOH classifies almost every operation performed in Singapore into a complexity tier. Your MediSave withdrawal limit, your MediShield Life payout, and — because every Integrated Shield Plan builds on top of MediShield Life — your private Shield plan’s claim limit all trace back to which TOSP table your procedure sits in.

How the tables work

TOSP groups procedures into tables numbered roughly 1 to 7, with sub-tiers A, B and C marking increasing complexity — table 1A covers minor, low-risk procedures, while table 7C covers the most complex major surgery. Each procedure carries a short alphanumeric code, the kind you’ll see on a hospital bill or referral letter — codes like SA701S or SL808L. That code tells you which table the procedure sits in, and the table sits behind the dollar limit your insurer will pay.

MOH reviews and updates TOSP periodically to keep pace with new surgical techniques — procedures get reclassified and new ones get added every few years. The version in effect changes what your existing policy actually pays out, even if nothing about your coverage terms has changed.

Why this matters when you’re choosing or reviewing a Shield plan

Two Integrated Shield Plans can look identical on the surface — same insurer tier, same ward class — and still pay very differently for the same surgery, because each insurer sets its own multiplier on top of the MediShield Life, TOSP-based limit. A plan that looks cheaper on premium can turn out far more expensive at claim time if its surgical limits are thinner.

If you’re trying to look up where your own procedure sits, MOH publishes the current Table of Surgical Procedures directly on its website — that’s the authoritative source, since the table does get revised. What I help clients with isn’t looking up the code itself; it’s working out what a shortfall between the TOSP-based limit and the actual bill would mean for their cash flow, and whether their plan — or a rider on top of it — actually closes that gap.

Not sure where your own Shield plan stands on this? Get in touch and I’ll walk through it with you.