1/01/2008

A Mean Ministry ?

Wondering if it is a good start to a new year when the first piece of news sounds like the setting up of a Mean Ministry. The introduction of Means Testing is going ahead full steam to catch people who can afford but choose to seek govt subsidies in hospital bills. Such mean people can only be caught by mean people. You need to set a thief to catch a thief. A kind and compassionate person will fail in such a job. One good thing is that plenty of jobs will be created. We will have a Chief Mean Officer to head the organisation. Would it be raised to a minister level if the net is cast wide enough? Then we may even have a Mean Minister appointed. Down the line many Mean Officers of various grades can be created to administer the whole process of checking people's income, bank accounts and relations with extended family members. The latter will be a good source of ugly and exciting family history that will worth millions to the movie industries. The whole thing could be another source of economic activities that will generate more income and of course more jobs.

6 comments:

Speedwing said...

Hi Redbean, must you seek bad intention in everything? I think it is a good thing to ensure that the deserving people get all the benefits out of this system. How else would you ensure fair play?

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

hi speed,

why do you think dover park hospices gave up on the medifund?

who is deserving depends on what people think is deserving. it is relative. some still think that $290 pm of handouts is sufficient to live by. some think a couple of million is not enough and wanted more.

Speedwing said...

I see your point.

Anonymous said...

Telling us that the more deserving should benefit is just an excuse. They are not even increasing the budget for healthcare. In fact they are probably trying to cut the budget. With inflation and population explosion they try to reduce spending. This is rubbish. Of course I don't have facts and figures but my gut tells me if you go dollar by dollar they are probably spending less per patient after factoring inflation.

The government has lost their sight for the citizens and only know how to increase bottom line by cutting cost.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

you are not far from the tooth.

Anonymous said...

They are increasing the budget for healthcare but how much are they going to take back with means testing on the cards. Increasing the budget for healthcare should mean lower charges for government hospitals, but the reverse will happen and you can be sure of that. Oh, our wise ministers will say Singaporeans have to learn to live with higher healthcare costs. I can also say that if I have a 20% salary increase. That's the brutal tooth.