1/12/2006
the health net that was not there when needed
quoting from a report by lee uwen in the today paper, the health feedback group assured sick singaporeans that the ability to pay their medical bills should be the least of their worries. from the procedural aspects, the system will first ensure that no one can be admitted without proof of ability to pay. this will actually take care of those who cannot afford to pay from being admitted. the screening process prior to admission is meticulous and unyielding. no money no admission.
but according to a dr lee kheng hock, the govt's 3m scheme comprising the medisave, medifund and medishield actually was found wanting in many cases when the patients needed the assistance. each case is unique. but because of the stringent criteria, many cases were turned away.
is that not funny? a safety net that was there but not there. actually it is not funny at all. so now the feedback 'group is now pushing for an integrated national healthcare charity fund to be established to act as a "safety net" for them and others in the same boat.' ie those that needed the net that would not work. 'it could be managed by community leaders who will focus solely on raising money. when the pot runs dry, the people will see the need to top it up. it will be like a community based "medifund" that acts as an additional layer of help,' said dr lee.
cannot believe in system perfect singapore that a safety net needs another safety net as it is found to be faulty. how about a third net in case the second safety net fails again? what this portends to is that all the assurance about not to worry is not that comforting after all.
it is like creating all the problems, ie raising all the fees, then create a series of solutions and found the solutions not working. so create more solutions again to patch all the leaking holes. why not go back to the basics and address the problems of high fees. bring down the fees and save all the effort to create all the safety nets with funds that cannot be dispensed out.
does one feel encouraged?
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4 comments:
There are a lot of similarity between the health safety net and the Ez-link solution. It solves the old problem but at the same create new ones. It is never ending...
Do we have a choice?? Yes, we do. Accept it and move on...
i look at this and public transport and school fees. don't suka suka pushed them sky high and create all the skyhigh fee problems. then try to solve them.
and best didn't know why got so many problems or refuse to see all these problems as self created.
Creat a problem then solve it by handouts, makes the people giving the handouts look good.
and the recipients feeling very grateful. there are short term and transient political gain especially giving handouts at critical moments.
as a policy, if the finance can be balanced, between lowering cost and lesser handouts as against raising cost and more handouts, the former is more superior and more magnanimous but less evident in its goodness.
the machiavellian touch is very obvious here. give a little at a time to be appreciated many times but whack very hard when needed and pain for once, and soon forgotten.
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