1/03/2008
Who would like to be mean tested?
The thought of being mean tested is enough to put a lot of people off. The poor and desperate would not want to be further malu by letting people check their empty bank accounts to prove how broke they are. It is perhaps the most humiliating experience that we can subject our poor to go through. This is probably the main driving reason why the Dover Park Hospice chose to opt out of the Medifund Scheme.
I remember the days of holocaust when the Jews were stripped naked to expose everything and being paraded around for all to see. Stripping a man or a woman is as good as tearing away every little pride or selfworth there is left in him or her.
I think those who have very fat bank accounts would not mind being mean tested as it would be a way to tell the world how much they are worth.
Can we be a kinder society? How can we if we think it is alright to subject our fellow beans to such indignity? Please tell us how the people are going to be mean tested.
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To those "lefties" and UN-loving western style liberals: read redbean's post and ponder.
This is how it is in a WELFARE STATE. The State pries into your personal affirs, bank accounts and financial affairs, tax records, medical conditions, your family life, your married life, perhaps even your sexuality and your religion. And they put this on file which is kept in a database FOR ALL TIME. In some Western societies they even want a record of your last 5 addresses.
By doing so, The State can build a "profile" of you, and if "the wrong government" gets in, they have ample information to "target" you, if they decide that you are some kind of "trouble maker".
It is worth living a hard life for awhile and making big sacrifices, such that one remains INDEPENDENT all the time. Going to the state for help is like selling your soul to the devil.
Folks here might say, "some people have no choice".
I disagree. Everyone has choices, but only if they are prepared to see it.
You sometimes have to wonder how much the government knows about you and your personal details in their database. Welcome to the world of George Orwell's 1984 in reality today.
"The State can build "profile" of you,"
For your information, they have already done that. Your passport, your bank account, your driver's licence, your income tax, your library card, your cell phone registration, etc are all referenced by your unique IC number. Uniquely Singapore.
> For your information, they have already done that <
Yes, but to a greater or lesser extent depending on the individual.
For e.g. There are folks who don't have their "own" bank accounts or phones/utilities in their own names. They might use a parent, sibling, spouse or another relative's name. And of course there are people who earn money in the grey and black markets who have never filed a tax return.
The point I made about redbean's post was to illustrate that when actually ASKING the govt for "help" is ACTIVELY inviting the government to pry (more) into one's life. Means testing will do exactly that.
Means testing is to ensure that the government's money goes to the most deserving, the poorest in our society. Why is it that the tax payer's money is going to the minister's pensions and free healthcare then? Are the minister's poor? If the middle income who are being squeezed by inflation decides to downgrade to C ward, why do we deny him this choice? Why force him to eat abalone when he knows he can only afford porridge over the long term? Is our government so poor and so badly managed that we cannot afford subsidised health care? Where is the compassion in the system??
What compassion do they really have ?
If you are poor and go for subsidised healthcare in the re-structured hospitals, they alrealdy let you queue & wait for months before you can be fully treated. And now they so afraid that you are taking advantage of subsidized healthcare, they introduce means testing to make sure that those peasants who can't wait die sooner.
But those who can afford to pay as private patients are immediately accepted for immediate treatment.
Even Malaysia don't treat their peasants in this manner.
hi familyman,
welcome to the blog.
the word subsidies is a 4 letter word. we must not easily be taken in by such words. what is subsidy or real subsidies? all the big dept stores are subsidising the consumers. they just tag their prices as high as they can and then sell at 70% of that, making 100% profit but telling the consumers that it is subsidised.
what is seriously wrong is that people are not allowed to be thrifty. you are expected to spend every cent you have. pay according to what you have now. tomorrow, if you spent everything, another disaster comes along and you have no money, sorry lah, your problem.
rich people have no problems paying anything. it is the not so rich and the so called middle class that needs to be very careful with their money that will be hurt badly. they don't really have much and need to be careful spending their limited money. but they are made to spend.
actually with the rising cost of living, we are kidding ourselves to call those earning $3k or $4k middle class. they just have enough to keep going. that's all.
So many of us are searching, looking for compassion, conscience and even just mere considerate gesture. But none seems forthcoming, it is such a cold society.
to anon 1005:
You get what you give. So stop belly-aching. :P
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