9/03/2013

Easy money for Medishield Life?

What is easy money? This is money made easily, with little effort. And the saying goes, easy come easy go. Our govt’s revenue comes from many sources, and some can be easily classified as easy money. Let’s not breathe a word about the CPF. This is the people’s blood and sweat money that they made working for it.
 

Easy money are those like COE premiums, gambling taxes from the casinos and the Tote Board, ERPs, and to a certain extent, profits from sales of HDB flats. The value of these easy monies is quite substantial, in the billions or more annually. Can some of these monies be put to good use like looking after the healthcare of the senior citizens? No I am not asking for the whole chicken, may just a drumstick.
 

How much will it cost to provide some basic coverage in healthcare for the senior citizens? This can be defined, without being extravagant. Minimum basic healthcare/hospitalization need not be too costly. As it is a welfare scheme provided by public fund, no one is going to complain about no airconditioning, no pretty nurses at their becks and calls, no top notch doctors or surgeons to treat their half a million dollar condition. Just provide the basic medical care for those seniors that needed healthcare or have to be hospitalized, to let them recuperate in the hospital beds with some peace of mind, they will be treated with some dignity and will not empty all their savings or forcing their dependents to empty their savings.
 

This is a social obligation that the govt could and should provide to the senior citizens that have in one way or another contributed to the growth and prosperity of the nations. It is mean and heartless to expect the oldies to pay for their health insurance when they are out of work and living on whatever that is left of their savings. We can’t be thinking of robbing the oldies of their savings can we? How creepy can people be to think that the helpless and needy oldies are easy target for the taking? Do not touch their savings in their Medisave.
 

By providing basic healthcare/hospitalization to the oldies using easy money, the scheme can be self insured by the govt without resorting to any insurance scheme. The cost with limited coverage cannot be so prohibitive when carefully defined, and without being misery.
 

Where is the heart? Easy money, easy come easy go. Where have these easy monies gone to? Using easy money for this noble and important service will be well appreciated and a worthy cause to put them into good use. Stop having more designs on the oldies and their monies in their Medisave, or expecting their children to foot the bills. Not many are ministers and earning million dollar salaries and can keep on paying and paying.

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

Let's put up Singaporeans' medical insurance requirements up for a global tender.
Let's see how much our medical insurance premium should really cost when we benchmark our premiums against international insurance companies.

It's time to confirm whether our local insurance companies are pricing our medical insurance premiums "correctly".
If I may borrow YackCock's phrase "correctly".

Anonymous said...

As I have mentioned here before, if you really love your people, introduce the MEDIFREE LIFE scheme, where basic/standard healthcare is free for seniors of at least 65 yrs old...........

Put it for nationalwide discussions........ Get the whole nation behind it...........

SURELY WE CAN DO IT AS A NATION!

Anonymous said...

RB, how can you ask for a drumstick? The chicken then become disabled and can not walk lar. I think you should expect an egg only just like the medifund and many whatever fund, only the interest or egg can be used or spent.tio Bo?

agongkia said...


I m touched by you hope.I know I will be very Jialat when times to come.
Maybe they should consider an option for stayer like me,to opt out of the scheme,sign up for what one call euthanasia or something like that.
Let me use my cpf tax when I reach 55 and sleep with beauties and produce every where.Mandatory or compulsory injection at age 90 for me whether I am fit or not,take up any useful sparepart that I still have and let me go without regrets.Like that I won't burden anyone.Meet my objective ,trade in my spare parts and die without regrets.

Anonymous said...

......if pap can implement MEDIFREE LIFE before next election, I think pap can easily put 68% of the votes in its pockets......

......but with MEDISHIELD LIFE.....I rather leave the % votes to your imagination.......

Anonymous said...

Many retired and semi retired oldies scrapping by with few hundred dollars every month. Every one to two hundred dollars extra a month is like striking mini lottery. Even such small amount is greatly appreciated by the retired oldies in our midst. To prey on them by free market capitalist profit driven big high cost insurers is an unforgivable and totally heartless, ruthless, runaway, sick, self serving, evil enterprise yet supposedly going to be implemented by the very beans paid millions to look after the people. How sick can a society be? Why the eye lids never bat when billions are spent on additional yet to be functional metallic fighting steel birds? Would these new multi billion fighting toys enhance or set back our defence? Are the money wisely spent? So we need to splurge on many multi billion dollars extra extravagant excesses and be stingy on hundred dollars healthcare basic insurance for oldies? Where is the heart? No wonder old man always calls them hard truths. Hard cash for the super billion shining hard toys. Hard unpalatable medicine and hard high top down handling for some needy oldies suffering helplessly in silence. Such hard harsh hard truths. Such hard harsh supposed wisdom handed out to the masses. Is it a case of hard truths for themselves the super pay elites? But probably the super hard UNTRUTHS reserved and to be suffered by the helpless and powerless masses, especially the retired oldies surviving on a few hundred dollars a month? Oldies who often dare not go to see a doctor even when they are very sick? How ruthless and hypocritical can a society's rulers and elites get?

Anonymous said...

I like your idea very much.
COE alone is a few billions a year. Far more than enough.

Anonymous said...

U want them to dip into coe revenue? Tkk! In your next life bah!

Anonymous said...

The world is looking........

What is the use of having a deep RESERVE when you cant even provide free basic healthcare to your people who serve the nation when they were young.....

Anonymous said...

/// What is the use of having a deep RESERVE when you cant even provide free basic healthcare to your people who serve the nation when they were young..... ///

Actually hor.
According to my PAP friends.
The Singapore reserve is for the use of the PAP gahmen.
It's not meant to be used to benefit Singaporeans.

Anonymous said...

@ ANON September 03, 2013 9:32 am

I fully support the idea of using the Singapore reserves to pay for the premiums of our medical insurance.
Let's be clear about this and call it Medi-Free.
Let's give a 90 year old grandfather a heart attack.

Anonymous said...

You forget the number of land they sold. It must come to billions. Where do the money go to.? Any ideas or suggestions?

Anonymous said...

@ 12.11 pm

Chartow many years ago already told then President Ong T C need abt 500 years to sort out the accounts. That was then! Now may be only the ghosts know how long ...... What say you?

Anonymous said...

RB, no drumstick for u hor, kopi may be. Drumsticks reserve for elites only mah. U tell me lar, I correct or not. Tio Bo?

b said...

Where did all the gst, coe, erp, stamp duty, levies end up? How come cannot use some of those monies collected to finance free healthcare for all? Did they all ended up in some pockets of the elites?

Anonymous said...

red bean ... broking industry so bad, so much free time to kpkb?

did you complain to hsien loong cousin before he leave for ang moh broking firm anot?

long live kuan yew

Anonymous said...

@ 3.25 pm

Yacorpse say pls read right things.

Also means pls ask the right things.

Means pls ask whether the millions enough for their petroltic sadguifive.

Ask abt $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ go where are ingrates ungrateful people.

Must say right things and constantly sing praises of the lulers like in PRK. Everyone want hang pic of their luler in their 400 sq ft hdb flat also can. You can choose yacorpse, tall tree, zorro, gangnam ....... take your pick. One pic only $10,000/=. Cheap cheap. Give u honour to do the right things, petroltic things, so every day and night and every morning wake up see the RIGHT THINGS also. OK?

Anonymous said...

>>417pm
Who is yaco? Is he god? Why must listen to him? Ah Yew or Ah Long got listen to him and convert to muslim or not? Ah Yew or Ah Long also do not listen to him, so why we need to listen to him? We can overthrow him or stop voting for him. He is our servant and not there to tell us to listen to him. We decide who we want to listen to. We are the masters and they are the servants.

Anonymous said...

'Where is the heart?'

- Should ask 'Where is the money?'. Other countries with only oil reserves can give their people free medical. This ocuntry has coe, erp, gst, stamp duties, levies, casino tax, expensive land still cannot give free medical? Something must have goen very wrong.

Anonymous said...

RB, do not worry. Under this super talented, super well paid ministers, all sinkies can be assured of the best value for their medi money. Put your (blind) faith on them and you will live well and prosper.

Anonymous said...

The more we talk about where do the monies go, the more scary it becomes. Really, can someone tell us for sure where are the billions gone to each month. Do we really know who took the monies?

The only way to know all these is to vote for oppositions.

Anonymous said...

Before they dare open their mouth to ask for more monies from the citizens, they damned bloody sure get their check and balance system tighten to prevent all wasted monies through corrupt public servants, bad investments by Temasek, unfair scholarship to foreigners, etc. Most important of all, lower their salaries to an acceptable level to reduce the strains on the citizens.

b said...

>1043am

I agree. Have they figured out how much is the national reserves? If the accounting is still in a mess, they should not ask people for more money.

Anonymous said...

They have no hearts. They are blood suckers. See the answer given by NTUC Income for not paying the DPI benefit to the lady who was paralyzed. Have to be fair to other policy holders - my foot ! All they want is keep increasing the profits n pay their top executives n shareholders out of this world salaries n returns. What about being fair to the unfortunate insured person who has been sucked dry by them ?