11/20/2013

Health of citizens is health of nation

We need more babies. Our TFR is falling and this is bad. Why is it bad and why do we need more babies? It is to replace the ageing population and to keep the GDP growing, period. Can we not let the population fall naturally and let the GDP shrink proportionally? Cannot, must have more babies to provide the workforce to keep the economy healthy. Babies are important to the economy. Then why should bringing up babies be the responsibility of their parents, to pay for their growing up, medical and social expenses, including education? If the govt or country needs the babies, why shouldn’t the govt pay a portion of their upbringing, including healthcare?
 

There is a 20 to 25 years of cost to grow a baby into a productive worker to feed the economy. No babies, no workers, no economy. The babies are important and so are their growing and productive years. The only time they are less productive, not useless to the economy, is when they are in their retirement years. But not working does not mean not contributing to the economy. They consume goods and services and have to pay for them. They are still contributing to the economy.
 

If the people are so important to the govt and the economy why shouldn’t the govt take care of their health and well being? Without a healthy population, there is no healthy economy. Actually, like it or not, ultimately the people pay for their health and well being. There is no other way, but only a matter of nuances. Either the people pay directly or the govt pays from the taxes collected. The taxes are public money, not someone’s money, not OPM but TPM, The People’s Money.
 

To put things simply, the govt needs the people to be healthy to contribute to the economy, to produce goods and services, to consume goods and services, to pay taxes and to pay the thing called the govt. Why should the people pay for their good health to feed the economy and to pay the govt to be the govt? It is the govt and the system that needs the people, not the other way round.
 

The prevalent thinking now is to make the people pay for their healthcare directly. Can other ways be found? The govt will claim that it has no money to pay except to increase taxes. That unfortunately is true. So how? Ask the people who are being paid millions for the solution lah. So simple also dunno. Pay them millions for what? Heheh, they will tell you the best solution is for you to pay. Problem solved.
 

Gambling income for healthcare
 

We don’t have the two casinos before. Can the taxes from the casinos be applied to provide healthcare for the people? Why should this new and additional income be spread to other uses? Why not devote this source of income to care for the people’s medical well being? Why cannot? And if not enough, why can’t we take some from the Tote Board? The health of the people is key to the health of the economy and to generate revenue to pay the people called the govt.
 

Self Insured to take away insurance cost
 

The other point is to self insure at the national level. No need to pay to a huge organization and staff to manage an insurance scheme. No need to worry about paying for the middle men and profits for the shareholders and fat bonuses to the top management. This should do away with the unnecessary insurance cost.
 

National Healthcare must be basic and limited
 

A national health scheme must be limited in nature, nothing extravagant. Such a scheme must be limited to C class equivalent of services and care. Anyone who wants better services must pay for it. And it should all be about healthcare and not cosmetic care or frivolous medical treatments. The medical professionals can list out what to be excluded from the scheme. The medicine and equipment can also be generic if available. Anything better should be over and above and be paid by the patients that demanded for them.
 

Lower cost to those who need healthcare/Pay for use
 

The operating cost of a national healthcare scheme should avoid the costly frills of extravagance. The people can then be at ease of being assured of a basic healthcare plan and they need only to pay a small fee, at outpatient poly clinics or when hospitalized. There is No need to pay upfront whether they need or do not need through insurance premiums or minimum sums in the Medisave. Free the people’s savings for more immediate needs. A national healthcare scheme should not be entirely free to avoid waste, but not so prohibitive and costly. With the bulk of the cost coming from the casinos, the amount to be paid by the patients on needs basis can be greatly reduced.
 

Option to pay for more
 

The people would also have the choice of paying for higher level of services and the frills that come with the higher fees. What should come under the national health scheme and what should not can be worked out by the professionals.
 

Recompute healthcare costing/No ransom from the sick
 

Another area to review is the computation of cost. As a national health system, items like land cost need not be included or at least not marked to market. Without a profit motive, the cost should be more of consumption, recurring operating cost and cost of replacement. No market forces or mechanism nonsense.

These are just some general thoughts for input into a national healthcare scheme. The health of the people is the concern and interest of the state and not just the individuals. The details can be worked out by the people who are paid to do the job. At the moment the minds seem fixated to a particular model already. Can the authorities explore the unbeaten path, to take a plunge into uncharted waters? No insurance premiums to be paid up front, (paid by gambling revenues) free the people from their worries of huge medical bills without ripping their pockets by all kinds of funny schemes that boils down to the same thing…make the people pay?
 

Give people the choice
 

Give the people the CHOICE to pay, not the choice on how much and when to pay or compulsory to pay with eyes fixed on the money in the Medisave of citizens? A basic national healthcare system supported by gambling revenue and without having to tax on everyone who may not need to use it must be the way going forward. The people cannot be held captive by insurance and insurance and insurance and nothing else. The people cannot be forced to pay and pay and pay, compulsory some more with no option to opt out.
 

What is the point of paying out of this world salary if they cannot come out with out of this world solution? Is it too much for the people to expect or even demand out of this world solution? Some of the features mentioned above are not even out of this world, just plain commonsense and better utilization/allocation of funds with no wasteful payments into a nation wide insurance scheme when every daft Sinkie is made to pay like Santa Claus. Paying insurance is like making everyone pay for a few who are in need. We need a scheme where the sick need not be bankrupt by hefty hospital bills and the healthy need not have to pay. Are we so bankrupt of ideas? Shall we send a few teams overseas to learn from those that are not so talented than our top talents?
 

See, no need to make everyone pay insurance premiums, no need to lock people’s savings in the Medisave Minimum Sum scheme, no need to waste manpower to have a big organization to collect and manage the money. Unless of the course the whole objective is to take more money from the people, another devious taxation under a ‘for your own good’ scheme, then no need to waste time on feedbacks or CONversation with the people. Just make Medishield Life COMPULSORY. PERIOD.

39 comments:

  1. Our million$ leaders are actually smarter than we gave them credit for.
    Why spent millions to look after the health of the people who are growing old and sickly over the years?
    Just import younger, faster and hardy people and let them work the economy, lo!
    Health of citizens is health of nation? If it is true then the corollary " Wealth of nation is wealth of citizens " must also hold true.

    Tio BO?

    ReplyDelete
  2. "The people cannot be forced to pay and pay and pay, compulsory some more with no option to opt out."
    RB

    Cannot meh? 60% Sinkies have already given the govt the mandate to force all Sinkies to compulsory pay and pay.

    And what's more, the leader of the strongest opposition chosen by the Sinkies also said the govt is competent! LOL

    ReplyDelete
  3. How come Sinkies are so daft as to vote in a opposition which praise the govt?

    This is a Sinkie laughing stock for the whole world!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Smart Sinkies realise the solution is for them to make lots of money in order to pay and pay. Make much much more money than they have to pay lah, of course.

    And smart Sinkies realise it is very possible to make lots of money under PAP policies, if they are smart and know how.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Pretty long winded post that had been enunciated many times by Rb.
    The Writer has been 对牛掸琴(playing music to the cow/casting pearls to the swine) for a long time, including invasion of foreigners cause by Immigration Policy.
    The tenacity of Rb is indeed respectable, however, his efforts are futile. More pieces of lands are announced to be developed into housings. For who?
    With the cost of bringing up a normal healthy child almost ss much as ones' income. And the income of spouses just enough for a house. There is hardly much left for a second child and or for parents, how to make more babies.
    Rb should know by now that he is talking to ruthless folks with no conscience. And he should also knows that these ruthless, greedy folks preach a lot but NEVER practise what they preach.
    Leaving Sin is definitely a better and wise option for a person of Rb calibre. Your music and pearl to the cow and dingo will yield nothing. Your efforts are utterly wasted.

    patriot

    ReplyDelete
  6. Do you know what happened in the closing chapter of the Animal Farm?

    ReplyDelete
  7. RB is just releasing "pent up" steam on his blog lah. And visitors to his blog also release theirs together lah.

    This "pent up" steam released on blogs is harmless lah, not like the real thing which happened on streets or at the ballot box.

    It's not using a real gun with real target but only using a "hand gun" with visual or imaginary target lah. LOL

    ReplyDelete
  8. Latest propaganda include 'Community spirit, green living at heart of URA plan for Singapore, a better home for Singaporeans, School should instil spirit of service, high living and maintaining values etc.
    Lolx.

    patriot

    ReplyDelete
  9. Sin is never short of hypocrites.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi
      There are lots of hypocrites in Sin dah deh.

      Delete
  10. You are a true Singaporeans. But to the $ faced People, why pay for children cost when you can import a full size adult free?

    ReplyDelete
  11. "We want Singapore to do well, so Singapore can do well."
    PM Lee

    Therefore;
    "We want Singapore to be healthy, so Singaporeans can be healthy."

    Same line of logic:
    "We want Singapore to be smart, so PM Lee can be smart."

    SOURCE:
    http://www.sgpolitics.net/?p=8133

    ReplyDelete
  12. CORRECTION
    ======================

    "We want Singapore to do well, so Singaporeans can do well."
    PM Lee

    Therefore;
    "We want Singapore to be healthy, so Singaporeans can be healthy."

    Same line of logic:
    "We want Singapore to be smart, so PM Lee can be smart."

    SOURCE:
    http://www.sgpolitics.net/?p=8133

    ReplyDelete
  13. Like I've been saying before: Go completely private -- no government in healthcare.

    Then you don't have to divert so many public resources, paid for by the hard work of struggling people being TAXED.

    Need food or clothes? Simple solution: go to your favorite store and buy what you need, according to your budget.

    Got sick? Same deal. Go to the doctor of your choice and pay for treatment according to your budget.

    ReplyDelete
  14. P.S. You health is your asset. Even if the nation is fucked up unhealthy, you'll be:

    1. One of the few still standing able to do productive work and earn a decent living

    2. Able to enjoy your life whilst others are struggling to even stay alive

    3. Not contributing to the human tragedy by drawing on already maxed-out healthcare resources

    Forget the idea of "national health". The term is fucking meaningless. Look after your own. Live long and prosper.

    ReplyDelete
  15. @ matilah

    luv your avatar ...

    issit a photo of a zombie?? jumping around the street in those horror movie??

    knnccb ...

    ReplyDelete
  16. Matilah, the law of the jungle cannot work in healthcare lah. Even when run by govt, they want to turn it into a profit making business, the medical professionals making a pile, the insurance making another pile, the lawyers also making another pile.

    Healthcare must be run by the govt not for profit. But it can only work when the heart is in the right place. You need good people to run it, not clever people trying to make more money from it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Remisiers making a pile too?

      Delete
  17. redbean:

    People in the private sector are in business to make a profit. They have to serve the customer well, because of cut-throat competition -- because no one has a monoply. HDB doctors work hard, if they don't they go broke. Private hospitals need to operate at a high standard, or the hundreds of millions/ billions of invested funds will vanish into thin air as the business fails. You want profit? Fine. Then you have to work like hell to get it from voluntary customers.

    Now over to government: What the fuck is govt doing making a profit? Govt is a MONOPOLY -- it has no incentive to have price competition or competition in the value of delivered products and services. If it is financially irresponsible -- it simply TAX the population for a "bailout".

    If you neglect customers wants and need in the private sector and chase profit just for profit's sake, you will go BROKE very quickly. If you screw up, you go BROKE, very quickly.

    However if you are the government, you can make multi-billion dollars in mistakes, treat your CAPTIVE customers like shit, be financially irresponsible...and stay in business forever and ever, simply by bilking the taxpayers to continue funding a black hole which refuses to die. If they screw up: can you sue? Sure you can ;-) Good luck!

    Fuck the government. I'm happy to give my money to profit seeking capitalists -- the one I choose over the myriad of other profit seeking capitalists competing for my dollar.

    Go private. at least if thing go awry, you can SUE and WIN.

    Public healthcare is a joke. And everywhere it has been tried, it has turned out out be MORE EXPENSIVE than a true free-competition private system.

    ---

    to call sign knnbccb...

    Heil Harry! PAP Uber Alles! (do goose step and Nazi salute)

    ReplyDelete
  18. P.S.

    Capitalism is not really "law of the jungle". In the service sector, and healthcare is a service, you'd better be doing the right things to woo and keep customers -- as many as possible and then some, to keep your enterprise profitable.

    But forget all my hi falutin' Ayn Rand "theories". Go and seek EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE yourself. Go to a Polyclinic -- wait in the fucking queue for "service", see the pissed-off, underpaid and over-worked doc and remember the experience.

    Then go to a private practice, for e.g. Camden Medical in Tanglin, and see how you are treated there.

    I want the person treating me -- and paying attention to my health and life -- to be happy, not stressed from over-work, happy with his/ her remuneration and their lives in general.

    Go private. Pay the doctor. Afterall, your life in in his hands ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  19. many would be parents from low income bracket are shocked to learn that one tin of baby milk powder can cost up to S$70 in pap ntuc supermarket

    after cpf deduction how much cash left if you are earning less just 1200 as a cleaner?

    workfare bonus is just gimmick. a one-off payment, a fraction of your lowly income & almost all of this paltry sum goes back into the blackhole called cpf !


    ReplyDelete
  20. @1231:

    Being a parent is an honorific and an honor. Some might call it a blessing -- nonetheless it is something of high value to which many people work hard to become and maintain. To be a parent you must have ABILITY to fulfill your responsibilities.

    Not everyone can be a parent. Certainly drug addicts, the mentally disturbed, people with HIV, pedophiles, rapists, murderers...will probably not make good parents. They lack the ABILITY.

    People who don't earn enough money do not have the ECONOMIC ABILITY to become parents. So they shouldn't. But, alas, many do. And that's why the poverty cycle continues -- people making totally fucked up decision which harm the children.

    If you earn $1200, you really have no business starting a family. You can barely look after yourself. WTF are these people thinking that they have the ABILITY to look after anyone else.

    Fuck them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. U forgetted to mention philanderers and those fucking around shud not be parents too even though they are loaded. Do oso know that being a patient is not a voluntary choice. So seeking medical cure is not looking for a whore at desker rd or geylang.
      You know?

      Delete
  21. We must thank Matilah for his bullshit here. Someone who earns $1m a month would want the ERP increase to $50 a pass so that the roads are free for his own leisure and pleasure drive. Does he need to bother about the 90% that cannot afford $5 a pass or even a car?

    Putin fucked the sausage seller for selling his sausages at a higher price than others caused he was the only one selling them. We need assholes like Putin, I like him, to kick the asses of these motherfuckers to give the losers a chance to breathe easier.

    The need to bring down a system can be a fast and bloody one or a gradual and peaceful one. One is called revolution and the other change. Nature is such that regimes or people in power will soon be corrupted by their own greed, just like capitalism. If not stop or moderated, it would hit the extreme state faster and be brought down faster.

    But if gradual changes are made and not allow excesses to rip everything apart, things can go on and on for a longer time.

    Whichever way, it will come apart just like a piece of equipment. It must breakdown, only when and how well it is maintained.

    ReplyDelete
  22. age 35-44 earns 1200
    one-off payment out of wis $1225 only $490 is cash the rest cpf

    S$490 divided 12 month is only $40 !!

    workfare bonus is not enough to catch up with the increase food items prices

    can cpf be used to pay food in koufu dear finance minister???

    ReplyDelete
  23. you will never know what great surprises the next generation will bring... many of our early immigrants had little or no education

    some take one generation some take two, to get out of poverty

    as far they keep the family small why not ?

    the QUESTION is why after so many generations so many Singaporeans are still drawing less US$1000/- per month working 6day-week???

    ReplyDelete
  24. redbean:

    No problem, you're most welcome.

    I don't know if you agree with me or not, but I will say that one has to be able how to figure out how one is going to get through life -- in the physical realm. I.E. figure out ways of moving your atoms around other objects made of atoms, so that you can continue to live. This is assuming you agree we live/ exist in a material, physical world.

    Therefore all "theories" have to conform to the "objectivity" of physical existence.

    Whilst you are plotting your "revolution" and "philosophizing" there are people like myself who appreciate objective reality -- as best as we can perceive and measure it -- needs to be understood -- as best we can -- so that we can "get stuff done".

    So I'll stick with private enterprise and accept the fact that humans behave in what they evaluate as their own self interest. You can continue to busy yourself in curing the "flaws" of our species to whatever end that it is you have in mind :-)

    You'll know if you are right or wrong by the real results you experience in the physical world. I called that empirical evidence :-)

    Living well, is most definitely the best revenge.

    ReplyDelete
  25. There will come a day when all who love there lives will scurry out of Sin due to disease or chaos.
    It will happen.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Speaking of healthcare and CPF, here is an article for redbean -- the caffeinated roadside storyteller -- to comment on.

    It is all over FaceBook already.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Hope everyone understand that nature is such that regimes or people in power will soon be corrupted by their own greed, just like capitalism. If not stop or moderated, it would hit the extreme state faster and be brought down faster.

    Regards,
    Kopi Luwak

    ReplyDelete
  28. Hi Glan Deas, welcome to the blog.
    Have not tasted kopi luwak yet.

    Matila, kpkb is our right. Ultimately everyone has to take care of his own life and his own mess.

    What the people can hopt for is for people who claimed to tbe looking after the interest of the people and getting paid in the millions to do something really good for the people. I don't think that is asking too much.

    ReplyDelete
  29. There is no ideal solution. A mixture of both is the best but may still not the most ideal unless we live in a world of unlimited resources. The gov should call for tender (conducted without fraud) every year for international healthcare providers and the lowest tender will get it. Any lapse in service agreement will be covered by fines. Similarly, we can also call for tenders for people with credential for president and minister positions and any lapse to be covered by fines.

    ReplyDelete
  30. how to survive lah now one tin of similac baby formula 1.8kg is selling at S$97 at ntuc
    would ntuc accept cpf payment to buy baby formula ?????

    ReplyDelete
  31. Many chinese import milk powder directly from europe. It is much cheaper that way than to buy directly from their local supermarkets. We live in a ridiculous world.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Why not the hypocrites in white pay themselves $1 million dollars.
    - payable not in cash but in income tax credits
    - just like baby bonus

    ReplyDelete
  33. how much is khoo teck huat hospital/govt paying the housekeepers? how they are creating low income workers ?

    21/11/13 classified
    Housekeepers
    7pm-11pm / 11pm-7am

    salary up to $1200 ( after cpf less than 1000)

    fit energetic reliable etc etc

    some more must speak read write simple English

    Singaporean only =====

    moral of the story: the housekeeping and cleaning industry needs a much stronger union to help them how to survive with this type of pay in Singapore--

    ntuc is just not effectual and lacks bite, the industry really needs a new union Chief to speak up for them! afterall this problem around for how long already?

    ReplyDelete
  34. the govt always boasts and brags about the hundreds of billions in the coffer BUT REFUSES to pay a decent salary to housekeeper.

    Still want to have cpf deduction some more from a already very low salary??

    something is very wrong here !!

    ReplyDelete