Medical fees for the seniors in Hongkong

‘…in HK everybody enjoys virtually free medical benefits. This is especially worthwhile for seniors who have more needs to see a doctor. In HK, all government hospitals charge a maximum of only HK$100 = S$16 for the treatment of any disease inclusive of all medicines, regardless of how many times the patient has to come back to see the doctor. …’

This is an extract from an article by AFP on the benefits of growing old in Hongkong. One of the biggest bug bear of ageing is medical fee. And if I read the article right, ‘everybody enjoys virtually free medical benefits’ in HK, not free totally but the cost must be quite minimal compares to what Sinkies are paying in our public hospitals. And $16 for the seniors, inclusive of medicine is a steal. And there is no mean testing to see who gets what or how much difference must be the subsidies. They are not that mean and petty.

Hongkong is very similar in nature to Sin City in many ways, including standard of living, cost of living and even taxation. Why shouldn’t our govt use the HK medical model to structure our medical services, particularly the fees for citizens and senior citizens? Why is it that HK can afford such medical benefits for its citizens and we cannot despite the billions or maybe trillions of reserves that we boast about? And the subsidies for medical services must be quite enormous for the HK Govt to bear, and the best part, it is not going bankrupt for providing them.

In the same article it was suggested that the cost savings by the HK Govt is that they don’t pay their politicians and civil servants ‘out of this world’ salary. And they too are not corrupt, quite as corruption free as Sin Govt. Should Sin Govt learn from HK Govt or vice versa, to provide good quality medical services to the citizens at very reasonable cost, but not very affordable cost? Is the quality of the medical service in HK much lower than that in Sin or comparable while the cost to the HK people is really peanuts?

The most frightening thing in Sin today is to fall sick, young or old. Many will be facing bankruptcy even with Medisave and Medishield unless one is very well provided with private insurance to end up paying less than $10 for a major op.

Punggol East a circus or a walkover

The news today, 5 parties will be contesting the Punggol East SMC when the by election is called. The parties announcing to be in the contest are WP, SDA, SDP and Reform Party, and the incumbent party PAP. The news is immediately met with a roar of ludicrity. Four opposition parties competing against each other and against the PAP would be as silly as it could be. The Presidential Election did not seem to teach any of the parties any thing.

In a tight contest of one versus one, any opposition party would still be in a tough position to think of winning. Are the parties real, in announcing that they all want to be in, for what? Are they thinking of a circus for entertainment or are they serious in thinking of winning and dislodging the PAP from Punggol East? At face value, it is just too clownish to be true except for SDA.

The other possibility is that Zhuge Liang is at work again. It is as real and as unreal. Everyone will be kept guessing. PAP will be kept guessing as well. Only on Nomination Day will the truth be out as to the number of parties will be contesting. Let’s hope reasons will prevail and sensibility will be the order of the day.

Yawning Bread thinking aloud on by election candidate

Yawning Bread did a bit of introspection as to the problem facing the PAP in finding a suitable candidate for the Punggol East by election. He ruled out Ong Ye Kung and Desmond Choo as possible candidates for obvious reasons. One has left politics and one a two time loser in Hougang. It is going to drain on him emotionally and psychologically to stand up in an election with so much controversies and negativities.

But there must be many candidates in the PAP’s reserved list. One thing for sure, the new candidate is likely to be put under the finest comb to be whiter than white, and more proper than a priest or a nun. And very likely, the candidate would have to declare in public that there is no misconduct in his record, in the past or in the future. The demand for such a candidate is going to be very stringent and PAP cannot be found not to have done its job in making a thorough screening for any flaws that could surface during and after the by election.

I can imagine the PM or DPM standing on stage to guarantee the moral virtues and integrity of the chosen candidate. It must be the most perfect candidate the PAP has ever put up for an election. The voters can be assured of a very fine and flawless candidate to serve them.

The opposition must take note of this and may have to offer another equally flawless candidate this time round. They had the experience of Hougang and should find this a familiar situation.

High COE will lead to higher cost of living

The equation is straight and simple. When a car or van is costing double, the operating cost will go up accordingly. Any business that needs the use of cars and vans, including taxis, not sure about school buses, will simply have to raise their cost. The hawkers and foodcourt operators that need to move their goods and raw material, or the suppliers, will have to incur the additional cost, and these will conveniently be passed down to the consumers, the lowest feeder in the hierarchy of existence.

Don’t think high COE just affects those who want to own cars. It affects everyone, every business, directly or indirectly. Of course those who need a car will be hit most and some will be hit earlier when their COE expire. Some are hoping that it will not happen too fast, but the clock is ticking and the old car they are holding to will be history as days gone by. And the real crunch will hit them hard. Many would have to readjust, a new lifestyle, and the buses and MRTs will have higher loads, and more crams again.

Low corruption rate doesn’t mean no corruption

Just like Wong Kan Seng said about low crime rate doesn’t mean no crime, low corruption rate does not mean there is no corruption. According to the stats, of all the cases investigated by CPIB, only 7.5% involved civil servants. And of the 135 cases charged last year, only 6 were from the public service. The numbers look quite healthy for a city that is famed for being corruption free. The few high profile cases recently do not tarnish the good reputation of the public service.

The problem of corruption is prevalent in many other countries and how to deal with them is first to recognize the problem. Countries that don’t recognize that there is a problem will have no corruption problem to deal with in the first place. Some are true and some are fiction, or corruption being disguised in various forms.

China is getting very serious in this business, recognizing that it is a serious problem and has to be dealt with urgently and with the full might of the state machinery. Vice Premier Wang Qishan has been tasked to clean up corruption, the most senior minister in the new leadership appointed for the task. Many cases were revealed publicly. The most startling change is to allow the media/blogs to publish cases of corruption that have not been proven. Luo Changping, the deputy MD of a news magazine Caijing, famed for publishing corruption in high places, received a call by the police that they will protect him. His publication of such cases used to be censored immediately and be visited by the security officers. Now his publication could remain untouched for months.

Wang Qishan also urged other officials to read the French Revolution written by Alexis de Tocqueville. The 19th Century French Revolution led many aristocrats to the guillotine, not much different from the Communist Revolution in China in 1949. Wang Qishan’s message was clear, ‘The biggest failing of the old regime was the corruption of the rulers.’ Said Dr Gao Yi, a history professor at Peking University.

The corruption problem in China is huge and pervasive and would take more than one man and a few years to eradicate. They know they have a serious problem that could lead to regime change.