One of the blog I read constantly is "Diary of A Singaporean Mind". The writer goes under the identity of Lucky and I find him to be one of the better writers in the Singapore blogshere.
His latest article is on rising healthcare cost in Singapore. In Singapore there is a saying that it’s better to die than to fall sick and the recent H1N1 crisis show this to be true. A man who went for H1N1 testing had to fork out $214 for a test that turned out to be negative. You read that right; a $214 bill for just one test. However that man can consider himself to be lucky, another man had to pay $1000 for a 9-day stay in hospital due to H1N1. When asked about the matter, the Singapore Ministry of Health (MOH) said that they had already subsidized the bill up to 80% and that the bill should be $5000!
A $5000 bill for a 9 day hospital stay! That comes to $555 per day! Any wonder why people say it's better to die than fall sick in Singapore?
The Singapore government may argue that Singaporeans have MediSave and MediShield, but most Singaporeans (including me) consider them part of the CPF money which we will never see. What the Singapore government should do is look at the ridiculous prices hospitals are charging; a $5000 bill for 9 days in the hospital and $214 for a test, I would love to know how the hospitals came out with these numbers.
4 comments:
The high cost is to keep the medical professionals (surgeons, doctors, nurses) and admin staff employed. The salaries of these people don't come cheap, you know.
The cost of running a hospital is also very high, with all the air-conditioner and emergency (operating theatres and life support systems, etc) facilities.
So you tell me, where do they get the money to keep such big agencies running? From the common people, of course!
It's really a no-brainer.
Singapore is not a welfare state, so dun expect full subsidies for medical expenses. A welfare state will mean higher income tax and other taxes, which may run up to 45% or more of our pay.
So what do you really want to see? Half your pay goes to foot the bill of fellow Singaporeans, while you try to stay healthy and fit; or hope that you'll fall gravely ill and have others foot your bills? I think you dun want both to happen, right?
The current system is still the best - you pay for what level of medical service you want. So stop complaining and just be thankful.
$214 for a test and $5000 for a 9 day hospital stay uh...are the hospitals 5-star hotels?
The hospitals aren't five stars, but the medical professionals' pays are. Hahahaha!
Post a Comment