Sec 3 NA Holiday HW

The above is a clearer photograph of the source in your holiday HW.

Full resolution photograph available here: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2069/2392920656_9e43774409_b.jpg.

Affordable healthcare in Singapore?

As the elections draw closer, more information, commentaries and criticisms of the current government and its systems emerge on the Web. I subscribe to a particular Mr Wang (http://mrwangsaysso.blogspot.com/) who is now an in-house lawyer at an European investment bank. His following article is extremely relevant to healthcare in Singapore.

Issues to think about:

• Is healthcare in Singapore affordable?
• Is Medishield and Medifund, as well as the various government subsidies really enough?
• Are community subsidies enough to tide the lower income group through tough times such as huge hospitalisation bills?

Think about the medical bills that the people around have incurred. Remember the bill that my dad incurred for a 3 day 2 night hospital stay. Remember my deceased friend's $100,000 hospital bill for a 2 month stay.

Is healthcare really affordable in Singapore?

For me I think healthcare is a fundamental human right, and no one should ever be denied of the right to the medical care. However, the related costs of it is so high in Singapore that people deny themselves treatment because they cannot afford it, and seek for more affordable alternatives.

On the flip side of the coin, a welfare state which pays for its citizens' medical bills is an inefficient one, eg. Britain's National Health Service (NHS). More to come on that.

In the meantime, ponder over the above issues.

You may also want to consider if you believe the source, and practice your inference skills. What do you think Mr Gilbert Koh is trying to say? Who is the target audience, and what does he want the target audience to do?

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Feb 15, 2011

Healthcare for Singaporeans in Malaysia

This is one of the rare occasions on which I disagree with Lucky Tan (who is, by the way, one of the most read-worthy bloggers in Singapore).

In a recent post, Lucky discusses a New Paper article which talks about Singaporeans being able to use their own Medisave savings to seek medical treatment in Malaysia. Lucky writes:

If your healthcare system is not universal and becomes so expensive that citizens have to go to a developing country for treatment, it is a tragedy, not an achievement. However, if you read today's New Paper, it seems to be saying the MOH has helped Singaporeans to save money by allowing them to use their Medisave for hospitalisation in Malaysia. All of us have to thank Minister Khaw for this flexibility of being able to save money by travelling to Malaysia when we get sick.

The article doesn't ask about adequency of govt support for poorer Singaporeans when the cost of private care in Malaysia is less than half (according to New Paper) that of subsidised care in Singapore. It doesn't ask why these people have to go to Malaysia to save money when Minister Khaw can get his heart fixed for $8....so poor people pay more and rich millionaires like Khaw get cheap healthcare - there is certainly a moral issue here.

The New Paper article is filled with smiling patients who are happy to save money going to Malaysia for treatment but I believe the story in many real cases sound more like tragedies. Take Singapore singer Yue Lei case as an example[Link]. He had to sell his home and go to Mahkota Hospital for cancer treatment because healthcare in Singapore is too expensive. Singapore often boasts of having one of the highest standards of medical care in the world but when the govt wants to keep its expenditure on subsidies down by sending poorer sick Singaporeans to Malaysia, it says the standard of care in a developing country is just as good as Singapore's.

Being able to get poor Singaporeans to go to developing countries for medical care takes the pressure off the govt to do more to contain costs and ensure universality in our system. We shouldn't have allowed this ...it is a tragic development for poor Singaporeans who get sick and don't get adequate help.

I disagree with Lucky, because I think that the New Paper article did the public an excellent service, by highlighting the fact that Singaporeans can use their Medisave to seek medical treatment in Malaysia.

It is important for more Singaporeans to be aware of this, especially because the costs of healthcare in Singapore can be so high. It is useful for all of us to know that there are viable alternatives for us, just across the Causeway.

Lucky goes on harping and complaining about why isn't the Singapore government providing affordable healthcare for Singaporeans in our country. These are ridiculous assertions and the sooner you realise it, the better for you.

The government isn't here to take care of you. The government isn't here to serve Singaporeans. The government isn't here to care for the poor and the sick.

The government is just a large, unwieldy, faceless piece of machinery programmed to carry out its own political agenda; pursue its own policies; and serve its own interests. Those interests may or may not coincide with your interests. If they do, well, that's just a coincidence.

YOU need to take care of you. The sooner you understand this, the better for you. You will see the pointlessness of complaining about why the government is not providing affordable healthcare to Singaporeans. You will see the value of gathering knowledge about how to better survive on your own resources.

Knowledge such as how to go to Malaysia and get medical treatment there.

Posted by Gilbert Koh aka Mr Wang

Source: http://mrwangsaysso.blogspot.com/2011/02/healthcare-for-singaporeans-in-malaysia.html

for those of you who wandered here for your HBL

below is a recent article about the baby bonus and the declining birth rate. is the baby bonus really inadequate? do we really need to hand out up to $500,000 per baby? what if parents decided they needed money and therefore decided to have a child so that they will get that sum of money?

do we have that sum of money?

does the government, then, becomes a parent to the child itself for offering monetary support and educational infrastructure?

these are some issues for you to think about as you plough through your home based learning. :)

what can you infer from the cartoon accompanying the newspaper article?

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http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_640826.html

Mar 3, 2011

3 MPs offer suggestions to boost birth rate

By Rachel Chang

WHEN dangled a baby bonus in cash of $500,000 per child, with no strings attached, some childless women would change their minds.

This finding emerged from a straw poll conducted by MP Zaqy Mohamad (Hong Kah GRC), who argued in Parliament on Wednesday that such 'in-your-face, upfront and simple' cash incentives would go further in convincing women to have more children.

'There is a tipping point, a price,' he said. 'Just that the Government hasn't found it, or is finding the price too tough to swallow.'

Mr Mohamad was one of three MPs to offer suggestions on how to boost the abysmal birth rate during the debate on the budget for the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) in Parliament on Wednesday.

The other two were Nominated MPs Viswa Sadasivan and Paulin Tay Straughan. All three argued that the current array of subsidies and tax relief under the Government's $1.6 billion 'Marriage and Parenthood Package' are insufficient in convincing Singaporeans to have more children.

However, Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng, who heads the National Talent and Population Division under the PMO, said that more time was needed to assess the impact of the package, last enhanced in 2008.

3D & 3N2 Term 1 Contents Page

3D

S/N	Date	Item
1.	19 Jan	Ch 2 Mindmap/Notes
2.	23 Jan	SEQ - Principles of Governance
3.	08 Feb	Sample LORMS for Principles of Governance
4.	08 Feb	Graded Assignment 1: SEQ on Traffic Flow
5.	09 Feb	Inference Worksheet on Baby Bonus Scheme
6.	18 Feb	Graded Assignment 2: SBQ on Fertility Rate
7.	01 Mar	LORMS for Graded Assignments 1 & 2
8.	02 Mar	Common Test 1

3N2

S/N	Date	Item
1.	28 Jan	Mindmap on Traffic Control and Population
2.	08 Feb	SEQ Scaffolding on Principles of Governance
3.	11 Feb	Sample LORMS on Principles of Governance
4.	11 Feb	Graded Assignment 1: SEQ on Traffic Flow
5.	09 Feb	Inference Worksheet on Baby Bonus Scheme
6.	23 Feb	Graded Assignment 2: SBQ on Fertility Rates
7.	01 Mar	LORMS for Graded Assignments 1 & 2
8.	02 Mar	Common Test 1

Any questions

Please post your questions under this post. I will try to reply all your questions by 11pm.

All the best for your SS Common Test tomorrow!