Emotional? No. But don't worry. I think this argument is healthy as
long as it sticks to the facts, as compared to ones by some
others.
I agree with you that it MAY make no sense to you, for what we
are dealing here is clearly a complex issue dealing with our
reserves as well healthcare costs with a demographically changing
aging population, with the inclusion of FT/FW/PR factor thrown
in.
As you mentioned - "If you want to post an opinion which
generalises everything to defend the government's apparent lack of
money , be prepared to defend it."
Fine. If you dispute my figures and methodology on where the
money comes from, then please show to the man on the street:-
a. Where the 80% of subsidy for a high medical bill comes
from for 26% of our population affected by cancer.
b. Where the 80% of subsidy for a high medical bill comes
from for 26% of our population affected by heart disease.
c. Where the additional S$17 comes from for a patient who seeks
outpatient treatment in govt clinics (S$8) as opposed to
private ones whom charges an average S$25
And your lovely quote
Many want more welfare and social action, including giving
handouts from our budget surpluses and $300billion
(S$414.3billion) reserves.
It seems alot of money, but just take a lot on some of the
examples on providing health care costs alone.
Singapore's top killer is Cancer. At least 26% of the population
around 3.5million contracts it. That means 910,000 citizens.
To cure cancer, it would cost around $300,000 and rising for one
patient. That would mean S$273 billion set aside
just to cure our citizens of cancer, leaving only S$141 billion,
even though not all will need medical attention at the same time,
of course!
Heart disease is the second greatest killer in Singapore. The
usual fee is around S$50,000 per citizen = another $45
billion set aside to help our citizens at 80% subsidy.
Just these 2 killers alone will cost our country S$318
billion. What about education, government, military, and
other social costs? And not to mention a significant portion of it
is CPF to be returned to citizens?
I will make it simple for you. You don't have to pull data from
medical statistics. Just focus the answer to one average
salaried person whom has to pay S$300,000 for his medical
expenditure and tell me where his subsidy comes from.
You are still trying to argue with me when you have no leg to
stand on?
Don't even bother telling me to find out how polyclinics get
their subsidies. Simple fact: Polyclinic doctors are paid an amount
per month to function unlike private GPs. Simple fact 2:
Private GPs pay their own rental, their own salaries and
staff/operating costs. A simple assumption : Private GPs do not
have large bulk discounts from medical or pharmaceutical companies
because they are not big enough to profit from. The government
releases tenders for supply and usually the cheapest gets in. So
taking an average bill from a private GP doesn't really cut it for
me if that is where you get your info from.
Go read out how much the overall direct patient
subsidies are - and I quote - overall patient subsidies
exceeded more than 1.6 billion and projected to exceed 2.2 billion
by 2012. I don't see hundreds of
billions of dollars. Those are totals.
I attached a government release for your reference.
http://www.moh.gov.sg/mohcorp/uploadedFiles/Means-Testing/Healthcare%20We%20Can%20All%20Afford.pdf