WAIVED S$70 A&E CHARGES FOR ADMITTED PATIENT

AxelaSG SG

Recently, my father had been admitting hospital very frequently and therefore incurred lots of S$70 A&E charges before he can be admitted to the wards.

First of all, this S$70 charges was introduced to prevent people for misusing the A&E department. However, like my father admission which is the geninue case and also being warded to the ward by doctor, we still need to pay for the S$70 charges for nothing Crying or Very sad .

For example, if your technician cannot repair your PC properly, he will not charge you for futher transportation or service charge untill the problems are solved

My proposal Idea is to waived S$70 A&E charges if the admission is a geninue and warded case.

LazerLordz SG

Hear hear.Charges should be imposed on a case qualification basis for all A&E departments.

LazerLordz SG

Hear hear.Charges should be imposed on a case qualification basis for all A&E departments.

fymk SG

I agree. My dad had to be admitted to CGH for chest pain and hypertension once - about 3 years ago. They dismissed it, saying it was nothing - made him pay the 70 bucks. Later when he went to heart center for a check up 2 weeks later - the cardiologist found out he had 3 almost blocked major arteries which resulted in immediate medical attention - he was banned from driving because they were scared he may get a cardiac arrest and cause accidents.

The healthcare system is so capitalistic that the government forgot about genuinely sick people

TKHan SG

You’ve got a point. But it’s the capitalism that keeps the healthcare standards decent here. Anyway, I agree that the 70 bucks be waived if the emergency case is genuine.

cornyfish2000 SG

But if they waive the $70, who's gonna pay the A&E staff? Besides arranging for these 'genuine' patients to be transferred to the appropriate hospital department, the A&E doctors and nurses also carry out basic investigations, treatment and resuscitation for them if necessary. Transfer will only be done after patient is stabilised.

Of course they can 'waive' this $70, but they'll have to add this amount to your total ward charges/medical bills and it'll all turn out to be the same.

It must be remembered that A&E is a whole specialty by itself, and the A&E specialists(doctors) are separate from the doctors who attend to the patients in the wards.

SnowFlag SG

You can also try to write to the Strait Times Forum to get it published. So that more people will read it and the relevant authority will respond. Razz

fymk SG

I think the waiver of 70 bucks for admitted cases is reasonable. I think people who came in with a mild fever and cough should be charged 70 bucks unless they are potential sars cases.

Australia itself have free emergency services and hospitalization fees are next to nothing as compared to Singapore's pay per use system. Maybe we should quit paying the upper hierarchy so much for "management" and focus on the real healthcare issue : serving genuinely sick people.

Frankly with a growing ageing population , a capitalistic healthcare system is going to pick and choose who lives . Look at USA - I look at Singapore's healthcare system and I think it is going down the american road soon enough. I rather have an equitable system instead of a victim blaming "you are responsible for yourself" generalisation type of system.

cornyfish2000 SG

Hmm.. well if they waive the 70 bucks from the patient, then it must come from the taxpayer, in the form of raised taxes. However if, as you suggested, we get the 70 bucks from the salaries of the 'upper hierarchy', then i certainly dun mind... Mr. Green

Anyway for the genuine needy who have trouble paying their hospital bills, they'll be referred to the hospital's Medical Social Worker (MSW), who'll look into the matter and coordinate with the hospital to help the patient. Our system is such that basic medical care is always available for all Singaporeans... it's only that if you want better service/better drugs etc, then you must be prepared to pay more.

ObviousMan SG

Feel the fire burning a huge hole in your pocket? Kao peh also no use. If you do not pay, how to support the 'world-class' medical hub?

And don't expect too much help from those support organisations. My neighbour just sold his flat and move in with his son. His wife got kidney disease, need dialysis treatment. Went to NKF and was told that his sons can pay the full cost treatment, therefore no subsidised services should be allowed. Ironically, we are living in a neighbourhood with a NKF dialysis center nearby.....so near can see, but cannot use its services!

Everyone knows how much money NKF has in its coffers, and it is asking for more every year. But it is just holding on to the donated money for what purpose?

Now you know the reason why gahmen is giving "Baby Bonus", so that your children will pay and pay for you in the future.

AxelaSG SG

For your information, I had brought this proposal to the Medical Social Worker, they PERSONALLYfelt the same way as me. However, they told me that this is the nation wide policy, cannot do anything. I also told them that our law can change time to time, why such regulation cannot change Question

Parka SG

One reason I can think of is the amount of administration and people you have to go through to change all these.

AxelaSG SG

Please be reminded that the $70 is introduced to prevent misusing of A&E department.

For instance, when my GP diagnose that I am having a dange fever thru blood test. He instructed me to be warded immdiately with a referral letter and reports. However, when I reached the A&E department, I still need to go thru all the test again and pay $70 before I can be warded.

fymk SG

Try getting past the red tape....

Nowhere in the world dictates that children are responsible for parents in the legislation except in Singapore. I don't mind that law but I feel also that deciding one's parent admission based on the income of the children is downright unfair while the children has to support their children as well.

Let's put it this way : the government pay their own ministers million per year each . However when it comes down to the minions - they weasle out of healthcare when Singapore's most precious resource is the human resource.