January 8, 2010
More and more needy Singaporeans are seeking help with their
medical bills last year even though they are already heavily
“subsidized” by the government.
About 370,000 patients received “help” from Medifund in the year
ended March 2009, $26,000 more in the previous year.
“C” class patients can have their entire medical bill footed for
by Medifund and they form the majority of the hospital inpatients
who received help directly from Medifund last year.
Medifund was set up to provide financial assistance to poor
patients who are unable to pay for public healthcare.
The exact criteria is unknown, but one must have depleted one’s
medisave as well as that of relatives in order to qualify for
it.
Needy Singaporeans who have difficulty paying subsidised
hospital bills must undergo means testing and assessment by a
medical social worker to confirm that they are truly in need.
Singaporeans are allowed to tap on their medisave, part of their
CPF savings to foot for hospitalization bills and outpatient bills
for chronic disease like diabetes and hypertension.
If they do not have sufficient medisave to pay for their medical
expenses, their children’s medisave will be used.
Mr Gerald Ee, the Chairman of the Medifund advisory council
reiterated MOH’s stanace that no Singaporean will be denied access
to good basic healthcare because of inability to pay.
Though Singapore is a first world country, its citizens enjoy
few social welfare benefits compared to other developed
nations.
One must be really poor and destitute to qualify for meager
“aid” from the government.
The “sandwiched” class of Singaporeans are especially hit
because they are not “poor enough” to receive assistance from the
government and yet not “rich enough” to afford public healthcare in
Singapore whose costs have increased in recent years.
A typical 7 day in a public hospital can easily incur bills for
more than tens of thousand dollars especially if one is warded in
the ICU.
There is a common saying among Singaporeans that “one can afford
to die in Singapore, but not fall sick.”
Despite public sentiments showing otherwise, the ruling party
continues to insist that public healthcare is “affordable” to
ordinary Singaporeans.
There is no opposition in Singapore’s parliament to check on the
ruling party which has governed uninterrupted for 50 years
continuously since 1959.