These are the reasons:
1. Healthcare cost rises double digit almost every year.
2. Many people in Singapore especially older folks are not covered because MediShield came to exist when medical cost was not so high so they never took up. Some have pre-existing conditions so even if they buy, pre-existing conditions not covered. Whatever it is large number of Singaporeans have no insurance.
3. Others fell through cracks in MediShield, for longest time, Medishield did not cover new born, congenital illnesses and children. Many got congenital conditions like Down's Syndrome many of these families have drained all their savings to treat their children.
If nothing is done, this system will breakdown even worse than the MRT. We know because we just have to look at America before UNIVERSAL ObamaCare, medical treatment is the largest cause of bankruptcy:
Medical Bills Are the Biggest Cause of US Bankruptcies: Study
Why is medical cost spiraling out of control?
1. PAP wanted to limit number of doctors forcing people to do engineering. Shortage of doctors.
2. PAP wanted to turn medical sector into free enterprise called a medical hub for the rich. This caused limited resources to face high demand and price to surge.
All those gaps and mis-conceived policies resulted in many families suffering from high healthcare cost. For example, a father whose daughter had cancer sold his house and borrowed heavily to get his daughter treated. In the famous Charmine (princess) cancer case, the mother exhausted every cent to fight for her daughter. In the end, the kind hearts of Singaporeans prevailed to raise money for Charmaine to go to US for an advanced cure - sad that she did not make it....but we get to understand a mother's pain when the child gets sick - and how many Singaporean mothers have suffered under the PAP system?. In Singapore there has been many cases of children who got sick and were not covered by insurance, by the time the PAP acted there has been plenty of pain for these families.
The medical system of Singapore is too far off from countries like France, Sweden, and Finland. I'm not even sure it is better than Taiwan where true universal healthcare has been in place since it became a developed country many years ago.
Again the PAP's idea of rescuing the system is to tweak it one more time. This time making ordinary Singaporeans pay more in premium. Recognising the problem already took long enough. But the PAP refuse to go for a more equitable solution like using a slightly increased corporate tax to fund the system or cutting down on excessive defense spending to improve the lives of Singaporeans. In the end the only solution is to have Singaporeans pay more...and more....come 2016 is it going to be surprising when Singaporeans support the PAP less and less?...What is painfully obvious to Singaporeans ...is not so obvious to the PAP. That's why they keep losing support. The problem with the PAP is they are stuck in their own elitist world, boxed in by their own ideology, and constrained in their thinking. Recent report is the PAP govt is going to buy F35 spending billions on a platform considered by many as the least cost effective one around. Taking care of our sick, elderly and poor is more important as it heals the broken heart of this country and strengthen us with cohesion...which no number of F35 can bring. A country has to build on principles worth defending otherwise it will be a weak country no matter what weaponry it owns.
1. Healthcare cost rises double digit almost every year.
2. Many people in Singapore especially older folks are not covered because MediShield came to exist when medical cost was not so high so they never took up. Some have pre-existing conditions so even if they buy, pre-existing conditions not covered. Whatever it is large number of Singaporeans have no insurance.
3. Others fell through cracks in MediShield, for longest time, Medishield did not cover new born, congenital illnesses and children. Many got congenital conditions like Down's Syndrome many of these families have drained all their savings to treat their children.
If nothing is done, this system will breakdown even worse than the MRT. We know because we just have to look at America before UNIVERSAL ObamaCare, medical treatment is the largest cause of bankruptcy:
Medical Bills Are the Biggest Cause of US Bankruptcies: Study
Why is medical cost spiraling out of control?
1. PAP wanted to limit number of doctors forcing people to do engineering. Shortage of doctors.
2. PAP wanted to turn medical sector into free enterprise called a medical hub for the rich. This caused limited resources to face high demand and price to surge.
All those gaps and mis-conceived policies resulted in many families suffering from high healthcare cost. For example, a father whose daughter had cancer sold his house and borrowed heavily to get his daughter treated. In the famous Charmine (princess) cancer case, the mother exhausted every cent to fight for her daughter. In the end, the kind hearts of Singaporeans prevailed to raise money for Charmaine to go to US for an advanced cure - sad that she did not make it....but we get to understand a mother's pain when the child gets sick - and how many Singaporean mothers have suffered under the PAP system?. In Singapore there has been many cases of children who got sick and were not covered by insurance, by the time the PAP acted there has been plenty of pain for these families.
The medical system of Singapore is too far off from countries like France, Sweden, and Finland. I'm not even sure it is better than Taiwan where true universal healthcare has been in place since it became a developed country many years ago.
Again the PAP's idea of rescuing the system is to tweak it one more time. This time making ordinary Singaporeans pay more in premium. Recognising the problem already took long enough. But the PAP refuse to go for a more equitable solution like using a slightly increased corporate tax to fund the system or cutting down on excessive defense spending to improve the lives of Singaporeans. In the end the only solution is to have Singaporeans pay more...and more....come 2016 is it going to be surprising when Singaporeans support the PAP less and less?...What is painfully obvious to Singaporeans ...is not so obvious to the PAP. That's why they keep losing support. The problem with the PAP is they are stuck in their own elitist world, boxed in by their own ideology, and constrained in their thinking. Recent report is the PAP govt is going to buy F35 spending billions on a platform considered by many as the least cost effective one around. Taking care of our sick, elderly and poor is more important as it heals the broken heart of this country and strengthen us with cohesion...which no number of F35 can bring. A country has to build on principles worth defending otherwise it will be a weak country no matter what weaponry it owns.
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