New solution to healthcare – pay by installments for 42 years
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New solution to healthcare – pay by installments for 42 years[/h]
October 23rd, 2012 |
Author:
Editorial
Minister for Health Gan Kim Yong
Whoever is the civil servant who came up with this “wonderful” solution to make healthcare affordable probably “deserves” a National Day Award from PM Lee.
In one stroke, he has solved the healthcare affordability problem in Singapore.
Firstly, the Singapore govt can continue to allocate minimum amount of budget for healthcare thereby continue to save lots of money for the govt. Currently among the first world nations, Singaporeans shoulder the highest level of % of healthcare spending vs govt do and as such, Singaporeans have the highest out-of-pocket spending (‘
PM: Raise individual’s Medisave contributions to cope with healthcare costs‘).
Secondly, by stretching the payment into long number of years, the amount payable becomes smaller and thus, “affordable” to the patient or his family.
In this regard,
why not stretch the healthcare payments to 100 years, payable by 2 generations of the family? The amount payable would be even smaller and affordable to the family of the patient.
It was reported by TNP last week that a 3-year-old child, Ting De Keat, suffered meningitis and was admitted to KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH) for treatment.
The child first came down with fever on 21 Jun this year. His mother, housewife Mrs Ding, then brought him to see a GP. The next day, the child vomited and complained of a neck ache. The parents then took him to KKH.
He was given a stronger medication and sent home, but the temperature continued to rise. 5 days later, he was taken back to KKH and rushed into the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). It was then discovered that he had developed meningitis and it was causing his fits.
Mrs Ding was in tears when she related the story to the reporter.
The child underwent three operations to relieve the pressure in his skull and had a shunt installed to drain excess water from his brain.
He was in ICU for 24 days and was warded for a total of 50 days.
After the whole ordeal, the bill came to $130,000!
Mrs Ding said, “When we were handed the bill and told to settle $30,000 first, we were shocked. How could we afford to pay?
We couldn’t even afford to settle the first $30,000 let alone the full bill.”
Finally, to show its magnanimity, KKH for the first time, allowed the large medical bill to be broken up into interest-free monthly instalment payments over 42 years (504 months) at about $250 per month.
As said, perhaps KKH should consider stretching it to 100 years payable over 2 generations. That would work out to be even lesser at $105 per month! How about 3 generations?
Indeed, the Ding family was happy. Mrs Ding said, “We were happy when we received a letter last month from the hospital informing us we could make payment in monthly installments of $250.”
The crux of the issue is not about coming up with fantastic repayment schemes to make medical bills appear to be affordable.
We should really be asking, “Why a child’s hospitalization in a public hospital can come up to $130,000?”
Remember, if it happened to Ting De Keat, it can also happen to your children.
The child’s father is a container truck driver earning only about $1,000 a month and his wife is not working. Even with $250 monthly instalment (for 42 years), it may still be a heavy burden to the family.
What do you think, Minister Gan?
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Related: Affordable healthcare in S’pore?
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