Sugarcoated Bullshit.
As everyone know, singapore is rapidly greying and it is anticipated that the cost of medicare will continue to rise. Its not a problem yet, but to prevent this from ever getting out of control, the government is going to implement means testing for all B2 and C class wards in public hospitals. I guess this is what a world class government do- anticipate the problem before it becomes a problem and take action to neutralise it first.
Kind of makes you wonder, why they didn’t take action to prevent this crazy inflation we are experiencing from ever happening first.
Gee, could it be because the B2 and C class hospital wards are heavily subsidized and the government would probably like not to have to spend more money than necessary whereas inflation is money coming out of our pockets rather than from the government. I guess its like when my first employer didn’t pay me my salary, the ministry of manpower was quite happy to advise me to engage a lawyer at my own expense to recover the lost pay while the CPF board descended on him like a bat out of hell for missing the CPF contributions.
After the last few PR fiascoes, I guess the government has finally learnt their lesson. Unlike the ministerial pay hike and the proposed compulsory annuity scheme which went down about as well as a 300 pound stinking hairy man trying to shove his governmental dick down your throat, the government has learnt to sugarcoat that governmental dick of theirs while still trying to shove it down our throats.
“But I’m doing all this for the future because I want to improve the standards in class C and B2″, which can be paid for using MediShield. If service standards in those two most subsidised wards go up and there is no means testing, then people including the well-off will probably flock to those wards to save money, he said.- Khaw Boon Wan, Todayonline.com.
You see, the government is trying to prevent all the dastardedly evil rich men from crowding out the poor from the B2 and C class wards, therefore it is important to implement means testing so the rich and the well off don’t take advantage of the system by abusing “generous” government subsidies.
First ask yourself, how many of the truly rich would really opt to stay in a C class ward? You think a guy making $200, 000 a year would really stay at a C class ward if he had the choice? The last time I went to a C class ward to visit, I sure as hell didn’t see too much tai tais lying on their subsidised beds seeping martini’s, eating sharkfin and caviar. You think when the MM’s wife was hospitalised during the SARs period, she was cooling her heels at a C class ward?
If the rich was really crowding out the poor at C class wards, than Glenneagles and Mount E must be closing down soon.
And even if the rich and well off are really opting to stay at B2 and C class wards, what is wrong with that?
Isn’t it the responsibility of any democratic and humane government to provide acceptable healthcare to its citizens regardless of wealth and position? I am not rich, but I’d say a rich man has as much right to demand the same level of subsidised healthcare as a poor man. If you think its wrong, than perhaps the rich should also be expected to hire their own personal police for protection and to pay more to attend public schools. Afterall according to the government’s rationale, just because you are rich and you can afford it, than you should not be entitled to the same level of subsidies as the rest of us.
And if you think about it, since the rich pay more taxes, shouldn’t it be the other way round?
But of course, they do not extend this rationale to the rest of the other stuff because its all sugarcoated bullshit. Simply put, this means testing will not affect the rich at all. Most of them are already staying at private hospitals anyway or the A or B class wards. Who it will affect are basically the middle class, which is mostly you and me. What this means testing will accomplish in the end is to make the middle class pay more for hospitalisation. The poor are already at the end of the rope and they can’t possibly squeeze anymore shit out of them. So the next best option is to squeeze the middle class.
Make no mistake about it, you have as much chance of meeting Wee Cho Yow, Kwek Leng Beng and Oei Hong Leong at a C class ward as Elvis. So all this bullshit about the rich crowding out the poor at C class wards are just bullshit. Much as they try to sugarcoat it, if it looks like bullshit, smell like bullshit, you better bet your ass, it will taste like bullshit.
Means testing means testing how stupid we all are.
17 Comments so far
singapore..eh sai si nuay sai peh
singapore..can die, but don’t fall sick
Fantastic piece of analyzing. Kudos to this well-written piece of article.
Cheers,
Kaffein
Bullshit! I fully agree with what you said. I remember reading from some books on tax and how it came about.
If my memory did not fail me, income tax started from England, but it was not easy to collect tax from everybody back then. The reason they gave was to collect more money from the rich and use it for the poor, but the rich are not affected by this cos there are loop hole which I would not want to elaborate here.
Look like this means testing is the same bullshit the English gave to their people when the started collecting taxes about a hundred years ago.
66.6%. Thank them.
[...] Healthcare or Heckcare – Insane Polygons: Sugarcoated Bullshit [...]
Why do you think that the Middle Class is often called the Sandwiched Class?
Because we always kena squeezed by everything…
It’s the same kind of ‘logic’ as putting up an ERP gantry for traffic entering Toa Payoh from Braddell Rd so as to “plug a gap in a series of gantries forming an outer cordon” designed to “control traffic going INTO the city.” It’s for people like these no-brain phucked-up logic bureaucrats that God made urine yellow and semen white — so they would be able to tell whether they’re coming or going.
No wonder my throat felt sore.
In the year 10, Emperor Wang Mang of China instituted an unprecedented tax — the income tax — at the rate of 10 percent of profits, for professionals and skilled labor. (Previously, all Chinese taxes were either head tax or property tax.) A true income tax was first implemented in Britain by William Pitt the Younger in his budget of December 1798 to pay for weapons and equipment in preparation for the Napoleonic wars. Pitt’s new graduated income tax began at a levy of 2d in the pound (0.8333%) on incomes over £60 and increased up to a maximum of 2s (10%) on incomes of over £200.
I think I better get serious about my exercise regime, after the 1 hr bus/train ride home since I can’t take taxi…
dun worry, we won’t get sick. After all, the high cost of transport will drive everyone to walk or cycle to work, good daily exercise to keep us healthy.
Government is of course bullshiting because the names give away its intention. It is not call means testing for nothing, it is supposed to be ‘mean’. Well, I won’t be surprised if they change it to be a better sugar name like Fair Testing instead just like these devils always wear white to symbolize angel but then they show their devilish tails.
It’s call perfect price discrimination. Economics 101, technique used to maximise profits, and can only be exercised by an institution that has absolute pricing power. Almost any textbook will also tell you that these monopolies are bad.
Sounds like our government scholars took their economics class seriously back in school
Of course we get sick and sick round the clock. Sick of rising costs, sick of a cold soul-less society, sick of money crazy leaders.
Some are so sick; they do not go to mean tests or seek medical treatments, they simply leave the living hell by flying down highrises and others into mrt track.
You name the rest please.
fucking awesome! i am ashamed to admit that what you pointed out never occured to me at all.. until now.
there is something intrinsically evil about taxation even though on the surface, the rich may appear to pay more.
however, paying more is mitigated by the rich becoming richer in such a system and the poor poorer whereas the middle class continuously pilfered.
Just came arcoss your blog. Very good analysis and enjoyed your writing.