I would like to applaud the govt and the committee tasked with the job to come out with a reasonable, practical and affordable national medical insurance scheme. I still have many misgivings but this is a good start to protect the people from the robbers holding them at ransom, demanding money or their lives. There are just too many frightening and frivolous stories of ‘sick’ people being cheated and fleeced by medical professionals for their ‘medical’ conditions. The Medishield Life Insurance scheme would give the people some peace of mind and comfort in an otherwise uncontrollable medical industry with runaway fees that it will end up like choosing between staying alive and be bankrupt or die.
The available details on the premiums payable and the coverage look reasonable and fair without being extravagant on either side but still need some fine tuning. Below are a few points that I hope the govt would address or be accused of using the Medishield as an excuse for money grabbing and raiding the CPF.
1. There must be a cut off age for payment of premium. The govt cannot expect people to keep on paying premiums if they live to 100 years or 200 years. A reasonable cut off age like 80 should be applied and those above this age should still be covered without having to continue paying the premiums. Not everyone is a minister or chairman of GLCs and can collect millions to 80 or 90 years old. Many would have retired or lost their jobs by 55 or 60. How are they going to pay the premiums when they have no income and every cent in their savings is needed to tie over their daily living expenses?
2. There would not be many living after 80 and not many would need expensive medical treatments. The state must take over the responsibility of looking after the very senior citizens. The state can afford to. Senior citizens are not going to go for expensive heart by pass or organ transplant. Or certain exclusion clauses can be added to exclude such treatments but still provide the basic medical needs for free.
3. Excess premiums collected should be ploughed back to the scheme to lower the premiums payable.
4. It is necessary to have laws to ensure those who can pay to pay. But the govt must know that a medical insurance is unlike a vehicle insurance. The latter is needed as the driver can hurt and kill. The only person that can be hurt by not paying medical premium is the payer himself. Why criminalise the non payment of premiums across the board? Many of the jobless seniors would become criminals as many would not be able to pay without an income. This part needs to be carefully reviewed to avoid turning the seniors into criminals. Heard of compassion and honouring the grandpas and grandmas?
5. There is also a need to control medical fees charged by govt hospitals or the Medishield will become like a dog chasing its tail. The medical profession must not have a free hand to write their own pay cheques, particularly in govt hospitals. If there is no cap on this, a rogue govt can manipulate rising fees to raise premiums as and when they want.
6. As a compulsory universal insurance scheme, the premiums must be much lower than a normal premium or the existing medishield premium. It must be with the whole population paying for it. And it must be able to modify the coverage for those 80 and above and not needing them to pay for their entire life. This is simply unacceptable. It is crippling to the finances of the oldies and is as good as robbing the grandpas and grandmas. How can anyone conceive of such an action without feeling mean and evil? Where is your conscience?
I would just raise these few points and let the MPs that are supposed to be looking after the interest of the people to do the necessary. They cannot be seen as against the people. This is not a party issue and they must speak freely, speak their minds for the people, for once. The voters must watch every MP/Minister closely to see if they are for the people or against the people and giving lip service to serving the people. Watch those who vote for making the oldies pay and pay until they die.
Chua Chin Leng AKA RedBean
*The writer blogs at http://mysingaporenews.blogspot.sg/