Pants on fire

More good years ahead!

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Means testing may kick in within next 12 months: Health Minister
By Hasnita A Majid, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 07 April 2007 1911 hrs

Means testing may kick in within the next 12 months, says Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan.

And the first to be affected will be patients in C-class wards who stay more than five days in hospital.

Patients in C-class wards now enjoy an 80 percent subsidy.

But the Health Ministry realised that not all patients need such a subsidy, as there are some in the high income bracket who choose to be hospitalised in such wards.

To ensure that there is no abuse of the system, the Health Minister says means testing must be done on those who stay more than five days in hospital - the average length of stay.

Means testing, which is a way to determine how much subsidy a patient should get, is already done in nursing homes and community hospitals.

Mr Khaw says: "We are in this business where all of us want to constantly improve our service level. But if your prices are wrong, if they are heavily subsidised or free or whatever, you are going to attract more and more patients to you, including those who can go to Gleneagles Hospital and Mount Elizabeth and so on. And we have very good doctors, very good specialists. So we know that at the end of the day, means testing are important.

"And until you introduce proper means testing, I'm afraid all these problems will remain, will simmer. I'm seriously thinking about all those who are long stay, who should now be discharged to community hospital, we should do means testing on them. Now they are saying that if they go to nursing homes they will be means tested but if they remain at SGH they are not means tested, therefore it's cheaper - then we will never solve this problem."

Mr Khaw says for those who can afford to pay more, their subsidy may be reduced to less than 80 percent but they will not be asked to move to a higher class ward.

However, he is not keen to extend means testing at the polyclinic level for practical reasons.

Mr Khaw says: "It's not just looking at your personal income - we are talking about family income here. The whole family should be supporting the patient. So therefore I need to know how many children you have and how much are they earning. And we cannot have self-declaration because everybody will say they are poor, they earn $800 when actually it may not be so. So you begin to see the complexity of means testing.

"We know that at our polyclinics, waiting time is already very long. If at the counter we are going to start asking all these questions, you know, I think we cannot do business. We will end up doing only means testing and no treatment. So it's not practical unfortunately."

Mr Khaw was speaking at a dialogue session on on Saturday with unionists in the healthcare sector, where he answered several questions.

These ranged from whether the 3M framework (of Medisave, MediShield and Medifund) will see Singaporeans through their healthcare needs to what the government is doing to relieve the workload of healthcare professionals.

Mr Khaw hoped Singaporeans will manage their expectations, as the authorities continue to improve the healthcare sector.

He says: "Be prepared that if you want this higher level of care so that you can demand this and demand that, your co-payment has to go up, there's no other way because if you want us to continue to pump in more resources so that instead of one doctor to three patients, you now want one doctor to two patients or whatever, the costs just goes up."

At the end of the seminar, Mr Khaw urged Singaporeans to remain within the 3M framework to ensure that their healthcare needs remain affordable throughout their lives.

He also reiterated the fact that Singaporeans should attempt to stay healthy to minimise the chances of being hospitalised.

On Eldershield review, Mr Khaw says there will be rebates for those who have not claimed for the past five years.

The rebates may be used to offset any increase in premiums for those currently insured under the disability scheme, when the scheme is revamped.

And if the premium increase is affordable, he may even allow the payout period to extend to 7 years for the basic Eldershield scheme.

But a lifetime coverage is unlikely.

Mr Khaw says: "We are currently talking about those who are young, about 40 years old, we are talking about life expectancy which may well go into 90s. So we are making a promise of 50 years, who dares to give that kind of promise?"

The Eldershield scheme, introduced to help the elderly with disabilities by providing a monthly payout, is being reviewed.

The revamped scheme is expected to kick in by October this year. - CNA/ch

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Was Mr Khaw lying when he said, before the GE, that means testing would be put off for two years? Hmm.. I leave the conclusion with you.

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Related article can be found here:

Means testing put on hold

By Tor Ching Li, TODAY | Posted: 02 May 2006 0657 hrs

SINGAPORE: Means testing - which would see public healthcare patients being charged according to what they can afford - will not be implemented within the next two years as originally planned, said Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan on Monday morning.

"Means testing itself is not wrong, but how to do it properly is tricky and needs time. Originally, I was more ambitious when I returned to (the Health Ministry) three years ago. I thought we could do means testing.

"But after discussion with people, I think let us do other proposals first," Mr Khaw told reporters during a Sembawang walkabout.

Instead, Mr Khaw said he would focus on revamping the MediShield national health insurance system and on improving healthcare for the chronically-ill.

He was responding to Workers' Party (WP) chairman Sylvia Lim's questions on how means testing for healthcare would be carried out.

She had raised the issue during a WP rally at Hougang on Sunday night, stating that present indicators such as house size and household income may not be accurate or appropriate benchmarks for how much a person could afford to pay.

"If we make the same amount of money, it does not mean we have the same amount of money to spend," said Ms Lim.

Mr Khaw stressed that nobody can fault the principle of means testing. This included WP chief Low Thia Khiang who, according to Mr Khaw, had raised in Parliament the idea of means testing for Government polyclinic patients because Mr Low felt that rich patients were "overcrowding" the heavily-subsidised polyclinics.

However, whether means testing will eventually be carried out will depend on whether it is practical to do so.

Said Mr Khaw: "I will do it only if it is practical, because the theory may be sound but if the implementation is more costly ... then it's not worth the effort.

"So whether to do it or not, I don't know. It depends on whether we can come up with practical ideas."

As for how long it would take to work this out, Mr Khaw replied: "I don't know. You know my attitude to work, I am single-minded about things and I focus my energy on a particular issue. Right now, my big issue - besides Sembawang - is the chronically-sick. I think they can get better healthcare than they are receiving now."

When asked for his response to WP candidate Perry Tong's proposal for the Government to scrap the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on drugs - as well as to charge at cost medication for chronic illnesses such as high blood pressure and diabetes - Mr Khaw said the answer to rising healthcare costs was not so simple.

"If it was so simple that just one or two simple ideas from Perry Tong and the whole healthcare issue disappears, we would not have healthcare problems around the world being such a major political issue, not just here," said Mr Khaw.

He accused the WP of trying to score political points by proposing populist healthcare solutions that have proved disastrous in Britain, Europe and elsewhere. In Britain, he said, patients wait for months for even simple procedures.

And ideas such as reducing GST for medical bills, which is already being done for subsidised patients, would benefit the rich more than the poor. Private hospital bills are many times the size of Class C hospital bills.

"Instead, our solution is to provide Class C with the greatest subsidy (at 80 per cent of cost)," he said. - TODAY /dt

Contradictions

"To build a country, you need passion. If you just do your sums - plus, minuses, credit, debit - you are a washout." - Lee Kuan Yew, Straits Times, 21 Aug 89

"If you are going to quarrel about S$46 million – up or down another S$10 to S$20 million – I say you don't have a sense of proportion." - Lee Kuan Yew, Channel NewsAsia, 4 Apr 07

I can't see beyond my nose

It seems like some people can't see beyond their noses... Screen captured in case the entry is edited because of an "honest mistake". :op


Bill Gates+George Soros+Mother Theresa - How Much $$
Posted by elaina olivia chong at 4:56 PM





Money is the proverbial carrot. No matter how many people put themselves on the moral high ground, Money still talks for most others. If you want to get a job done you can’t do well yourself, pay some one well to do it well. If you want to get a job superbly well done, pay superbly more. Similarly, if we want Singapore to stay on the “Best Of” world list for a lot of things, we jolly well got to pay top dollar for the best people who can keep us right up there.

I can’t see why some forumers in our local chatrooms are questioning Ministerial pay rises and pegging our Minister’s pay to those in other countries. Spore isn’t like many other economies like the States, Britain or even Hong Kong where their economies can still remain alive even if their politicians are not making the best decisions. Not only are these economies self sufficient, they have people resources - to the extent where Supply far Exceeds Demand for geniuses at the top.

In many of these first world nations (whose Ministers’ pays have been “pegged” to ours), their economic engines are matured and almost self-piloting. These governments have inherited the fruits of their political forefathers and are now able to concentrate on improving the social and non-economic welfares of its peoples and say, spend time to build international relations with countries like us.

This government put Singapore, a country with no resources, with no historical ties or allies to begin with, on the world map in less than half a century. But will this last forever?

It takes more than a few good men to make a tiny red dot like Singapore a shining star it is today. Not an easy feat, and is not a task that every man on the street can do. Only the very best in the 4-5million we have, can.

Everyday is a new challenge for Singapore to stay competitive and ahead of economies thousands of times our size. If Ministers at the top stop what their doing; or aren’t clever enough to devise policies to keep us ahead of the global league, our economy will crumble. There’s no two ways about it. Some one has got to do it and able to do it very well.

Today, we have the PAP with a number of good men. Will we have the same people tomorrow and always? I’m not sure. I find it rather myopic and sadly presumptuous for so many of these forumers to assume that Singapore is forever going to be where it is, and that we will forever have exceptional geniuses willing to throw their lives to keep Singapore on its feet.

How many of our capable Singaporeans are willing to turn away high paying expatriate positions overseas? And choose instead, to stay home in Singapore, hold arms to protect and ensure the economic comforts for our families and posterity?

One of the ways and I'm not saying it is the only way, is to pay for them and pay them very well . To help keep them in Singapore, attract them into civil service or the PAP where they will join the “economic militia” and keep the Singapore flag flying high for a very long time


The life of a Minister is not attractive. How many are willing to sacrifice every evening either at Meet the People Sessions, chairing Review Committees and carrying another baby in a HDB kopitiam even on precious weekends?

A platoon with the acumen of Bill Gates, risk appetite of George Soros and the heart of Mother Theresa, I would think. And the compensation? Priceless. Haven’t we all heard this all too often, “Pay Peanuts Get Monkeys".

All that matters to me is for Singapore to stay ahead of the game becuase I choose to stay here. We sorely need more than a few Good Men to continue serving at the top so that our economy will continue its bull run. With a flourishing economy, Ministerial pay increments will pale in comparison to the prosperities and fortunes Singapore will be able to bring to its people. Because then, the man on their street will get his pay raise too.

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I can't quite seem to recall, but the GST was raised to 7% to "help the poor"? Or was it to "help the poor minsters and elites"? The details are fuzzy here.

Oh, really?

Changes to Civil Service salaries to be announced on April 9

Friday March 23, 10:17 AM

Civil service salaries are set to go up and details of this will be announced in Parliament on the 9th of April.

The salary review will be explained by Mr Teo Chee Hean who is the Minister-in-Charge of Civil Service matters in the Prime Minister's Office.

This was revealed by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the Administrative Service dinner on Thursday.

In his speech, Mr Lee said the government is also reviewing salaries for the political, judicial and statutory appointment holders.

He added that it is critical for Singapore to keep their salaries competitive so that the country can bring in a continuing flow of able and successful people to be ministers and judges.

The Prime Minister arrived at the Administrative Dinner with a clear message for his audience.

He said Singapore's Administrative Service is the core of the public service as it plays a central role in bringing about first class governance for the country.

And for the public service to remain an attractive employer, it must keep pace with the private sector.

The Prime Minister noted that salaries in the private sector have been progressing, with many good and well-paying jobs created in the last two years.

And demand for Singaporeans is not just coming from the local economy.

Mr Lee said: "We know from head-hunters that the entire top managements of some of our agencies are being targeted. The Middle Eastern countries are particularly interested. They have studied Singapore's success story. They want to tap our people to join them and replicate the miracle, and money is no object.

"Even foreign workers who have worked in Singapore shipyards here are in demand in the Gulf. We even received a feeler from one Middle Eastern country to buy the whole of JTC! All this will have an impact on the Public Service."

Mr Lee explained that there are two private sector salary benchmarks for the Administrative Service.

The lowest Superscale grade is where officers in the early to mid-30s enter the senior ranks.

For this group, the benchmark has climbed again but not for the second benchmark which is for the most senior Permanent Secretaries.

For this senior group, the yardstick is based on two-thirds of the median income of the eight top-earning professionals in six professions.

The private sector benchmark now stands at $2.2 million.

But in the Administrative Service, the salaries for this category has remained the same as the level in the year 2000.

It stands at $1.21 million, which is 55 percent of the private sector salaries.

Mr Lee said: "This is an urgent problem. We have experienced on previous occasions the painful consequences of responding too slowly when the private sector surged ahead. For example in the early 1990s, the Administrative Service lost entire cohorts of good officers. This showed up in the age profile of the Service - broad at the young and older age groups, but narrow at the mid- to late-30s range. We took many years to recover from the loss. This must not happen again.

"This is why the government is currently reviewing Civil Service remuneration schemes. The review will cover the Administrative Service as well as other services that are lagging behind the private sector, because every service is important, and each must be able to attract and retain good people."

Mr Lee reminded the Administrative Service officers that what they do affect how Singaporeans work, live and play.

And if everyone does their job well, the result will be a Singapore that everyone can be proud of. - CNA/ch

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To which, this blogger replies to the points highlighted in bold: