HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Here is wishing everyone good health, wealth and prosperity!

HGCC Annual Xmas Carnival

What's so different this year was, the WP choir sang!!!!! Hahaha! The WP choir had 3 practices and 1 rehearsal on actual day before the performance.

We sang a total of 7 songs. I must say we sang beautifully :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!

Chinese at it's best :)

现代名句精
‧ 樹多必有枯枝，人多必有白癡。

‧ 君子報仇，三年不晚。小人報仇，一天到晚。

‧ 帥有個屁用！到頭來還不是被卒吃掉！

‧ 就算是Believe 中間還是有個 lie。

‧ 就算是Friend 最後還是會有個 end

‧ 就算是Lover 最後還是會 over。

‧ 就算是forget 也要先 get才行。

‧ 樹不要皮，必死無疑。人不要臉， 天下無敵 。

‧ 懷才就像懷孕，時間久了才能讓人看出來 。

‧ 青春就像衛生紙。看著挺多的，用著用著就不夠了。

‧ 幸福離我們很近，但我們都忘了靠近。

‧ 天底下沒有所謂複雜的事情，是人的思維和感情把它複雜化了 。

‧ 福利不是問題，問題是沒福利。錢不是問題，問題是沒錢。

‧ 今日事今日畢，過了今日就不必。

‧ 皮夾裡的發票永遠比鈔票多。

Contradicting or me?

Khaw Boon Wan's latest blogpost, 'Keeping Umbrellas Strong', mentioned that he paid only $8 for a Heart By Pass surgery. All thanks to his Medishield and a private Shield supplement. Medisave took care of his co-payment.

I'm confuse by both his blogpost and MOH Spokesperson's facebook response on how Khaw paid only $8. To me, there is a slight contradiction between the two.

This was extracted from MOH facebook (http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=500175045389&id=154909330630&ref=mf)

I'm going to dissect this paragraph:

"Health Minister’s total bill for his bypass surgery came up to about $25,000; of which $20,000 was paid by insurance, and $5,000 by Medisave. Minister had subscribed to Basic MediShield (since it was launched in 1990) and topped it up with a private Medisave-approved Shield which covers Class A and private hospitals. He did not have any riders. The insurance premium for someone in his age range (51-60 years old) is about $330 - $662 for a Shield plan targeted at Class A hospitalisation. Presently, one can use up to $800 per policy per year from Medisave to pay for Medisave-approved Shield plans."

His total bill is $25, 000 ( I believe this is a round off figure).

He has a Medisave-approved Shield plan or what is better known as an Integrated Shield plan. This is a combination of Medishield and a private Shield. There are 5 companies in the market that provides this.

The Medisave-approved Shield reimburse $20, 000. Again this could be a round off figure.

All Medisave-approved Shield comes with deductibles and co-insurance. Since there is no mentioned of which company his Shield plan was bought from, I assume that his deductibles is $3, 000 and co-insurance is 10% (adopted by most Insurer).

The claim should look like this:
Total bill : $25, 000
Less deductibles: $3000
Balance: $22, 000
Less Co-insurance: 10% of $22, 000 = $2200
Balance that Medisave-approved Shield plan will reimburse (less exclusions or pre existing, if any) = $19, 800

The total amount of both deductibles and co-insurance is $5200.

He did not have any riders that is the extra plans that private Insurer offer to cover both deductibles and co-insurance. Like what is mentioned on facebook, can I assume that the $5000 from Medisave was used to finance both deductibles and co-insurance?

But his blog post states this, 'Medisave took care of my co-payment of the bill'.

Co-payment is used as a separate term from deductibles in the MOH website.

Click on this link, to see how the website separates co-payment from deductibles. If co-payment comprises of both deductibles and co-insurance then it should not separate the two terms.

If co-payment does not include deductibles then according to the statement above from his blog, Medisave only took care of $2200 not $5000 that was reflected in facebook.

And if my assumption is right, Medisave-approved Shield plan reimburse $19, 800. Medisave was used to pay his co-insurance or co-payment that is $2200. How did he pay for deductibles of $3000? How did he only pay $8?

Is there something wrong with the way I interpret the two?

I hope to have someone to enlighten me on this.

I've nothing against the scheme, in fact, I think that one should not opt out from Medishield and according to one's budget or hospitalisation preferance should buy a Medisave-approved Shield plan because Medishield has its flaws.

Medishield comes with per event claim limits and annual limits. That is to say, every item that is claim comes with a limit, one don't get to claim full. It is when a Medisave-approved Shield is bought then this claim might be claim in full because most of them are 'As-Charged', excluding pre-existing conditions and exclusions. Medishield is only good for hospitalisation in C or B2 ward. If one chooses to stay in a different word, pro-ration factor will kick in.

Since one can either use money in Medisave for hospitalisation charges or pay the premiums for Medisave-approved Shield plans, I think it makes more sense to use it to pay premiums for a Medisave-approved Shield plan. This is because with the current ceiling allowed for Medisave which is $39, 500, this can easily be wiped out for any treatment or surgery of catastrophic disease in Singapore's expensive healthcare treatment :(

Love your country, fly the flag!

Love your country, fly the flag!

Indeed, as patriotic Singaporeans, we should be flying our flag.

Over the years, I see the number of flags displayed in HDB and landed estate dwindling. Unlike the 70s and the early 80s, Singaporeans readily took out their flag, ironed it and displayed it with awe even before National Day. Children will scampered to get in front of the television, ready to sing National day songs and unanimously have their right fist over their chest to recite the pledge.

Unfortunately this is no longer a common sight in the neighbourhood. To see this, one has to make a trip down to wherever the National Day parade is held. Is it only when one is soak in the parade then the spirit of patriotism is displayed?

The familiar 'Count on me, Singapore', 'Stand up for Singapore' and 'We are Singapore' are now replace with remix version that is difficult for children to grasp, learn and love. Its unfamiliar to them and hence no urge to sing along?

Believe it a not, there are people who associate loving the country to loving the government. Is there a possibility that people who did not fly the flag is because they were somehow dissatisfied with the way things are run? Perhaps.

The next question will then be, why is there such an association?

Try asking anyone that started their kindergarten education in a PCF where did they used to study? The answer will be PAP instead of PCF :) Perhaps this was where the association started.

The time is now 5 minutes to 12am, 9th August 2010. As long as you are a patriotic Singaporean, you can fly the flag regardless of whichever political party you are with or whether you like or dislike the current government.

Because Singapore is larger than PAP.

'Love your country, fly the flag! Happy Birthday, Singapore!'

PS: Hand picked 2 pictures of the fireworks which I had the privilege to see from the balcony of my house :)