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 :)

Only 'hardware' what about our 'software'?

My colleagues and I were at Changi Village Hotel on Friday for a workshop.

We were divided into different groups and mine consist of 4 Singaporeans and 1 Indian National.

The whole session was rather fun and when we came to the final activity which was kite making, we were lost.

Fortunately for me, we had an Indian National in the group who was able to make one easily. So were the rest of the group who had at least a foreigner. However, the group that was made up of all Singaporeans took a while to complete.

In our own groups, we went out to the field next to the jetty to fly the kite. Was it a surprise that the kite that was made by the sole Singaporean group, was not able to fly?

A Singaporean commented that no wonder we need Foreign Talent. Another one said it's true that we don't know everything. A third one then said that perhaps Singaporeans born in the 50s or 60s will know how to make a 'layang'.

My reaction was, what happened to our upbringing? Were we robbed of our childhood?

The facilitator of the program agreed with me. According to her, among all the company communication workshop that she had conducted, only Singaporeans had a problem. The rest of the Nationality was able to make one easily citing that they all have childhood experiences in making one.

As a Singaporean reading this, you may think that why would I need to know how to make a kite? No big deal what, Lilian!

But as a Singaporean who was there that day and now writing this blog post, I felt very strongly about it.

Disappointed that we advance from a 3rd to 1st world country merely by having more 'hardware'. That is, one can see more landscapes, skyscraper, skygarden, world's best airport, highest outdoor pool, tallest hotel in Asia, casino, NEL, Circle Line, Downtown Line, etc.

Something is missing. What happen to our 'software'?

Kampung spirit is rare.

We need a courtesy month to remind us to be courteous.

Reminder notices and advertisements on giving up seats to people who needs it more, are seen on public transport.

Phua Chu Kang to remind us to be gracious.

We reserved parking lots with bins and seats with tissue packs.

'No urinating' signs are seen in lifts.

Big yellow boxes are drawn to show commuters where they should stand while waiting for the trains to arrive. That is, by the side so as to let people alight first.

Maybe sometimes queue poles to know how to queue.

An advertisement to remind us to be filial.

And lately, another new advertisement to please remember to educate your children not to litter. The ad uses a graduate who went through proper education but was found littering hence Corrective Work Order awaits him.

What have we become? If we are not like that, why these reminders and advertisements?

When foreigners see these ads, they perhaps may think that Singaporeans are a bunch of rude, unfilial, disorganized and ungracious people.

As we advance, don't forget our 'software'.

Ah Wang the bus driver

As per previous years, I volunteered my time to be a bus leader for a 1 day temple trip organized by HGCC (Hougang Constituency Committee).

The trip which took place yesterday was not new to me and as usual apart from the 1st year, I was assigned a new member to be my partner :) Should I be saying, thank you for the trust in me to be able to lead the new member? Haha!

My partner this year was Pritam who just joined WP. Very new member but not new to politics I must say. Despite knowing that he would have difficulty communicating with the bus full of residents, Pritam volunteered his time. Very commendable indeed.

This year, we were assigned to a rather outspoken bus driver from bus 7. Due to his personality, we shared a fair bit during the journey.

At 8am before we set off for the 1st location, I went up to him to ensure that he has no problem getting to the places that was in the itinerary.

His reply was, 'Don't worry, I'm a Singapore citizen, born and bred in Singapore not PR or foreigners, I know my way.'

Hmmm I guess he was referring to the recent experiences that commuters had with SPR bus drivers.

Next, as the bus was moving off to the 1st location, Ah Wang, the bus driver asked me,' You all do this every year?'

I nodded my head and told him that if he meant bus leaders, yes, we volunteer as long as our schedule permits. I carry on to explain that if he is referring to the 1 day trip, yes, as far as I can remember, it's an annual event.

Ah Wang's reply made me smile and I cannot help but agree with him.

He said,'When WP organizes event, no one knows but when the PAP organizes one, it's reported all over the place.'

Along the journey, through my conversation with the residents I realised that most of them had been staying in Hougang for the past 20-30 years. A handful of them was from SengKang whom we applaud to welcome them :)

Ah Wang was sort of shouting at the top of his voice while driving so that the residents can hear him. He was full of praise for these residents! He praised them for not succumbing to the upgrading temptation that was offered in the last election and many more.

I do not know how many of them heard him. All I can remember was my conversation with Ah Wang. He was telling me how tough life can be if he loses his job. He is constantly afraid that his job would be replaced by foreigners.

If we happen to see any foreigners working along the journey, Ah Wang will start his grumbling again :)

I can feel his fear, really.

Lowering Weightage of Chinese language

This post was written to reflect my own personal opinion and that is I'm for status quo which is no lowering of weightage for Chinese language.

Sadly, I'm one of the many that opted for Poly tertiary education to avoid Chinese. Having not been able to learn more about the language is indeed regrettable.

Because of the standard of my Chinese, I have difficulty writing a Hammer article in Chinese! And sometimes I need English subtitles to understand Mandarin TV dramas :(

Luckily I enjoy singing and that's how I got to eventually have the chance to expose myself to more Chinese characters.

I have learnt to understand and appreciate the use of my mother tongue.

To me, lowering the weightage means lowering the significance of the language. By doing that, we are indirectly telling students that this is not so important and that to them means lesser effort. One will eventually lost touch with something that you spent lesser effort on.

Chinese is something that we use to connect to our roots and culture. Imagine losing touch with that!

With China integrating into the international community, there is no doubt that it is more closely link to the world. Hence it is now a common sight to see Singaporeans working or doing businesses there and vice versa. Without the knowledge and use of the language and it's culture, it's going to be an uphill task.

We are talking about PSLE here, which is the minimum standard one should have. Since it is the last line of defense for the language, there is no way to compromise.

Some of our dramas made Chinese teachers wore thick black glasses to emphasize seriousness and boredom. Are students getting the wrong impression here? Perhaps the perception that students have with regards to Chinese is something that can be looked into?

In conclusion, If Chinese PRC can score As for English why can't we Singaporeans, who are expose to both languages from young be it in kindergarten or through conversations with parents and grandparents, do so for our Chinese language?