SGH just took away my Bonus
- Thread starter DeSwitch
- Start date
- Status
my thoughts too. I suppose by non-resident you mean she is not a Singapore citizen?
Depending on her citizenship, she could be covered by her own country's medical schemes and can claim reimbursement from it even if she incurred costs in a foreign country. Can't be Singapore's responsibility to subsidise her healthcare if she is a foreign passport holder (same thing applies if a Singaporean visits an Australian, UK, US hospital as non-subsidised patient - the prices are much higher than anything in Singapore).
Not always true. Singapore hospitals operate on a cost recovery model, so there is little if any social medicine. It is run as a business. Contrast that with a country like Cuba, which has probably the best medical expertise in Latin America. Yeah it is a poor country but access to quality health care for the ordinary person is very good.
My good friend recently had life threatening cancer (he's in his 30s). If not for the fact that he had a good employer that picked up his entire medical bill, he probably might not be alive today. That's because money talks and it enabled him to get fast track service at the National Cancer Centre. If he didn't have the full means to pay, his case would have dragged for months and he by all accounts won't be around today.
Is the bill based on private hospital or govt hospital? If govt hospital, what class ward?
Basic plans medishield style plans that will pay for $3,000 out of your $5,000 bill above is about $50 per year for under 30.
Medishield plans that pay for 100% of the inpatient medical costs are about $150 per year for under 30.
BUY Insurance, there are limits to how much you can claim from medisave. For non-citizens, better buy, it's no different for Singaporeans going overseas to work. There are places elsewhere where people can be turned away for not having evidence to show that you can afford the hospital bills.
It is KK Children's Hospital, day surgery means not warded. Company cover for the medical. :thumbsup:
../azul123
Whether SGH took away your bonus or not, you will need to treat your mom.
Your mom has brought you up and be a filial son (which you are). No matter how much you need to spend, it will be worth every cent as she is your mom.
When my mom had cancer, I had to fork out 10 times more than what you are forking now. Now she has recovered and I am so happy as she is up and running again. It's the satisfaction from your hard earn money to make sure your mom is well. If it was me who have cancer, my mom or dad will do the same to help me recover.
Fortunately for me, I bought medical insurance to cover myself years ago. So no worries.
When it comes to your parents, there is no price. Just make sure they recover!
I pray your mom to have a fast recovery!
Your mom has brought you up and be a filial son (which you are). No matter how much you need to spend, it will be worth every cent as she is your mom.
When my mom had cancer, I had to fork out 10 times more than what you are forking now. Now she has recovered and I am so happy as she is up and running again. It's the satisfaction from your hard earn money to make sure your mom is well. If it was me who have cancer, my mom or dad will do the same to help me recover.
Fortunately for me, I bought medical insurance to cover myself years ago. So no worries.
When it comes to your parents, there is no price. Just make sure they recover!
I pray your mom to have a fast recovery!
If it's any consolation, I had a friend in China who was admitted to a state-runned hospital for a deep cut wound. He was "recommended" for surgery even though later investigation revealed he doesn't actually need it as the doctors would be able to charge his family more money. Complications arose from the surgery, he lost a lot of blood and the hospital used contaminated blood resulting in him contracting HIV.
It could be worse. :dunno:
It could be worse. :dunno:
My dad was warded at SGH 2~3 times a year on the average. I learn a bit on how to go about getting informations.
In SGH, the doctor in charge usually comes to the wards in the morning, about 8~9am. I used to go to the ward around that time, wait around and speak to the doctor after he examine my dad.
On other time of the day, I would ask the staff nurse for information and updates. Asking the other nurses would not help, while the medical officer (doctor) on duty at the ward is usually very busy. There is one staff nurse at every ward and her name/picture is shown on the door or near the door.
Sometime it takes a few days before the doctors can decide on the treatment. During the few days, they ask for lots of test to determine or help they decide. This is especailly so for my dad, who was having quite a number of illness and was taking various medicine.
All in all, I think the staff in SGH are quite helpful. Except for a few medical doctors at the A&E. I have very bad impression of 2~3 of them. On a few occasion when I sent my dad there, they would tell me something like that he is old and sick, he got this and that in his medical history, it is better to let him go.....
I heard some old folks said 'got money to die, no money to sick'. At the hosiptal, I also seen on a few occasion families argued, cried, usually over the medical fees, or wheather they should continue to treat the paitent, or who to look after the paitent......
Sorry, I think I OT, just that I got too much 'feel' after reading this thread.
In SGH, the doctor in charge usually comes to the wards in the morning, about 8~9am. I used to go to the ward around that time, wait around and speak to the doctor after he examine my dad.
On other time of the day, I would ask the staff nurse for information and updates. Asking the other nurses would not help, while the medical officer (doctor) on duty at the ward is usually very busy. There is one staff nurse at every ward and her name/picture is shown on the door or near the door.
Sometime it takes a few days before the doctors can decide on the treatment. During the few days, they ask for lots of test to determine or help they decide. This is especailly so for my dad, who was having quite a number of illness and was taking various medicine.
All in all, I think the staff in SGH are quite helpful. Except for a few medical doctors at the A&E. I have very bad impression of 2~3 of them. On a few occasion when I sent my dad there, they would tell me something like that he is old and sick, he got this and that in his medical history, it is better to let him go.....
I heard some old folks said 'got money to die, no money to sick'. At the hosiptal, I also seen on a few occasion families argued, cried, usually over the medical fees, or wheather they should continue to treat the paitent, or who to look after the paitent......
Sorry, I think I OT, just that I got too much 'feel' after reading this thread.
in general,
there are only so many countries that are willing to subsidise medical costs to a significant degree.. effectively you have to admit that like it or not, the subsidies have to come from somewhere, unless the government is going to print money japanese occupation style, in which case it does not work either. where does the money come from? taxes.
you can argue that oh, the taxes come from the richer people.. but hey, if the richer people are going to pay more taxes, obviously it will somehow trickle down to the poorer people eventually. they will still pay. there is an overall social balancing effect.
"taxes are paid by the people least able to avoid it."
who are going to be the ones who are unable to avoid taxation effects? the people who only survive on bare necessity. and which group would this be? the very people who cannot really afford medical costs in the first place.
big picture wise, from a logical point of view i guess you could say this for most countries. unless there be a special situation, i guess.
another way of looking at it could be the fact that while basic medical treatment is definitely going to give marginal costs to society as a whole, i.e. the doctor sitting in his office has to be paid anyways, and the medication given is mass produced, etc.. when you are talking about higher level treatment, especially those with serious conditions, where only so many companies have the expertise and money to research and develop medications that work.. then obviously prices will be controlled. there has always been an argument whether the prices of many drugs should be brought down, when they can.. in that case there is no real incentive for the r&d people to do it at all.. since there is not much benefit for a long-term "investment" of time and cash. in such cases, i doubt that every country in the world can cover it.
and in the very first place, i don't know, i think the system is going to suffer as a result, of course it defers from person to person. all i know is that the public practices here around my school area are notorious for being useless. a few of my friends went, and they didn't even get prescriptions for their flu-like symptoms.. all just kena the same medical advice - saltwater.. like it is the universal cure.
note that i'm not saying that the situation in singapore is the best way to go about it. the thing is, whatever direction you head, there are compromises. i have not really read up nor studied medical systems across the board.. but there are certainly arguments against a welfare-orientated system and for a welfare-orientated system and surely, both should have a chance to be aired. i mean, i'm all for a welfare-orientated system if i require it, to be brutally honest.. but surely i would feel very irritated if my taxes are going to go into bypass operations for a person whose mismanagement of his health results in a tortured heart (literally), because i am paying for someone else's inadequacies. i mean, you could push it to an extreme parallel example whereby the government carries out car repairs for people who get into accidents.. perhaps you would not feel so pissed off if you are paying for someone who crashed his car because of a car manufacturing fault.. but if you are paying for someone who was drink driving?
i am glad that someone has taken the time to respond this way though. i am not sure why there exists a certain group of people who seek to get into arguments about how old i am, whether people around me have gotten sick. it is a null point, and to correct your perception, it is not true. but it is the internet, i can claim whatever i want. you could also claim that a lot of people around you have gotten sick, whether it is true or not is another thing altogether. be mature. i do not understand why making a factual statement that the examples in life have not incurred such high medical costs somehow makes people think i am unsympathetic. not everyone is going to be lucky to go through their whole life without having such occurences..
but my view is that being strong, instead of feeling stressed out; being positive instead of just cursing and swearing and pointing fingers at everything in your life.. or acting irrationally is going to help anyone, least of all yourself.
cs discussions always seem to head that way, don't they? :bsmilie:
get used to it
Hmm... B1.... Why not opt for B2? :dunno:
Government hospitals.... Seriously, they can either be downright cold and efficient OR warm and friendly.
Its like a pendulum swinging except u do not know when u gonna get what.
These kind of diagnosis pretty fast nowadays. Medical Science certainly has evolved quite fast.
Still, wish u all the best and hold your faith in the good doctor to fix everything up. :thumbsup:
Ever heard of the saying, 'There are only two certainties in life, death and taxes'.
Regardless of whichever direction this thread went, I would like to offer my best wishes for DeSwitch's mother and that she recovers fast and fully.
All the best DeSwitch.
Poor people don't need to pay taxes.......
Also, regarding to welfare health system: there is something called compassion.....if richer people don't even want to pay for the sick in the society (even if they became sick due to their own fault, like smoking) then it becomes a very cold society.
It doesn't have to become like in the west where almost 100% of the healthcare costs for patients are paid for by insurances that can not fully cover all the costs (due to a greying society), but I think there is a way to have the really basic medical costs to be covered by a certain compulsory health insurance program.........
HS
already considered that; read
night86mare said:
other than that, i certainly agree with you to a certain extent.. of course you do realise that it would encourage a culture whereby people will not bother to take care of themselves. you could go ahead and shoot me by saying that is counterintuitive.. and i could show you all the big mac chomping people in the world today. give them a safety net, and hell might well ensue 50 years down the road. the physical training in ns today is not significantly tougher than it was a while back.. but more people are going for a suddendeath routine.
same logic as why the introduction of safety belt laws - i.e. making safety belt wearing compulsory.. didn't exactly improve the situation globally. yes, the probability of dying in a car accident was reduced.. but more accidents happened. but i do get what you mean.. an insurance programme might work.. but whether the majority are willing to provide that safety net.. is their choice, and should be their choice, don't you think?
No need lah!
I think Ren Ci hospital for example takes in those who can't pay or who don't have anyone to take care for them as they are abandoned.......I have reserved a bed for myself there just in case
I think The Salvation Army has a similar hospital? Or was it an old age home?
HS
Just came back from the hospital. This morning, while my sis was there, the Doc came and my sis asked him why the tests not done yesterday as promised and my mom's condition. Doc says test not done due to my mom's condition and will be done today. Cut story short, test was done and not that serious but tomorrow will need to carry out another test, to scan the colon. So dunno how many more test needed. In 3 days there my mom only had a bowl of porridge for lunch. She had 3 packets of Blood transfused. She looks OK. She was referred there after having her annual medical checks at our family clinic. Suspect stomach Ulcer and losing blood due to internal bleeding from the Ulcer.
This afternoon, when I was there I notice that the packet of blood remains the same volume for quite sometime so I asked the nurse to check. I think the tube blocked or what and they later replace another set. So if I don't notice it, God knows if they ever found out. My mom says the packed hooked up almost 3 hours ago.
Oh.. THANKS to all who had shown concerned. My mom cant be warded at B2. B2 and below only for Resident/Citizen.
My mom (73 this year) was too old to buy another insurance after her initial insurance with Hong Leong was cheated by the Agent, together with my daughter's insurance.
In Malaysia, I was told only need RM1 for registration and if ordinary treatment, don't need to pay any more $$. Childbirth only RM21 inclusive of free post natal care for their Citizen.
My only hope was for my Mom to recover soon and the cause detected. Tomorrow will be a better day.
This afternoon, when I was there I notice that the packet of blood remains the same volume for quite sometime so I asked the nurse to check. I think the tube blocked or what and they later replace another set. So if I don't notice it, God knows if they ever found out. My mom says the packed hooked up almost 3 hours ago.
Oh.. THANKS to all who had shown concerned. My mom cant be warded at B2. B2 and below only for Resident/Citizen.
My mom (73 this year) was too old to buy another insurance after her initial insurance with Hong Leong was cheated by the Agent, together with my daughter's insurance.
In Malaysia, I was told only need RM1 for registration and if ordinary treatment, don't need to pay any more $$. Childbirth only RM21 inclusive of free post natal care for their Citizen.
My only hope was for my Mom to recover soon and the cause detected. Tomorrow will be a better day.
- Status
Similar threads
