Either Khaw Boon Wan is Poor / He is Clueless About MOH
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Cheap, world-class healthcare? You know that's not possible: Khaw04:46 AM May 06, 2011
SINGAPORE - With the S$8-figure being bandied about by some of his opponents at election rallies, Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan (picture) clarified yesterday that the sum referred to his out-of-pocket expenses, not the total bill, for his heart-bypass last year.
The bulk of his bill - S$25,000 for a week's stay in a Class A ward - was paid for with his MediShield and Medisave, he said.
"I paid the normal bill, no special arrangement. So all those lies about, oh because he's a minister, he got special deals. It was cheap, only S$8! But why was it S$8, why was it so affordable? Because I used the 3Ms!" he told reporters before his walkabout in Woodlands yesterday morning.
The 3Ms refer to Medisave, MediShield and Medifund, key components of Singapore's healthcare financing system.
"So, yes, I paid S$8 out of pocket. That was what I said but they conveniently blocked out what I said, they said I paid S$8 for a bill. Minister special.
"They did not say so but they were hinting that the minister abused the healthcare system for his own benefit. We never do. As ministers, we pay our own bills," said Mr Khaw, the anchor minister for the People's Action Party's (PAP) five-man team in Sembawang Group Representation Constituency (GRC).
The team is facing a challenge from a Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) team led by Dr James Gomez.
Mr Khaw also took aim at several of SDP's proposals on healthcare.
He said there is no need to raise the health budget to at least S$10 billion a year, as the SDP proposes, up from the current S$4 billion.
The experience in other countries has shown that spending more on healthcare does not lead to better outcomes, he added.
We have achieved similar outcomes, and, in fact, in various indicators we are even better. We are among the best in the world and we achieve it with 4 per cent of GDP. So why do you want to move away from that?
"Once you raise the spending level, that becomes the minimum level. It only grows from there, it doesn't drop from there," Mr Khaw said.
While the minister emphatises with residents' concerns over rising costs, he said his aim is for healthcare to be affordable, not cheap.
"How do you achieve world-class healthcare which is also cheap? You know that's not possible," Mr Khaw said.
With Singapore having to spend more on healthcare as the population ages, his priority is to ensure long-term care is available in the community.
"The ministries of Health all over the world are really ministries of Illness. That is wrong, we should go back to basics, which is, we are Ministry of Health," Mr Khaw said.
Instead, he wants to build up community wellness programmes to encourage Singaporeans to stay healthy.
The SDP had also proposed funding the increase in the health budget by cutting spending in defence and other areas.
Mr Khaw said that doing so would directly impact the foundations of Singapore's prosperity.
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Does Khaw Boon Wan not know that Medifund is for poor citizens who can't afford to pay their medical bills?
It's a sad thing to employ PAP Ministers like Wong Kan Seng, Khaw Boon Wan and Mah Bow Tan who don't know the basic policies in their own Minisitries.
Maybe they are still poor with their multi-million dollar salaries.
It's an honest mistake, let's move on.
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lets send the whole sembawang to JB old folks home
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Wait 5 more years lor.
But it's difficult with their absolute hold on news media and education.
Don't have high expectations because majority of Singaporeans lack the ability to think objectively.
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5 years for the guys in that GRC to live and repent. Don't look at me, I'm repenting at the moment, for the next 5 years.
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Originally posted by ditzy:
5 years for the guys in that GRC to live and repent. Don't look at me, I'm repenting at the moment, for the next 5 years.
You are so lucky!
I wanted to repent for 30 years in Marine Parade GRC, but apparently the residents here fear that the value of their property will drop.
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Originally posted by βÎτά:
You are so lucky!
I wanted to repent for 30 years in Marine Parade GRC, but apparently the residents here fear that the value of their property will drop.
If they don't build that MRT station they were talking about by 2020, I dunno what to say.
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I must be daft then..
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That's why we need to increase their million dollar salaries by another few million.
The poor ministers have to depend on the 3M's too.
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Originally posted by charlize:
That's why we need to increase their million dollar salaries by another few million.
The poor ministers have to depend on the 3M's too.
Should be increasing soon because they imported more FT and miraculously the TOTAL GDP went up.
Their salary is peg to the growth of GDP irregardless of GDP per Capita.
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Originally posted by FireIce:
lets send the whole sembawang to JB old folks home
Aiyo! don't be so scary....... my Woodlands also part of Sembawang GRC. I don't want to be bundled to JB leh.
I did my best, but my fellow voters don't ting hua I also cannot do anything ma.....