The automatic deductions from your Central Provident Fund account will go up by $17 to $251 a year. Deductibles will increase from $1,000 to $1,500 for C class and $1,500 to $2,000 for B2 and above. All because 43 people reached the lifetime limit of $200,000 last year, up from 11 people in 2010. Surely buying one less F15 fighter jet could have taken care of the needs of that extra draw down. And is the extra $700 million really needed for the Nanyang Technological University campus? For four new blocks of staff housing, new retail outlets, cafes and "shaded terraces and pergolas"? Is Bertil Andersson running a school or swanky business enterprise?
There is no opt-out recourse if our senior citizens decide not to extend coverage up to age 90. The present maximum joining age of 75 is enough, thank you, since the premium for that category is already pretty hefty - especially when anyone with pre-existing ailments is excluded from coverage. Imagine, aged 75, and still ailment free. Put on the John Lennon cd.
The salt in the wound has to be the one-time top up to Medisave of between $50 and $400 for people on Medishield. That's like gutting you with a butcher's knife and then comforting you with a 10 cent band-aid. That premium hike will last till age 90, and it probably won't be the last. They are counting on the 60.1 percent who can't do the math. Medishield covers 92 percent of the population. Even that is not sufficient for the greedy buggers, they want to capture the 1,700 people aged 86 to 90, each of which will have to cough up premiums of $1,190 a year. How sick can you get?
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Hey Tattler, are you sure we can't opt out of medishield? There are people who don't have CPF which ironically are my insurance friends.
ReplyDeleteHow did your friends manage that? I thought everyone with a paycheck already has the CPF deduction taken out of it. I refer to those who are legally employed of course.
DeleteI think they are considered self-employed, therefore it is up to them if they want to contribute to their CPF.
DeleteAnyone can terminate their medishield cover. Just log into your account at CPF website and follow the menu/directions on medishield termination.
DeleteWhat the website says:
Delete"Once the cover is terminated, any unused premium (based on the remaining number of days in the policy year) will be refunded to your Medisave Account."
Suppose you have been paying faithfully for past 20 years, but you decided to terminate cover from next month onwards because the premiums keep escalating. The refund refers to the unused portion of this year. The premiums for the past 20 years? Not a cent is recoverable. The smart thing to do is to have avoided signing up years ago.
I intend to cancel my medishield if the premiums keep changing. A contract is a contracﹰt. Government is not keeping its promise.
ReplyDeleteVery sick due to the sickening rulers
ReplyDeletelording over all their people with impunity.
patriot
Disneyland is indeed unique, where all the "private" shields peg their premiums and benefits to Medishield. It's like Toyota, BWM, Mazda and Mercedes all offering their cars at the same price. Of course the private insurers are happily complying with the government's unspoken edict not to compete. And who has ever audited the "costs structure" of all these public hospitals? How do we know there aren't any "opportunity costs" of land sales-type of "expenses" built in? It would still be palatable if we really get quality healthcare, instead of FT viagra peddlers or molesters or bogus PRC/indian surgeons.
ReplyDeletemedisave is a tax. if they don't do this, how else to charge us exorbitant amount for medical fees.
ReplyDeleteTOH cc SAID MEDISAVE IS a tax.
When my brother ran out of funds to pay for his Medishield premium last year, he received a letter to top up or have his cover terminated. Unlike private insurance agreements, there was no surrender value. All the premium payments he made in the past just disappeared.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGY9i8iJu94&feature=share
ReplyDeleteI opted out of the medishield scheme when it was first introduced in the late 1980s. I just couldnt accept the reasons given then for the cutoff age(to continue to be insured)of 70 years old.The age was subsequently revised to 80, 85 and now 90. I couldnt accept the fact that after paying for more than 40 years and upon reaching 70years old(if I am still living), I wouldnt be able to continue to be covered even when I am willing to pay for the higher premiums.
ReplyDeleteThe reason given then was if one continues to be covered beyond the age of 70s,the premiums would be prohibitive. Well they had been proven wrong.
t
then its true in Singapore better to die then to fall ill.
ReplyDeleteThe Americans elected Obama to do a good job for them, not to dignify him with a $$$ salary.
ReplyDeleteWhen daft citizens can pay the sinkie minister millions, what can be wrong with the pittance in premium hike for Medishield?
Saycheese
as a citizen with MediSave and MediShield, anyone who wishes to opt out of MediShield out of pure spite and not genuine unaffordability, I really welcome you to do so.
ReplyDelete