Saturday, March 04, 2017

Many people complained that health care is very costly in Singapore. They say, "Can die but cannot fall sight".

They also said that the government is not spending enough on health care.

This is wrong. The government is spending a lot of money on health care. The per capita spending of US$4,000 in 2014 in Singapore is comparable to UK, Australia, Canada

Our problem is that our charges, both in public and private hospitals, are too high.

Recently, I went to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital to do a pre-check for a colonoscopy. I was told that the procedure takes 15 minutes. The charge is $1,900 before government subsidy. I also have to pay separately for the pre-check and post-check.

Someone went to a private hospital and said that he paid $2,200.

A former Singaporean, who now lives in Australia, said that the cost is much lower in Australia. I checked Google and found that the fee varied widely from A$150 to $750 but could go as high as A$4000.

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/2185728

I also had to spend a lot of time at the polyclinic and the hospital for the pre-check. Much of the time is spent waiting and going through two risk evaluation. I was also advised about the risk of colonoscopy. The risks were so small - I don't know why we have to spend so much time on it. Was it to justify the high charge?

We are wasteful as a nation. Our cost is too high. We are costly because we do a lot of unnecessary activities. The excuse is "to follow global standards". Surely, the global standards should inclue "keep our cost affordable?"

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The long pre-op including Dr's explanations and consent form etc is so that the hospital/health cluster is indemnified from any damages in case something bad happens. This is particularly for private-class patients (A or B1) as they think such patients have money to sue. For C class patients, the pre-op & explanations etc are MUCH SHORTER. Seen with my own eyes, hahaha.

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