In my letter on Medishield published in the Straits Times, I made the following suggestions:
a) Extend Medishield to cover birth defects
b) Allow people who were not covered earlier to join Medishield and, if necessary, pay a loading due to their medical condition
c) Allow employees who are covered by their employer to stay out of Medishield and join it at a later date, to avoid duplication of coverage.
In his letter published in the Straits Times, Dr. Yik Keng Yeong chose to disagree with me on the trivial points - of whether birth defects is uncontrollable. He also interpreted my suggestions beyond what I had intended.
I checked to see his background and found that he had engaged in similar disputes with other people. See
https://www.google.com.sg/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=yil+keng+yeong#hl=en&sclient=psy-ab&q=yik+keng+yeong&oq=yik+keng+yeong&aq=f&aqi=g1g-m1&aql=&gs_l=serp.3..0j0i5.8775l12446l0l12636l20l18l2l0l0l0l143l1188l16j2l23l0.frgbld.&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=4ad81885ffd0cb3a&biw=1366&bih=663
a) Extend Medishield to cover birth defects
b) Allow people who were not covered earlier to join Medishield and, if necessary, pay a loading due to their medical condition
c) Allow employees who are covered by their employer to stay out of Medishield and join it at a later date, to avoid duplication of coverage.
In his letter published in the Straits Times, Dr. Yik Keng Yeong chose to disagree with me on the trivial points - of whether birth defects is uncontrollable. He also interpreted my suggestions beyond what I had intended.
I checked to see his background and found that he had engaged in similar disputes with other people. See
https://www.google.com.sg/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=yil+keng+yeong#hl=en&sclient=psy-ab&q=yik+keng+yeong&oq=yik+keng+yeong&aq=f&aqi=g1g-m1&aql=&gs_l=serp.3..0j0i5.8775l12446l0l12636l20l18l2l0l0l0l143l1188l16j2l23l0.frgbld.&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=4ad81885ffd0cb3a&biw=1366&bih=663
10 comments:
I wonder why the Straits Times would have published such a frivolous reply?
At first, I thought that Dr. Yik was from the Ministry of Health, but I learned that he is actually a private doctor.
You should learn to accept his argument.It may be frivolous in your opinion but they are valid reasons.
Your is not the only view. Congenital defects don't just happen. They maybe due to preconception reasons or during conception or some genetic mutations.
Mr. Tan, please agree to disagree.
@Zhummmeng
Is it possible for Dr Yik to give his views without being personal or interpreting my views beyond what I had intended?
@Zhummmeng
If Dr. Yik is right that birth defects can be avoided by people, does it support the argument that it should be excluded from Medishield?
Will it be possible for the lay people to give their views on this question? Here I assume that the Health Minister is consulting the lay people and not the medical professionals.
Dr Yick is right that birth defects can be avoided by people, by aborting the baby after doctor confirmed that foetus has abnormal birth defect.
However, many parents still give birth to such babies on religious and moral grounds. It's not irresponsibility, many of us are in the dark about family inherited diseases before pregnancy, and such diseases may skip one or two generations before appearance.
If some people argue birth defects are uncontrollable, then it is due to careless ignorance about family history or ignorance about health matters, like dangers of the mother taking X rays in the first pregnancy's trimester or not taking folic acid and Vit b12 to prevent spine defects of baby.
Medishield coverage should not be discriminating, should be fair for all citizens, whether normal or not, no moral space for callous attitude.
This time TKL is right.
Maybe if Dr Yik declares his political party membership ....
@Soodo
I will not be surprised to find Dr Yik being field in a future general election.
Zummmeng probably dislike my description of Dr. Yik as "frivolous
".
I am not sure if I had used this word correctly, but I refer to it being trivial. My letter covers 3 major issues, of which the need for a public feedback is not that important.
But Dr. Yik challenged me on that specific point and made it appear to be the only point in my letter. So, I used the word "frivolous" or another word could be "irrelevant".
I need to bring out a point that worried me. I find that some people argue for the sake of arguing, for the sake of winning a point. It seem to be a part of our culture - to be "clever".
I like to focus on the key issues, and not be "frivolous".
As a paitent or relative of patient, we are interested in lowest possible premium and reasonable claim.
A SGH C Ward case:
The Bill=S$37,000
Medishield Claim=S$6,000 (16% of Bill)
Dr. Yik said: "Mr Tan also believes that having a child with birth defects is an uncontrollable risk. Passively believing in karma will bear us no fruit, whereas actively avoiding alcohol, drugs, smoking and unhealthy foods, as well as having children when we are younger, measurably cuts the risks of birth defects."
Dr. Yik acts like a frog in the well... but he is no Gynae, he is just a GP.
Cutting the risks of birth defects still do not rule out birth defect. Like some fellow doctors who over time lost empathy with the ground, so is this one.
Sad but true.
I am glad that the current Health minister did not take Dr. Yik and instead what we have now is "MediShield has been extended to cover newly diagnosed congenital and neonatal conditions from 1 Mar 2013."
God bless Gan Kim Yong and TKL.
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