<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>More defaulting on nursing home bills
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Families say they are struggling to support themselves in recession </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Theresa Tan & Melissa Sim
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Elderly residents of Ju Eng Home. Several homes say the recession has made non-payment worse. To ensure that defaulted payments do not become bad debts, homes first try to find out why the family is behind in payments. -- ST PHOTO: TERENCE TAN
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->SOME nursing homes are reporting a rise in the number of people defaulting on the bill for their parents' stay amid this recession.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>'THEY DRIVE BIG CARS BUT REFUSE TO PAY'
SOME Singaporeans are using the recession as an excuse to avoid paying their parents' nursing home bills - even though they look like they can afford to, say the operators of these homes.
Take, for example, a man who claimed his business had failed and then, for three years, did not pay the Ju Eng Home for Senior Citizens, which was looking after his elderly mother.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>The Straits Times spoke to five organisations which run nursing homes. Four are charities which say unpaid bills are a perennial problem, but the economic funk has made it worse.
They say this recession has made collecting payment especially tough, compared to previous downturns.
Another 10 groups contacted - a mix of homes run by charities and private outfits - declined comment, but those in the industry say the problem is widespread.
Mr Wee Lin, founder of the Sunlove Abode for Intellectually Infirmed, said the amounts owed to its two homes are 'surprisingly high' this recession.
In the first five months of this year, defaulted bills amounted to $50,100.
While comparative figures are not available, in March last year when its financial year ended, its residents owed the homes $38,400; in the same period in 2007, the amount defaulted was $21,600.
The picture was similar at the Salvation Army's Peacehaven Nursing Home: Unpaid bills came to $89,000 in March, but just two months later, the sum had ballooned to almost $200,000.
Mr Lawrence Ang, chairman of the Ju Eng Home for Senior Citizens, said: 'Some children say they can't even support their own families now; how are they going to support their parents?'
A 62-year-old courier who wanted to be known only as Madam Lim said she was now struggling to support herself and her ailing husband on their combined monthly income of under $2,000.
With her mother's nursing home fees biting an $850 chunk out of that, Madam Lim - who has no siblings with whom to share this expense - is already a few thousand dollars behind in payments.
She said: 'With the recession, sometimes my boss doesn't pay us on time, so that makes matters worse.'
Ju Eng Home's Mr Ang observed that even larger families may have problems, in that siblings pass the buck among themselves.
He said: 'I think with the stress of daily living, some children feel they have to take care of themselves first.
'And if the siblings are not close to each other, some try to distance themselves so they don't have to pay the bill.'
To ensure that defaulted payments do not become bad debts, nursing homes first go to the family to find out why they are behind in payments, and arrange for instalment payments or financial aid if necessary.
Charities say the rising amounts of owed payments mean they must find other ways to make up the shortfall - by either cutting costs or raising funds.
But with the outlook on fund-raising now bleak, cost-cutting seems the way to go, they say.
For example, Sunlove is now saving $1,500 every month by using diesel instead of petrol vehicles.
Operators like China Healthcare and Peacehaven Nursing Home hire debt collectors to track down families who have been difficult to reach, owe large sums, or who just refuse to pay.
Peacehaven executive director Low Mui Lang said: 'When people see that we mean business, they finally pay.'
[email protected]
[email protected]
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Families say they are struggling to support themselves in recession </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Theresa Tan & Melissa Sim
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
Elderly residents of Ju Eng Home. Several homes say the recession has made non-payment worse. To ensure that defaulted payments do not become bad debts, homes first try to find out why the family is behind in payments. -- ST PHOTO: TERENCE TAN
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->SOME nursing homes are reporting a rise in the number of people defaulting on the bill for their parents' stay amid this recession.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>'THEY DRIVE BIG CARS BUT REFUSE TO PAY'
SOME Singaporeans are using the recession as an excuse to avoid paying their parents' nursing home bills - even though they look like they can afford to, say the operators of these homes.
Take, for example, a man who claimed his business had failed and then, for three years, did not pay the Ju Eng Home for Senior Citizens, which was looking after his elderly mother.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>The Straits Times spoke to five organisations which run nursing homes. Four are charities which say unpaid bills are a perennial problem, but the economic funk has made it worse.
They say this recession has made collecting payment especially tough, compared to previous downturns.
Another 10 groups contacted - a mix of homes run by charities and private outfits - declined comment, but those in the industry say the problem is widespread.
Mr Wee Lin, founder of the Sunlove Abode for Intellectually Infirmed, said the amounts owed to its two homes are 'surprisingly high' this recession.
In the first five months of this year, defaulted bills amounted to $50,100.
While comparative figures are not available, in March last year when its financial year ended, its residents owed the homes $38,400; in the same period in 2007, the amount defaulted was $21,600.
The picture was similar at the Salvation Army's Peacehaven Nursing Home: Unpaid bills came to $89,000 in March, but just two months later, the sum had ballooned to almost $200,000.
Mr Lawrence Ang, chairman of the Ju Eng Home for Senior Citizens, said: 'Some children say they can't even support their own families now; how are they going to support their parents?'
A 62-year-old courier who wanted to be known only as Madam Lim said she was now struggling to support herself and her ailing husband on their combined monthly income of under $2,000.
With her mother's nursing home fees biting an $850 chunk out of that, Madam Lim - who has no siblings with whom to share this expense - is already a few thousand dollars behind in payments.
She said: 'With the recession, sometimes my boss doesn't pay us on time, so that makes matters worse.'
Ju Eng Home's Mr Ang observed that even larger families may have problems, in that siblings pass the buck among themselves.
He said: 'I think with the stress of daily living, some children feel they have to take care of themselves first.
'And if the siblings are not close to each other, some try to distance themselves so they don't have to pay the bill.'
To ensure that defaulted payments do not become bad debts, nursing homes first go to the family to find out why they are behind in payments, and arrange for instalment payments or financial aid if necessary.
Charities say the rising amounts of owed payments mean they must find other ways to make up the shortfall - by either cutting costs or raising funds.
But with the outlook on fund-raising now bleak, cost-cutting seems the way to go, they say.
For example, Sunlove is now saving $1,500 every month by using diesel instead of petrol vehicles.
Operators like China Healthcare and Peacehaven Nursing Home hire debt collectors to track down families who have been difficult to reach, owe large sums, or who just refuse to pay.
Peacehaven executive director Low Mui Lang said: 'When people see that we mean business, they finally pay.'
[email protected]
[email protected]
