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Coffeeshop Chit Chat - PAP cuts health subsidies for PRs woh...</TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right>
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January 28, 2010 by admin
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http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/01/28/pap-cuts-generous-health-subsidies-for-prs-to-appease-angry-citizens/
Written by Our Correspondent
Fearful of a backlash from voters at the coming general election, the ruling party of Singapore has introduced yet another cosmetic change to its pro-foreigner policy to appease fast rising anger from Singaporeans at being relegated to “second class citizens” in their own country.
Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan, a former Malaysian himself, announced this morning that PRs will get less health subsidies than Singaporeans from next year “to further sharpen the distinction between citizens and PRs.”
PRs now get 10 percentage points less in subsidy than citizens. This will go up – in two stages – to a 20 point difference.
From Jan 1, 2011, the subsidy for PRs in the public hospitals (Class B2 and C wards) and specialist outpatient clinics will be reduced by 5 percentage-points. From July 1, 2011, another 5 percentage-point reduction will apply in the public hospitals and specialist outpatient clinics.
The changes are unlikely to benefit citizens much since most PRs can easily afford to pay for subsidized healthcare in Singapore as they should be of a certain “economic class” to be accepted as PRs in Singapore.
In the first place, PRs should not qualified for subsidized healthcare at all. Singapore’s public healthcare system is stretched to its limits lately faced by rising demands from the growing population.
The Straits Times reported a few days ago that patients in Tan Tock Seng hospital have to be lined along the corridors as there are insufficient places in the wards to accommodate all of them.
Besides healthcare, the ruling party should also look into its generous housing policies towards PRs which enable them to purchase resale HDB flats and sell them at a hefty profit later on, thereby contributing to the sky-rocketing of prices in recent years.
A minimum period of residency in Singapore should be imposed before foreigners can apply for PRs and a further period after which they are permitted to buy HDB flats.
An additional “property tax” should be imposed on the profits made by PRs when they sold their HDB flats and return to their homelands eventually to ensure that they do not profit from the transactions. The taxes paid by PRs can then be transferred to subsidize needy Singaporeans to enable them to obtain a roof over their heads.
The subtle policy shift in the PAP’s stance towards the twin issues of immigration and foreign workers in the last few weeks is an indication that they have heard the rising chorus of discontent from the ground, especially the protest voices aired by Singaporeans in cyberspace.
Singaporeans should continue “making noise” as loudly as possible not only on the internet, but during Meet-the-People sessions, dialogue sessions with ministers and other official channels to make their grievances heard so as to exert political pressure on the PAP to amend their policies to be more “people-centric”.
However, it is foolhardy to expect the PAP to make fundamental changes to reverse its policy mistakes. To guarantee that the rights of Singaporeans are protected, we have to vote in enough opposition MPs into parliament in the next general election to deny the PAP its traditional two thirds majority.
Only then can we be assured that such disastrous mistakes as admitted tacitly by the PAP in its recent policy reversals, will not be committed again in the future.
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January 28, 2010 by admin
Filed under Headlines
Leave a comment
http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/01/28/pap-cuts-generous-health-subsidies-for-prs-to-appease-angry-citizens/
Written by Our Correspondent
Fearful of a backlash from voters at the coming general election, the ruling party of Singapore has introduced yet another cosmetic change to its pro-foreigner policy to appease fast rising anger from Singaporeans at being relegated to “second class citizens” in their own country.
Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan, a former Malaysian himself, announced this morning that PRs will get less health subsidies than Singaporeans from next year “to further sharpen the distinction between citizens and PRs.”
PRs now get 10 percentage points less in subsidy than citizens. This will go up – in two stages – to a 20 point difference.
From Jan 1, 2011, the subsidy for PRs in the public hospitals (Class B2 and C wards) and specialist outpatient clinics will be reduced by 5 percentage-points. From July 1, 2011, another 5 percentage-point reduction will apply in the public hospitals and specialist outpatient clinics.
The changes are unlikely to benefit citizens much since most PRs can easily afford to pay for subsidized healthcare in Singapore as they should be of a certain “economic class” to be accepted as PRs in Singapore.
In the first place, PRs should not qualified for subsidized healthcare at all. Singapore’s public healthcare system is stretched to its limits lately faced by rising demands from the growing population.
The Straits Times reported a few days ago that patients in Tan Tock Seng hospital have to be lined along the corridors as there are insufficient places in the wards to accommodate all of them.
Besides healthcare, the ruling party should also look into its generous housing policies towards PRs which enable them to purchase resale HDB flats and sell them at a hefty profit later on, thereby contributing to the sky-rocketing of prices in recent years.
A minimum period of residency in Singapore should be imposed before foreigners can apply for PRs and a further period after which they are permitted to buy HDB flats.
An additional “property tax” should be imposed on the profits made by PRs when they sold their HDB flats and return to their homelands eventually to ensure that they do not profit from the transactions. The taxes paid by PRs can then be transferred to subsidize needy Singaporeans to enable them to obtain a roof over their heads.
The subtle policy shift in the PAP’s stance towards the twin issues of immigration and foreign workers in the last few weeks is an indication that they have heard the rising chorus of discontent from the ground, especially the protest voices aired by Singaporeans in cyberspace.
Singaporeans should continue “making noise” as loudly as possible not only on the internet, but during Meet-the-People sessions, dialogue sessions with ministers and other official channels to make their grievances heard so as to exert political pressure on the PAP to amend their policies to be more “people-centric”.
However, it is foolhardy to expect the PAP to make fundamental changes to reverse its policy mistakes. To guarantee that the rights of Singaporeans are protected, we have to vote in enough opposition MPs into parliament in the next general election to deny the PAP its traditional two thirds majority.
Only then can we be assured that such disastrous mistakes as admitted tacitly by the PAP in its recent policy reversals, will not be committed again in the future.
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