Is Seniors being made the scapegoat for Covid19 worsening situation ?

 I find it troubling that our seniors are being made to be the scapegoat for Spore covid19 worsening situation. Recently a local site The Independent News carries an article by an Australia newspaper titled "Singapore recovery stalled by 100K seniors who won't get jab".

Foreign press gets the impression that seniors are the problem is because our government has been indirectly implying that seniors are the one spreading the infection. Govt keeps highlighting senior’s infection rate but not other age group.  Looking at the statistics, on average senior’s daily infection rate is around 12 to 15% but the focus is always on them. We know that even with vaccination, one still can get infected and die. Why is the govt giving the impression that those seniors infected are not vaccinated?  

Our local media recently interviewed seniors who are outside saying they can’t stay at home as they are bored. It is skewed and biased as they are interviewing small numbers of seniors who apparently enjoys being out. But the damage is done – the message is seniors get infected and spreading the virus because they move around too much.

Minister Ong has said that those 70 years old and above is 87% jab, while the vaccination rate of 60 to 69 years old is more than 90%. Our senior aged 65 and above population is 639K, with the home vaccination program and the campaign to get senior jab, the unvaccinated seniors numbers has dropped from 200k to 70k. MOH should POFMA The Independent site for publishing a divisive article and spreading untrue information.  It is sad that even local site is supporting biased views targeting our seniors.

I wish to highlight that low vaccination rate amongst senior initially is because the government did not realise many has mobility problem. Besides, during the early stage of vaccination, only those healthy seniors were encourage to jab, those with underlying health conditions were told to check with their doctors and immune compromised were told not to jab.  Seniors may not be able to ‘reset’ their mindset when later government changed directive which encourage practically all groups to be vaccinated.  So why keep giving the impression seniors are anti-vaccination? Why don’t government provide data of those below 65 who are not vaccinated?

We are told that for those elderly, especially those with health problem they should be vaccinated to protected them from covid19.  But now if vaccinated seniors with underlying health problem die – the blame is on their underlying health condition, not the vaccine ineffectiveness.  It seems that for seniors who are infected or dying it is all due to their fault. Is this fair?

Govt in overdrive to justify $20 M Summit spending

Seems like the focus of our govt after the US-N Korea Summit ended is to justify the $20 M poured into holding it.  Could it be because of the negative outcome as most critics said the agreement signed between the 2 leaders is full of holes?  Or could it be because our closest neighbor Malaysia is cutting back on govt expenditure while ours is still spending like they have a gold mine?

The main stream media went into overdrive the last few days to highlight how much monetary benefits Spore has gotten out of the summit.  Really?

I recalled after PM Lee announced that $20 M will be splashed on the summit, CNA interviewed 2 economists if Spore would benefit from the summit.  Both said the tangible economic benefits are limited.  However, after the summit we are thrown figures like $700M - Meltwater report, $200M worth of global publicity, $150M to $750M of economic benefits ($750M- increase by $50M overnight ?)......

Looking at the figures from $150M to $750 M - the difference is $600M ie 400% difference! Such a wide gap - and they expect us to accept them at face value and believe in them?

The $20M is already spend on the Summit, but all these airy figures are intangible benefits which may not even materialized.

To top it up, Minister K Shanmugam said that North Korea missiles can reach S'pore in 20 mins. The same old trick- using scare tactics.  Since when did North Korea ever threaten S'pore?  If US, our long time friend thinks we are part of Malaysia, N Korea likely has a more fuzzy idea of our geographical location before the summit.

Sigh! After wasting $20M of public fund, now they want to dupe us into believing the money spend is worth it. This is too much to stomach in 1 week.

Careshield Life - review community Chairman's statements don't hold water

CNA interviewed Careshield Life review community Chairman, Mah and the discussion touched on higher premium for female and the starting payout of $600 which is still pretty low to be helpful to those who are severely disable. But according to Mr Mah, this new scheme has 'significant improvement'.

Mr Mah said females are required to foot higher premium because they live longer.  But it is the average life span of female which is longer than male, NOT survival years after being hit with severe disability. Are that statistic to show that severely disable female lives longer than their male counter?

According the Mr Mah, the new scheme has 'significant improvement' as the payout is $600 for life. But it is only $200 more than the previous scheme which payout is $400 for 6 yrs. This was last revised in 2007. So it is a miserable $200 increase over 13 years ! (2020-2007 as Caresheild Life starts from 2020).  Is this amount significant? 

We also need to see concrete statistic that those severely disable does live longer, as previously we were told the surviving years is 6 after being hit by severe disability.  If not there is no significant improvement in Careshield Life, except that it is significantly more expensive with 10 years earlier sign up age and 12 yrs longer and higher premium payment compare to formal Eldershield scheme.

Mr Mah also claimed that the new scheme caters for inflation.  He gave the example of a person suffering from disability at age 31 (2021) will get $600 payout for life.  While one who suffers from disability at age 55 (2045) will get $1000 for life. But to me this is because he/she pays longer premium that is why the payout is more rather than catering for inflation.  What about that poor chap who is hit with disability at age 31?  He still gets $600 in 2045 presuming he is still alive.  How can this be catering for inflation ?

Thus, the review committee for Careshield Life justification for the scheme premium and so call 'significant improvement' don't hold up to reasoning.

Careshielf Life ...another 'helping us' scheme to load up CPF coffer

Seems like what started out as voluntary scheme in CPF always end up being compulsory.  The latest being Eldershield renamed as Careshield Life. So they claim that it is a better scheme as payout is for life - if one meets the criteria of unable to do 3 basic daily activities such as feeding, washing, dressing, mobility, toileting and transferring.

What an irony, if one is so severely disable, one would wish to go earlier than to live longer to get more payout. Perhaps they should consider including legalizing euthanasia if they are serious about helping us. What is the point if our quality of life is at rock bottom.

The most important clause in the formal scheme remain untouched - criteria for claim eligibility. This has been a point of contention of the public as most likely to suffer 1 to 2 disability. To suffer from 3, is too strict a criteria.  Perhaps that is the reason the payout rate is so low since only a minority meets the claim criteria.

It is stated that there are 1.3 million Eldershield policy holders and the total premium paid is $3.3 billion, but payout is only $133 million ! So much profit perhaps that is the reason CPF taking over the scheme from the appointed 3 insurance companies.

It is not stated out of the 1.3 million policy holders the percentage that meet the claim criteria when they suffer from disability. Their biggest 'selling' point in this new scheme is the life payout if one is disable.  But what is the point if one can't even meet the criteria for claim.

In the old scheme, the payout is for 6 years because they told us that their statistic has shown that those who suffer from severe disability die within 6 years.  Now they tell us this scheme is so 'good' as it is life payout. But likely most will still go to heaven within 6 years and CPF coffer will be loaded  with premium paid.

Besides premium being higher in Careshield life, premium payment is 12 yrs longer than the previous scheme.  The premium also gets higher each year (unlike previous scheme, premium fix at joining age).  Only the first five year premium is made known to increase by 2 % each year after that it is unknown. Oh yes - there is some subsidy which will last for 5 years - this has always been the 'carrot' they offer us whenever they come out with some new scheme or increase taxes...etc.

They said that the opt out rate for the old scheme has been stable at 5%.  So if the new scheme is so good - why make it compulsory?  Wouldn't everyone rush to join in even if it is to remain voluntary?

LTA on CRL (Cross Island Line)

LTA has written to the media (Today Paper on 22 Feb 16) to say that "Govt studying route impact, has not made decision yet".  Reading what LTA Chief Executive, Chew has written, the conclusion is clear to us who are familiar with govt double talk, - it has already made its decision.  It is just waiting for the ground assessment result before making the announcement that CRL will cut beneath our nature reserve.

LTA Chew kept silent on the negative impact of cutting across the nature reserve, but highlight all the negative impacts should it run along the alternate route - saying it would cost $2 billion more, involve home acquisition which would affect families...etc

Even doing ground investigation has environment impact - that is why they reduce the the number of bore holes.  What more tunneling beneath the nature reserve.  According to the environment impact assessment done - the impact is serious as it is in the 2nd highest adverse category which is term 'moderate'.  This is what govt has been telling us - 'moderate' - so that those who are not familiar with the environment assessment stuff will think it is 'mild'.

Ultimately it is only cost that matters to the govt. Yes, $2 billion may sound like a lot, but Temasek and GIC lost much more than this. Why is our govt silent on their losses - while the concern about the amount which will save our last remaining patch of nature reserve. We can't put a price tag on nature which benefit is intangible and damage is irreversible.

Besides, since when has the govt been sensitive to re-homing residents? They have been doing it for decades - acquiring lands dirty cheap in the past till they are now the biggest landlord of S'pore.

Have they shown compassion when they announced that the 4 blocks of HDB flats at Rochor Center will be torn down to make way for infrastructure development?  Residents in those 4 blocks are mainly from lower income with high percentage of senior folks.

The difference is govt dictate the cost of acquisition in Rochor Center, but the acquisition area for CRL are private residential housing, so they can't get them cheap.

So $$$ is all our govt cares about.  All the other justifications are just excuse.  They are short sighted and irresponsible.

MRT Cross Island Line - another wayang

While the govt is currently in the process of  gathering feedback from the public on the proposed MRT Cross Island Line (CIL) route, it looks like it is just another wayang pretending to listen while it has already made up its mind to go ahead to run it under our nature reserve.

Last night news report over the TV, we have the latest govt propaganda which is indicative that CIL line will be cutting beneath the nature reserve.  In the news clip, first they tell us that the start of the tunneling will be outside the reserve to minimise impact.  Then they said they rather not have it running near residential areas as it will affect residents.  They also mentioned there are elderly around the area and it will inconvenient them. Isn't this a self contradiction - if the impact is minimum why the concern then?

How stupid and lame to use seniors as an excuse!  What is the senior population there?  Are they saying it is exceptionally high?  Are our past and on-going MRT construction all over the island not also an inconvenient to senior residents in those parts of  S'pore?

Which is the greater evil - the possible irreversible damage to the fauna and flora, even dead and extinct of endangered species in the nature reserves OR the temporary inconvenience to residents? What they are really concern with is cost of construction, so please stop all the dishonest lies!

We have seen first hand how underground digging cause so much disturbance above ground. So don't try to bull shit us about minimum impact on the nature reserve.

Only in Spore we have this irony where nature reserve has little meaning as the govt can do what they like with it. Look at the resident housing right at the door step of our Bt Timah nature reserve. No buffer zone. So when folks choosing to live near nature, yet complained when they have monkeys around their homes, - monkeys are culled.  All fauna and flora are protected in nature reserve, but not so in S'pore.

Govt are pushing for the 6.9 million population so they are sacrificing our scarce nature reserve to cater for the foreign influx.  We the citizens and all the fauna and flora in Spore are the sacrifice lambs in our govt political manoeuvres  and GDP growth.

Medishield Life is still CRAP

When the govt spend so much time, effort and money to brain wash us, you get a sense things are not rosy and we will be paying a heavy price for it. Remember the recent 'fun pack' with all the hype around it? It turned out to be crap, so much so the collection period has been extended (too many left overs) and some grassroot has taken to adding more items to the standard crappy pack to entice folks to collect them.

Medishield is crap and Medishield Life is no different. The many shortcomings of Medishield have not been resolved. The only good thing about Medishield Life is the universal coverage for all citizens regardless age and medical condition. BUT the idea is not from PAP. It originates from SDP.  As usual the govt under PAP has the 'creative' ability to turn every noble scheme into a money making venture at our expense.

Let turn our attention back to the short comings of Medishield Life inherited from Medishield :

1) Heavy out of pocket payment
The sky high deductible. For class C ward (which is the lowest already) it is $1.5K for those below 80 years old and $2K for those above 80. On top of this we still have foot 10% co-payment. As our medical cost has been inflating year after year, this could be a heavy burden for low income and retiree. Some common issues for the elderly are stroke, knee and hip problems. The 90th percentile of hospital bill size for these is around $10k. With the deductible and co-payment, it could be around $3k that the patient has to pay out of his/her own pocket.

2) Many Common Aging Diseases NOT Cover
Take for example cataract which affects many elderly. It is NOT cover under Medishield. Even with the so call 'subsidy' the bill comes up to over $2.2K for both eyes on average. This has not include the pre-op and post-op fee. What is the point of universal insurance when common diseases affecting the population are not cover?

3) The Old and Healthy Are Penalised
In private medical insurance scheme, the premium is fix at joining age. We are not penalized to pay heavier premium as we grow older. The horror of Medishield scheme is that the old and healthy are penalized with heavy premium. It matters not that one has been paying all the years without claiming a single cent and your medisave a/c depleted by Medishield payment - your premium is above $1.1K once you hit 80 years old and your deductible also increases by $500 !

4) Uncertainty of future premium and cost
Unlike private insurance where the contract is binding and cost is fix at the point of joining, CPF has the greedy habit of increasing the premium across the board time and again. They will also raise the deductible. The term 'contract' has no meaning for any schemes under CPF, which are getting numerous and more complicate over the years.  This bring us to ....

5) So Complicated
The previous Medishield scheme is already so complicated. This Medishield Life scheme is giving a new life to the word COMPLICATED.

Just to know how much is our premium, we have so many factors to consider : Age (16 bands), Income (4 categories), Annual value of property you are living in and Subsidy for the first 4 years.  This subsidy thingy is so complicated because the premium has been jacked up sky high across the board. They want to pacify us but at the same time cannot forego their glee to collect as much money as early as possible from us.

Subsidy for transitional period - have to consider again age, income, pioneer or non-pioneer and then which year of subsidy :-

2015- 1st yr 90% of net premium increase (note- it is only on the increase premium), 
2016- 2nd yr 70%,
2017- 3rd yr 40%,
2018 - 4th yr 20%.

The question is WHY make it so complicated ??
There are likely 2 reasons why govt loves to complicate things. First - is that if we find it so stressful and time consuming to understand the scheme, they hope we give up and just listen to what they choose to drum into us - Hear Only The Good Things. They can then do what they like to the scheme and our CPF with 'less noise' from us.  Second - it is the way to generate more revenue from the scheme.

We know the notorious 3M (medisave, medishield and medifund) has not prevent many from 'falling' between the cracks. But it has been a good source of $$ for the govt.  The Medishield payout has always been much less than the premium collected (extremely derisory when compare to other countries public healthcare payout). Medifund set aside to help the needy has been under utilized due to govt usual stinginess. 

The coming Medishield Life premium has rocketed and likely to be delightful source of revenue for govt. The premium increase is the most for these 3 age groups :
1-20 yrs old   - 160% increase
21-30 yrs old - 195% increase
31-40 yrs old - 195 % increase

For the rest of the age group- that the increase is less than 100%. The minimum increase is 11% for those age 81 to 85. However, in monetary terms, the increase is from $80 to $355. The group suffering the highest monetary increase is the elderly from age 71 onwards. The irony is just when you are nearing to say bye bye at age 90, they rip you off the last time with a hefty 28.57% increase in your premium ($340).

In summary, it has been the trend that when we are being rip off heavily, we will be given peanuts subsidy to pacify us for the 'transitional' period.  There will be plenty of propaganda communication to paint a heavenly picture of how wonderful the scheme is.  So the rosier it is, the worst off we will be. 

BEWARE of SUBSIDY. They are in fact taking 'gold ingots' from us and giving us' peanuts' in return.

note-  the current batch of pioneer's subsidy may not be extended to seniors 65 and above age group in the future.

CPF Minimum Sum scraped BUT Maximum Limit RETAINS

Likely we are taken for a ride again.  Before those folks turning 55 rejoice about not needing to top up their CPF Medisave a/c to meet its Minimum Sum in order to withdraw their money - READ the reports carefully.

They only scrapped the Medisave Minimum sum BUT the CPF Medisave Maximum Ceiling is retained (it is renamed BHS -Basic Healthcare Sum) .  Minimum is LESS than maximum so it is another round of confusing the public with all the renaming and changes.

In 2013 the Medisave minimum sum was 40.5K vs 45.5K for the maximum ceiling limit (BHS)
In 2014 the Medisave minimum sum was 43.5K vs 48.5K for the maximum ceiling limit (BHS)

It is obvious that the maximum sum is more than the minimum sum by  5K. Besides, they said no need to top up at 55, but it is unclear what happens when one reach 65, as the BHS still applies for the cohort.  In Jan 2016, the BHS is 49.8K as announced by CPF.

The only real change is that once we hit 65, the BHS will remains at that prevailing limit and not shoot up year after year.  However, before we reach 65, the BHS is still subjected to yearly adjustment !

Most of the changes this year has been cosmetic, just like this Bull sHit Stuff BHS thingy.

Of course they can afford to scrap the minimum sum as they retains the maximum one (BHS). Is this a sick joke or what ?  Besides, when Medishield Life kicks in to replace the current medishield, they are going to legalize accessing our bank a/c to deduct any outstanding premium for those who do not pay up.  There is no need to have minimum amount in medisave for the premium deduction as they can now access our bank a/c to do it forcefully.

Could it mean they will be looking into forcefully accessing our bank a/c to ensure we meet BHS when we turn 65 ?  It matters not to them our daily needs, what is more important is that our money flow into CPF one way or another.

What is even more misleading is the official and MSM reporting. They made it sound as if our medisave a/c is filled with money.  They said "Any amount in excess of this (BHS) will be transfer to Retirement and Special account ..."  Notice they talked about excess but not what happen if there is shortfall. So what happen if there is shortfall ? Only God Govt knows!

CPF is full of CRAP.  It gets more and more complicated each year. Perhaps that is their intention, as it is a web of sticky confusion that is not meant to help us. Majority are trapped when negotiating the maze of terms and unending changes. 

Feedback From Citizens To Our Govt

Our govt should be thankful to have our citizens taking to the internet like fish to water.  The recent case of rats infestation near Bt Batok MRT station is a case in point.  Often thanks to internet, it leads to coverage by MSM and force the sleeping responsible party into action.

Ah... they get to learn of the seriousness of the problem and how the Town Council, NEA and HDB have been playing taiji pushing away responsibility.

If they really want to know what citizens think about them (remember this can translate to vote during election), read the feedback.  If they have a sense of humour, they will be pretty entertain while getting honest feedback on their stupidity policies. All these good feedback are taken from TR Emeritus.

- Grace Fu's new dept from under the directive of PM : So, all other units (TC, NEA, HDB…everyone!) just sit back and relax. Leave it to Grace to handle the matter.

- Foreign Workers Reliance  : Grace, I suggest you raise a platoon of real cats, trained to ‘search and destroy’ the rats. That way, no need to rely on foreign workers.

- Ineffective Execution of Policies : They can’t solve a satay stick problem, how to solve this rat problem? Some more these rats can run and hide.

- Population White Paper : The rat video is a glimpse of the PAP’s 6.9 million Population White Paper!

- National Conversation : Well actually we don’t really know what to do, maybe we can hold a national conversation on this complex problem and give us your suggestions, what do you think?

- Recent White Elephant Taxi App by LTA : quickly develop an app called rat-rat@sg, to show where the rats are so residents can avoid them.

- Money Grabbing At Every Opportunity : Hey, how about making it a Tourist Attraction? Let’s face it, how many tourists from 1st world countries would have seen rats running around like an army? And the govt can add revenue by selling tickets.

- Not Dealing With Actual Problem : PAP will argue these are not rats but mice and it’s a once in 50 years problem. Anyway, let’s move on!

- PM ridiculous Habit of forming Committee to deal with every single issue  : LHL has to first convene a cabinet meeting to appoint a Coordinating Minister for Rats who will then form a Rats Committee. Remember LHL just formed a grass cutting committee to ensure grass all across SG is cut the same way.

PAP snake oil seller for 6.9M Population ?

Is ex-HDB planner, Liu Thai-Ker the delegated snake oil seller for PAP unpopular 6.9 million population target? This guy has been going around making speeches and giving interviews that 10 million is no issue in recent months. Is he trying to make the 6.9 million more palatable compare to 10 million?

Likely he thinks his past credentials will enable him to fool the public. Reminds us of  LKY who thinks he is 'God'.  But we have found out to our disappointment the hard truth about LKY is that he normally tells us only half truth. He is just another snake oil seller who is very good at selling himself to get all the credits not due to him for S'pore growth story.

Sure, it is a no brainer right - just tear down lower rise HDB flats through SERS (selective en bloc redevelopment scheme) and in the process make more money out by making poor folks buy another flat and then build 50- storey or even higher flat to house the 10 million.

This same joker was involved in the 1991 Concept Plan which target for 5.5 million. Now he changes his mind and double the figure!  It goes to show how bad in planning our govt is! They normally get their figures and projections wrong. But the worst part is that they still see themselves being 'brilliant' at their social engineering feat just because they are drawing enormous salary.

They still have not learned from the overloaded transport infrastructure and medical services which are still teething problems yet to be resolved.

As it is, our places of leisure and entertainment (parks, zoo, shopping malls...etc) are perpetually very crowded, not just during weekends like 20 years ago.  Every hour is peak hour for MRT, be it weekday or weekend.

So have Liu Thai-Ker look at the bigger picture? What about food, water and energy resources? What will happen if there is a global drought impacting food and water?  Flooding too can destroy crops in countries we import our food from.

S'pore is heading towards the nuclear energy path, which is derailed due to Japan's nuclear disaster. Likely we will be having underground nuclear plant if the 6.9 -10 million target is on PAP plate.

The irony is that our surface area is so small, we don't even have enough safe zone around the nuclear plant, thus the need to go underground.  Is it safe? I don't think so. With so many MRT tunnels and likely more underground malls and living space in future, our underground will be rather 'porous'. Any nuclear leak could be easily channel throughout the island.

Besides, our weather is getting warmer and warmer by the years.  Building more and higher flats will only increase the surface area emitting heat. More roads ? Tarred roads are a known culprit for increasing environmental ambient temperature.

Never trust snake oil sellers - they are short sighted and out to con the public to accept their policies.  They don't care what happen to future generations as they are not around take responsibility anymore.  As it is, even now they are always playing the pushing game when things go wrong.

MOH HealthAssist (CHAS) scheme

My mum holds a HealthAssist card (Blue CHAS) and also a pioneer generation card. The GP she consulted regarding her blurred vision is under the CHAS scheme.  I was surprised that the GP asked her to see a doctor at the Polyclinic to refer her to a public hospital specialist outpatient clinic (SOC) so that she will be eligible for subsidies.

With all latest changes to MOH Health assistance scheme, a CHAS GP still cannot directly refer a patient to SOC without going through Polyclinic? Isn't CHAS scheme started with the aim to off load the heavy patient numbers thronging Polyclinic? It is also meant to make it more convenient for patients to access healthcare service near to them.  So isn't the whole CHAS scheme a failure if a patient still has to go to the Polyclinic in order to be eligible for subsidy at SOC?

I checked with 2 Polyclinic staff regarding whether if a CHAS GP can refer a CHAS patient to SOC directly. One said 'No' and the other said 'Yes'. When I probed further, both either referred me to MOH or another staff to confirm. Good Grief !

A neighborhood GP under the CHAS scheme is a better choice for elderly patients with poor vision and mobility issues as their process is simple.  The front counter hands out the queue number, does the registration, dispense medicine and accept payment. The GP diagnoses the patient and does the necessary tests.

Whereas at the Polyclinic elderly patients have to negotiate a maze of counters and rooms. We spend more than 2 hours queuing and waiting outside 7 counters/rooms at Polyclinic just to get a SOC appointment :-
1. Queue counter
2. Registration counter
3. BMI and blood pressure testing room
4. Doctor consultation room
5. Vision testing room (and back to consultation room again)
6. Appointment counter for SOC
7. Payment counter

We 'escape' the pharmacy counter as there was no medication. My mum was in a daze at the end of it. I think it was the same for other elderly patients at the Polyclinic. Those who do not have children/relative accompanying them will have terrible time.

Why make patients go the hassle just to get subsidy at SOC due to bureaucratic red tape? Or could it be the CHAS GP and Polyclinic staff are not familiar to the latest policy change ?

Besides, it is highly unproductive and a waste of time for all involved !
 

CPF rally on 23/8 at Hong Lim Park

The 3rd CPF rally was held at Hong Lim Park on Sat, 23 Aug. The crowd size was smaller than the previous.  The first 2 rallies had stronger speakers and were more informative.

The recent one had some new faces but unfortunately also weak speech content. Only Mr Leong, Ms Han and Roy were able to hold the audience attention.  Ms Han delivery has improved with each rally. There was more control of voice and slower speech delivery. She is one crowd drawer as she spoke in English, Mandarin and Hokkien - typical S'porean style.

Mr Leong with his humour and statistics make simple, is one speaker I always look forward to hearing. He spoke on the lease buy back scheme which now extends to 4 room-flat. It only means govt skimming off more money from the needy elderly, in the pretext of helping them.  Pretty typical of most, if not all PAP schemes.

Posters with the words -  "They suck you dry and then suck until you die. This is what they call subsidize" - sadly summarize PAP money grabbing policies pretty well.

The 2nd speaker articulation was not clear. The worst part  was he spent the last 10 mins speaking about his God.  Good grief !

The next speaker, a lady - tried to list out all PAP flaw policies. She took up too much time because there are so many of them.  It is rather boring as we are already familiar with our govt ridiculous policies. What she could have done is to highlight one or two and give us real life examples of how they have negatively impacted her. 

The next CPF rally is on 27 Sep.  Hope they could get strong speakers with good content and analysis of the current policies.

We want right Policies NOT right Politics

There goes PM again, he said they need to get their politics right.  To hear that is scary for us ordinary citizens. Right politics only means they want to remain in power at all cost.

How to get the policies right if protection of party's interest is top priority ? 

Then he goes on to say we must share in order to have a first class transport. Is there a transport fare hike soon?

What makes him think just because the govt is bailing out SBS and SMRT, we will have a 1st class transport ?  Looks like they make the mistake to privatize them. Didn't they just spend millions of tax payers' money to help them get new buses recently. So it didn't work ? Now they have to pour in even more money at tax payers' expense.

Reminded  me of the TV program The Noose. One of the funny parts which we can connect with is :-

A Noose report interviewed a mother with school going children. She said that her child used to wait 20 mins for the bus and it took another 20 mins bus journey to reach school. But with the improved service - the bus came every other min but her child took 1 hour to reach school due to the worsening traffic congestion.

Does PM realised that HDB heartlands are experiencing heavy traffic congestion which used to be in city areas only?

Talking Point on CPF - a waste of time

This week Talking Point over at CNA discussed the current hot topic of CPF.  Watching it is a waste of time. The selected speakers all agreed that the current CPF interest rate is good and reasonable as CPF is risk free.  Makes one wonder if this is a brain washing session or a talking cock session.

If our neighbour Malaysia can give so much higher return and their fund is not even among the top 10 large funds. GIC and Temasek are in the top 10 list.

Even for those who meet the minimum sum requirement in their retirement account when they reached 55, the amount of payout in CPF Life when they are 65 is around $1,200. With inflation, will this amount be sufficient in 20 years time? Worse if you have homemaker wife, elderly parents or children still needing your support. That is why they keep telling us not to retire and work and work.

This is clear evident CPF has failed big time.  It is suppose to see us through retirement, and now we cannot retire as money is not enough.

One of the speakers, a Prof from NTU Economic Division is telling us that silly story again that if they let us withdraw it a 55, folks will spend it at one go and become tax payers' burden.  Please lah, this story don't work anymore. Where is the statistic to show there are so many foolish people in S'pore. No wonder our education system cannot product talent and we have to import them by tonnage from overseas. This is that kind of lecturer we have in our institute of higher learning.  He cannot even articulate and express himself well.

One of the suggestions made during the discuss is to have different rate of return for different risk CPF members are willing to take.  As it is, CPF policies are so messy and complicated already, we should simplify it and not make it messier by creating more accounts.

The very fact that it has gotten so complicated suggest it is not working and they keep trying to patch it up.  So we have :
1) ordinary a/c
2) medisave a/c (medishield, eldershield and coming medishield life link to it)
3) special a/c
4) retirement a/c (CPF life link to it)

So how many more a/c, shield or life we need to create before we can finally retire ?

Singapore Corruption Index

Singapore ranks well in the corruption index currently. Will we be able to maintain our good ranking in the future will depend on the governing party willingness to fix the existing systemic weakness.

We know that it only takes a straw to break a camel's back.  All it takes is a single weak link to undo a strong chain and...sigh ...there are so many weak links in the current system.  For example :

1) Having related parties (family ties and/or politically link) holding key positions in both our sovereign wealth funds and MAS

2) Non-transparency in areas our government deems 'sensitive', which sensitivity we as citizens questioned (eg financial standing of GIC and our country reserve)

3) Limitless number of terms our PM can govern

4) Political leaders governing the country need not declare their financial assets before taking office and during their terms

5) PM holding real power is not elected by the citizens, while the President who is elected has limitation in his role to provide 'check and balance'

6) Extraordinary high salary of governing politicians tied to GDP as one of the factors for their extraordinary bonus

7) MPs inspite of drawing high salary, work only part time and running around holding directorships in so many private companies.  Is there not conflict of interest when making policies ?

8) The existence of GRCs and senseless redrawing of electoral bountaries during every election

2% of retirement income is from CPF

There is an article from The Edge magazine that said the findings from Allianz, a global asset management and insurance firm, found that on average only 2% of retirement disposable income comes from CPF. This is despite the fact the CPF force savings has been in place for decades and its main purpose is to see us through our old age. This is a sad and clear sign of the gross failure of one of our major national policies.

Retirees golden years have been turned into rotten years due to fail CPF policies which keep sucking more of our money into it with its chameleon policies.

The problem is over the years, CPF fund has become more of an easy money for govt investment rather than to see the citizens through their retirement years.  The miserable low CPF interest rates have been stagnant for more than a decade, although our sovereign wealth fund investment reaps handsome profit.

With the high inflation rate, run away public housing prices and medical cost, the more 'lucky' ones have with a roof over their head but little disposable income to see them through their twilight years. The unlucky ones will have no roof and little food on the table. The most unlucky ones will also be bankrupt by high medical fee.

Currently, seems like most elderly folks depend on their children for support, which accounts for some 60% of their retirement income. This ranks S'pore as one of the highest amongst our neighboring countries for poor retirement provision.

Even our neighboring countries' pension fund outstripped S'pore pathetic on average 2% CPF disposal income provision. We have to bear in mind that theirs is a pension fund, while CPF is in fact our own money, which the govt loves to refer to as 'pension' fund in recent years.

Family support is an issue for the young generation as they have to plan for their own retirement too,  while at the same time burden with raising up kids and supporting their aging parents. So can't blame the young couples for not wanting more than 1 kid.  Bearing in mind one can end up in court for not supporting your parents.*  Living within your means in S'pore is make sure you are able to support your parents and not to have more children than you can afford. It is expensive to bring up a child in S'pore and support of frail parents can be very taxing due to the high medical cost.

* Note : having a law that encourages parents to sue their children is not so much a reflection of the social fibre but the mentality of PAP.  They love to sue and welfare is a dirty word to them.

Dependants under Non-Residents

It is reported that S'pore population growth has 'slowed'. We are currently at 5.4 million, out of which 1.55 million are non-residents. It is also reported that our aging population is a great concern and figures were cited how the ratio of working adult supporting non-working elderly is declining.

It is noted that in the statistic given regarding non-residents, the 2nd largest percentage is from 'dependents' group.  They are dependents of citizens, PRs, and work permit holders. Understandable the largest percentage goes to Work Permit holders which accounts for 46%.

Dependents would include children and parents, but I am not sure what other family relationship they allow in under long term visitor pass which could be easily renewed (sibling, in-law, grandparent ??). The statistic did not tell us what percentage is inactive retired seniors. But from daily observation, they are a common sight in parks for their morning exercise.

Dependents make up 15% which is higher than 13% of domestic workers. Is this not a concern ? Dependents are economically non active and they would contribute negatively to the working adult to elderly support ratio. Does it make sense to have 1 new citizen or PR....etc bringing in 2 retired elderly parents?  If they are allowed to apply for long term visitor pass for other relations, this is even worst. How does this aggressive intake of foreigners help in boosting our fertility rate, when there is a big question mark if they will  have children or if their children will remain in S'pore.

But what is done deal is that it will definitely increase our aging population.  It would seems like S'pore is supporting the elderly of other countries by taking them in.  Is this not an irony ?

Affordable + Promise

They have not work out the details and yet our govt has been running propaganda over the TV aggressively.  They are telling us Medishield Life would be 'affordable' and how 'good' the policy is. When they start giving promise without details - it is very worrying.

We have experienced promise which either never materialized or headed in the opposite direction. We have seen how when it is clearly not affordable (HDB flat), they would get their minister in charge to try to brain wash us with skewed statistics and numbers.

How can it be affordable when existing scheme under CPF Medishield is not once you cross over to the senior citizen group? Currently they don't even cover pre-existing illness and also not till you die. The new scheme covers everything under the sun, which private insurance scheme dare not even touch.  How then can the premium be affordable ?

Since it is for life - does it mean from birth ? If so, parents have to start footing the Mediashield Life premium till the child grows up and take over ? We know how stingy our govt is towards us, so if those elderly who have children though they are struggling to make ends meet, do they need to forgo food just to pay up the premium ?

Pity the person if he/she is the sole breadwinner for the family.  Besides footing his/her own premium, there are those of spouse, parents, children and even in-laws to pay up in the worst case scenario.  

The current deductible is high, so likely Medishield Life deductible will be even higher.  Since all our hospitals are privatized, it is likely they will take this opportunity to profit from the new policy. Medical cost can only go up.

Our govt is very good at paper exercise. When it comes to actual policy and implementation, things often turn out bad for us at the receiving end.  We can say bye to our Medisave saving that is for sure. It will be suck dry by Medishield Life.  For low wage earners, if they have no cash to meet immediate medical cost, they will not be able to tap on their Medisave account in future. It is surely a bright future for those in the money lending industry.

Our CPF savings being robbed

There are many CPF members who are unable to meet the minimum sum required when they reached 55. This means that the whole purpose of CPF scheme, which is force saving so that we can retire in peace has failed.  This is because over the years after CPF implementation, our govt has been coming out with all sort of schemes which dry up our CPF.

For example, a large chunk of CPF saving is used to pay for our govt build overprice HDB flats. The price has gone ups so much that they come up with more and more 'subsidy' schemes to 'ensure affordability'. As a lay person, we can see how ridiculous it is. When greed blinds the eyes, those implementing the schemes failed to see that they are the source of the problem. All they are interested in is in racking in more money.

Our healthcare cost  has also been rocketing. Though the govt provides 'subsidy', we the patients still bear the bulk of the cost. Their so call subsidy can never catch up the rocketing medical bill. Thus, the minimum sum required for CPF Medisave has been increasing yearly. Medisave is another force saving scheme to lock up our retirement money to meet healthcare needs.  But the rules are so strict, most of our medical cost are settle by cash instead.  Meantime, our Medisave account is being depleted by Medishield insurance premium.

Medishield is another white elephant scheme. Its deductible is so high that most of the time, we are using our own money (either cash or Medisave) to foot our bill. The worrying part is that its premium is elastic. Every once a while, our govt will use the excuse of 'enhancing' the scheme to increase the premium. The deductible will be increased at the same time. This ensures we are kept out of whatever 'enhancement' there is, since we never get to claim in the first place.

Both Medisave and Medishield are so flawed that the elderly medical needs are not meet. So CPF came up with more schemes to  con 'help' our seniors. Thus, we have the Eldershield. After sucking more money from our Medisave a/c, they annoucement it is insufficient coverage. So we have to 'top up' the premium to upgrade our Eldershield coverage. But they realised again the scheme needs more enhancement - next came Eldershield Care. After all the upgrade and enhancement, they recently acknowledged that the coverage is still insufficient. In order to qualify to claim for Eldershield - one has to be unable to do 3 normal daily activities. Being so severely handicap it is a wonder how the $300 to $800 per month under the various Eldershield schemes can help. There are so many white elephants which deplete our CPF without meeting our healthcare needs.

Now as the various CPF con schemes are getting so numerous and confusing, they decided revamp Medishield into Medishield Life.  This is a master stroke by the govt to lock up forever whatever money we have in CPF. They can con + rob us of more money at the same time by increasing the minimum sum in Medisave plus the premium in Medishield Life at the same time.

In Summary - these are the various ways the govt rob us till we have no money for retirement inspite of saving throughout our working life of around 4 decades:

1) CPF Ordinary Account almost suck dry by overprice HDB flat
2) Medisave depleted by high medical bill and continuous inflating Medishield premium. A sizable portion also eaten up by Eldershield and Eldershield Care. With Medishield Life - the final stoke to eat up our remaining savings in Medisave.
3) Normal medical expenses is by cash as we are unable to use Medisave most of the time
4) High hospitalisation bill is settle by cash or Medisave as unable to claim Medishield due to high deductible.

Medishield Life = Robbing Peter to Pay Paul

It is bad news when PM announced that Medishield will be turned into Medishield Life. The scheme has to break even and it is compulsory for all. Those who do not have Medishield coverage and those who could not afford Medishield will all be opted in.  Premium will go up, but details not work out yet!  It will cover pre-existing illness and for life - which means we pay till we die!

Such a scheme is equivalent to robbing Peter to pay Paul. The worst part is Peter (us) is robbed not once, but for a life time with increasing amount.  Paul has unfavorable conditions which is costly to insure.

 For those of us self-employed with no CPF contribution from employers, this is terrible. As it is, the existing premium is unpredictable and increases whenever the govt fancy. The deductible is getting higher and higher with passing years.  Many of us have to pay for our elderly parents Medishield too. The premiums for the elderly is a Nuclear Bomb because it exploded with violent with age.


The payout from Medishield is less than premium collected (no surprise since the deducted is sky high). We also know that the miserable amount budgeted for Medifund (for those who cannot pay the high medical cost) is never used up and the remainder returned to the govt reserve. These show how insincere the govt is in helping the poor and reducing healthcare cost for the masses.

As with so many govt schemes, Medishield Life looks good on paper only - being touted as affordable healthcare and giving everyone a piece of mind. In fact, I have nightmare the very night PM made the announcement.

The truth be told, this new scheme is another heavy stone tie to our feet drowning us with ever increasing healthcare cost.

Being healthy does not help as our savings in CPF medisave is continuously depleted by Medishield premium for ourselves and our parents.

The govt should control healthcare cost and stop brain washing us with the word 'affordability' and come up with more and more CPF con schemes. We have seen what they meant by affordability with HDB flats costing 0.5 to 1 million.

Since the current Medishield scheme is making a tidy sum for the govt and there is used Medifund - they should use these to support Paul and stop robbing Peter.  Besides, the GST and casino levy are suppose to help the disadvantage. It is time they tap into these instead of dipping their hands into our CPF savings again.