Less than a day after Senior Minister of State Indranee Rajah claimed healthcare costs is rising to justify a tax increase, the Ministry of Health (MOH) today (Nov 27) issued a report on Medifund expenditure showing that healthcare costs actually went down by S$11.3 million instead.
According to the MOH, S$143.9 million was disbursed in 2016 compared to S$155.2 million in 2015 – a 7.2% drop in healthcare expenditures. The MOH said the costs went down because Singaporeans are now paying more out of their own MediShield and claiming from their nationalised insurance scheme MediShield Life started in Nov 2015.
In 2013 and 2014, Medifund payouts increased 20% each year., but the trend reversed with a S$3.1 million reduction in 2016 despite a 9% increase in MediFund applications, the Ministry of Health (MOH) revealed in 2015. This is due to MediShield Life insurance paid for using premiums collected from MediShield, subsidised the government’s healthcare expenditures.
Although healthcare costs and retirement needs are going up, Singaporeans are paying for them through their CPF contributions and the government does not have to fork out a single cent. In recent years, the Singapore government is trying to mislead the people into believing CPF is not their money.
Earlier last week, dictator Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong called for a higher tax increase despite having already implemented several tax increases in 2017 including a 30% water price increase and a coming carbon tax in 2018. PM Lee Hsien Loong claimed Singaporeans are spending more government money and that is why he has to increase taxes to “meet the needs”. The PM however did not tell the whole truth as he is actually using the additional taxes to fund infrastructures for a 6.9 million population target.