Activist Roy Yi Ling Ngerng, “Is the Singapore government making Singaporeans pay double for healthcare?”

He begins by saying that a portion of people’s CPF contributions (Central Provident Fund) does indeed go into Medisave for healthcare. However, no breakdown is provided to show how much of the fund actually goes into Medisave.

Here is the amount that different age brackets pay for Medisave:

• Those 35 years and below put 21.62 percent of their total CPF into Medisave
• Those above 35 to 45 put 24.32 percent
• Those above 45 to 50 put 27.02 percent
• Those above 50 to 55 put 28.37 percent
• Those above 55 to 60 put 40.38 percent
• Those above 60 to 65 put 28.37 percent
• Those above 65 put 84 percent

Mr Ngerng then performed some computations.

“Taking 24.32% as the lowest denominator, CPF members would have paid S$7,751 million into the Medisave in 2016.

But if we were to break down the Medisave contributions according to the labour force by age, and by the Medisave contributions according to age, CPF members would have contributed S$14,407 million into the Medisave in 2016.

The actual amount that CPF members pay into Medisave would be somewhere in between, between $7,751 million and S$14,407 million. As the PAP government has chosen not to be transparent about the figures, this is the best estimate we are able to get.”

However, he cited a source from the Ministry of Health (MOH) that showed that CPF members were able to withdraw only S$931 million from their Medisave for direct medical expenses in 2016, thus coming to the conclusion that “CPF members are using only 5% to 10% of what they paid into Medisave every year for actual direct medical expenses.”

He also said that based on MOH reports, that the government used S$9,293.3 million in 2016 of taxpayer money to fund healthcare.

Mr Ngerng writes, “This would mean that what CPF members pay into Medisave in 2016 (between $7,751 million and S$14,407 million) would be enough to cover for the government health expenditure.

Or in other words, what CPF members are paying in Medisave can cover for the whole amount the government uses our taxes to pay for healthcare.”

He then posed some questions:

The first question then is, why is the government making Singaporeans pay for taxes, and then for Medisave, when Singaporeans are already paying enough for either to pay for this portion of healthcare – noting that in Medisave, we are even only being returned 5% to 10% of what we pay in a year, for actual direct medical expenses?

Is the Singapore government then making Singaporeans double pay for healthcare?

On the next day, July 21, he wrote about this topic on Facebook again:

“The Medisave contributions Singaporeans make every year could be even more than the reported government expenditure on health every year.

But of the Medisave Singaporeans pay every year, they can only access 5% to 10% of it for actual medical expenses a year! The rest of the Medisave is passed on to the GIC and Temasek Holdings to earn, after being routed through the government bonds and national reserves.

Why are Singaporeans paying taxes for the government expenditure on healthcare, and then another Medisave where the majority of this Medisave is actually not returned to Singaporeans, but instead transferred to GIC and Temasek Holdings?

Then the Singapore PAP government makes Singaporeans pay out of their own pockets for another 30% of the total health expenditure in Singapore. But what Singaporeans pay into Medisave should be more than enough to cover this.

So why is the PAP government making Singaporeans pay so much into Medisave, and not allow Singaporeans to use it, then make Singaporeans pay another 30% out of pocket for healthcare, when Medisave would have covered for everything and still have excess leftover?

Something is wrong, isn’t it?

Why is the PAP government making Singaporeans double pay on healthcare? I’ve already shown they make Singaporeans double pay on education last week, and now healthcare.

While the PAP government is earning a lot of money from Singaporeans by withholding Singaporeans’ money from themselves, Singaporeans have instead become poorer.

Today, GIC and Temasek Holdings have become the top 10 richest sovereign wealth funds in the world, while Singaporeans pay for the 3rd highest out-of-pocket healthcare in the world, after converting for purchasing power parity.”

Mr Ngerng provided the references for his video in this link.

-/TISG