Please Mr Khaw, have a heart.

"So what is the difference in putting them in Johor Bahru?" asked Khaw Boon Wan in ST 10 Feb 2009. Look at "them" lying on the floor in the picture and read here.

"Mr Health Minister Sir, if there is no difference, why don't you ask Mr Lee Hsien Loong to put his mother in a nursing home in JB?" Though it is not nice to use Mrs Lee as an example, it is worse for a minister to offer advice that's offensive to Singaporeans!

I do not know if the Lee family gets preferential treatment at Woodlands Checkpoint but for lesser mortals, Wong Kan Seng's men will be looking for Mas Selamat in every bus, van, car and bicycle everytime we visit sick relatives in JB nursing homes. No sir, in trying to make ends meet, we neither have the luxury of time nor money like you have.

It's so sad that when we grow old and become unproductive and need nursing care, we are nothing but bad news to our caring Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan. We do NS here, work here, slog here, pay our taxes here but we are encourage to go die in Johor Bahru! For being grey, we become part of the "silver tsunami"? To me tsunami means bad waves that kill without mercy, not unlike the fire storms in Australia now. I'm human, I'm sensitive. I'm angered by such derogatory remark made by insensitive and callous minister. It's such a shame that a health minister whose duty is to take care of the welfare and health of its citizens is taking all preventive measures to ensure that his rich government need not cough out a cent when the 'silver tsunami' hits!

"He also disclosed that his ministry is looking at how to help Singaporeans set aside a sum of money for long-term care in their old age. This could take the form of a compulsory medical savings account like Medisave, but called Eldersave." Read here

It is sad. It is so very sad!

CPF was a retirement savings plan when I started work more than 40 years ago. I was promised that my contribution of 25% and my employer's contribution of 25% (yes, total contribution was 50% then) will be returned to me in full with interest when I retire at 55. Along the way the CPF scheme went scheming with Medisave, minimum sum scheme, retirement account, compulsory longevity annuity scheme and now, Eldersave???

For me 55 has come and gone and the promise of me getting my retirement savings (promised made to me 40 years ago) was nothing but a mirage. Yes, they tell me it's still there but I cannot touch it till I'm 62 (minimum sum) which may change to 67 or 85. It's their call. They can change it anytime they please.

Now the cause of my next heart attack. I have my Medisave that I can't use it for my medical care. I need to pay co-payment and deductible before I can use it for my medicines and doctor visits. What hurts most is I have to pay an administrative fee to use my Medisave after paying out of pocket cash for co-payment and deductible. It's my money, been my money but I can't use it even it's specifically meant for my medical care. WTF!

Alas, even under such tough time for common folks, the Health Minister is scheming "with no plan to do so" "Eldersave" to squeeze us further.

'This is, of course, not the time to be talking about raising the CPF contribution rate and we have no plans to do so. But when the economy eventually recovers fully, we should revisit this issue of saving for our long-term care.' he said.

Dear Singaporeans, have your lubricant ready and be prepared to be screwed again as "his ministry is looking at how to help Singaporeans set aside a sum of money for long-term care in their old age."

Good Luck!

feedmetothefish

Query of the day:
Our reserves which come from 'heaven knows where' is an interesting topic these days. With the wayang of $4.9 million draw down for JCS, is it real money? Or is it boardgame monopoly money transfered from left pocket to the right? Sounds nice to have govt help create jobs by dipping into reserves but the money still stay in the reserves, doesn't it?

For those who may have missed it, I must thank mrbrown for his "tan kuku" evergreen here.