I just received a mail from an ex-classmate who has migrated to Australia. She mentioned a few things:
1. Workload here is better than Singapore.
2. Need to pay $28 for medicine regardless of total medical bill
3. Citizens here well taken care by government when they are sick, so worth paying taxes
4. Singapore you pay $2K to $3K a month for dialysis but here it is free plus meal provided during dialysis. Community transport is provided for those without help.
5. Food here is not expensive if you cook.
I am posting this not to imply that life is better there and we should all migrate to Australia. I just want to let you know a little bit more about how things are done in other countries. The issue of "high taxes but welfare state versus lower taxes but high medical bills" has been discussed for decades and everyone will be able to bring out many pros and cons to support either way. So which system is good, no one really knows.
The NKF Cancer Fund will be organising another fund raising event for cancer patients in Singapore. I believe there are many people out there who requires financial help. Medical costs are high in Singapore, and many people are not earning enough to meet daily needs, what more about rising medical costs. So which system is good for Singapore? I somehow just feel that Singapore is not an ideal place for the lower income group of people. Hmmm. Ponder Ponder.
1 comment:
Ya, once thought that our CPF savings will be able to see through our 'golden years' (perhaps it should be known as our 'frozen years' now... ) comfortably after we retire. Afterall, we used to contribute a hefty 20% of our pay, before it was reduced to the current 13%, plus another 20% contribution from our employers... now we were told, it will not be enough to tide us through!
What's worse, we are told we do not know how to spend 'our' money wisely, so we 'need help'. So the money will be returned to us in the form of 'pocket money'... like the way our papa and mama used to do when we were in primary and secondary school...
Yap, I think it is really good to find out more about the life in other places, from various sources(like friends, colleagues, etc.) in order to get a more accurate and comprehensive picture... More importantly, we need to know the kind of life we really want to live...
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