Medishield-life needs to do much more to preserve health than just pass hat around to raise fund$$$$.

People who can prove that they are healthy (get up from sitting position on floor without using hands to assist, get pass, silver/ gold for IPPT/ swimming/ cycling test etc) or are compliant with polyclinic drs advice to stop smoking, exercise (join foc HPB/ sportshub zumba/ Pilate's/ fit-stepper classes) etc or have good lab test results @ polyclinic (BMI, bp, fasting blood glucose, cholesterol levels, ECG etc) should be given a gradated Medishield life discount (just like NSmen get $500 p.a. for getting gold award @ IPPT)... ostensibly, fitter NSmen can better out-think/ outwit the enemy... but physical weakness is every healthcare ministry's (e.g. MOH) nemesis since physically weak old folks are most likely to end up bed-bound in hospital for chronic disease/ broken bones and need nursing care for everything from spoon/ tube feeding to changing of diapers and perhaps even pain relief. A study on consistently good IPPT result + pre-IPPT (35yrs onwards) medical checkup result achievers in reservist vs their healthcare cost in later years dating back to 1965 SAF enlistees can be studied to measure the value of consistently good physical fitness till ORD from NS @ age 50 (/older for regular SAF servicemen/ generals) to assess the value of physical fitness amongst Singaporeans towards the national reduction of tertiary healthcare consumption and costs (and by extension, the value of 'carrots' necessary to encourage such healthy/ fitness lifestyle adoption)

Incentivising physical fitness amongst Singaporeans is urgently necessary since the Singapore workforce is quickly aging and rather than have more citizens become even more dependent on foreign nurses and maids to care for disabled young Singaporean diabetics (stroke, amputations, blindness, heart problems, dementia, kidney dialysis) , investment in physical fitness would probably go a long way to keeping the Singapore workforce able and strong.

Reverse number portability: two faced IMDA director defends telcos profit margins.

Whole load of bullsh!t ¢rap from IMDA director: just read for yourself and see that the director is just folding her arms and saying: "IMDA would let mobile service providers offer this service option commercially, in response to market demand.": she is basically in cahoots w money faced telcos and cannot see the prejudice of the one way street offered by the telcos (+/- their biased, one sided surveys)...

I do hope that the same silly IMDA director will reply to the latest forum letter by Ong See Fong... might not make any difference though considering that these sock puppet civil servants might be looking forward toward a cushy, overpaid directors post some day in our listed telcos I guess...

Immediate reasons why Singapore will not survive any significant war:

Immediate reasons why Singapore will not survive any significant war:
We are too dependent on foreign workers and MOM's contribution vz recklessness/ negligence to that problem:

Overdependence on work permit holders for Singapore's defence:
NSmen are too physically weak to even carry their own field packs when attending reservist: [Pict Source: Mr Brown]

IC re-registration, rats, medals and chairs: The daily frustrations of Singaporeans these days.

Why must people PAY to re-register their ICs under threat of $5000fine+5yrs jail, given the fact that IC registration is a national security concern and that people already suffer sky high cost of living in Singapore due to both GST as well as sky high foreign worker levies (up to $1000/mth) that employers pay on their foreign manual labour which just adds to our supermarket bills.

Yet the PAP spends lavishly on its sock-puppets, cronies and other unsavories.
For example:
a) Smokers are given a waiver of the usual 70% loading on insurance premiums contracted vz private health insurance companies: yet SG gahmen compulsory healthcare insurance schememedishield-life does not load smokers with any market rt based rise in premiums: i.e. an implicit subsidy to put more money into the tobacco industry (do some PAP leaders own shares of tobacco companies???). 

MOM reckless and irresponsible to leave worker's safety to charity/ chance.

MOM reckless and irresponsible to leave worker's safety to charity/ chance.

"Insurance is only scrutinised by the authorities when the work-pass term starts, according to Migrant Workers' Centre (MWC) executive director Bernard Menon. Afterwards, it is managed as a contractual relationship between employer and insurer.

A failure to service the insurance policy or other lapses might go unnoticed until something befalls the worker."

Shouldn't the presence of valid insurance be a criteria toward renewal of foreign worker levy annually? Or at least for the entire duration in which the worker's work permit is valid? Why does MOM leave the issue of valid worker insurance coverage to charity or chance? Is MOM's sole interest only in the timely payment of work permit levies?

Overpaid? Singapore court judges very idle, listen to boliao* issues to kill time?....

As I understand, before any case can be allotted court time, the court registra will examine the complexity/validity of the case before scheduling an amount of court time before well paid judges to hear out a case.

In the b/m case of 'Ng Huat Seng and another v Munib Mohammad Madni and another', I cannot understand why the court would even have to focus on the issue of vicarious liability if the said contractor who damaged a neighbour's building was insured and would agree to compensate for the damages. Instead of focusing on whether Mr Munib Md was vicariously liable, wouldn't justice be more economically achieved if the courts focused upon placing an injunction on continuing any further damaging works and compelling the rectifications/ immediate compensation of damages caused to neighbouring buildings, especially if the contractor is not only solvent but also insured?
Shouldn't the issue of vicarious liability only arise if the contractor is either bankrupt or disputes the damages caused?
Perhaps the issue of vicarious liability would NOT EVEN HAVE OCCURRED if Singapore court judges (instead of dawdling on ivory-tower type superfluous issues), had heard the case at short notice an issued immediate stop work order injunctions so that the damages would not have grown so immense and severe at first instance.
It seems to me that Singapore judges have a lot of free time to kill (just churning out work for themselves) and thus perhaps, the Minister of Finance might consider REDUCING the funding to the Judiciary for the coming work year.

Why Brexit referendum is a PLUS for WORLD PEACE: stale (rancid) agreements should be reviewed at periodic intervals.

Pict sauce
Just my 2cents.
Judging by current world trends and the problem of too big to fail: but FAILED in the context of recent significant disasters the likes of Fukushima, Lehman Brothers 2008 (World Financial Crisis), Greek debt crisis etc: to me, all are syndromic of 'groupthink' and the concept of systematic and extensive whistle blower silencing.

SG gahmen rolls out long overdue insurance coverage for UNSALARIED NSmen and sugarcoats it as manna from heaven.

Shouldn't this 'free' (conditional) life insurance coverage have been provided to abused and ill-treated NSmen eons ago???!!! Certainly so considering the fact that PAP in 2011 (viz MP Lim Wee Kiak) revealed that high "payouts" give Ministers "dignity": suggesting that hard cash would be a critical measure of dignity where persons performing important 'duties' is concerned.

 And whereas Wee Shu Min, daughter of PAP MP Wee Siew Kim, in Oct 2006 called fellow Singaporean Derrick Wee a "'stupid crackpot', belonging to 'the sadder class' and overreliant on the government. Her post also called for Derek to 'get out of my elite uncaring face'".

Medishield-life licenses smokers to smoke EVEN MORE than ever before.

As I understand, where critical illness insurance is concerned, smokers have to pay premiums upwards of 50% loading. With the appended website stating: "At age 20, the percentage difference is 50%, while at age 65, the percentage difference increases to 71%."

Premiums for prudential's 'Early Crisis Cover Provider' which can be found @http://s1123.photobucket.com/user/PR...arges.png.html and seems to follow the same loading trend thereabout.

However, for medishield-life (compulsory health insurance scheme), there is zero loading for smokers. Indeed, there is zero incentive awarded to Singaporeans who strive to keep healthy and fit, suffice to say, those with pre-existing disease not already covered by medishield are charged an extra 30% in premiums for the first 10 years. (30% is only half of the market rate loading for a currently 'healthy' smoker of 50-71% btw).

Blunt home value based means testing divides families and dampens birth rate of Singaporeans.

Oddly, when challenged, Ms Sim Ann (SMS Finance) said "... targeted schemes form “only a small part” of the total benefits that Singaporeans, including private-property dwellers, receive"...

Is she bending the truth when we all know that GST credits, utilities rebates, education bursaries, medical subsidies (ward charges, CHAS card/ medishield-life premium subsidy), workfare, workfare transport concession, silver support scheme and almost ALL community support schemes (nursing home, home nursing foundation etc) are means tested with 'Annual value (AV) of home' being a core criteria in means testing?

In today's computer age whereby (CNA, 25Feb2016) 'Satellite-based ERP to be ready by 2020, with S$556m contract awarded', surely, a more appropriate per-capita AV calculation cannot be too much to be expected from a "first class political leadership"?

(per capita AV of home is the AV of residence divided by the number of Singaporeans/ PRs residing at the address (owner, family + tenant etc)).

Re: SAF needs to stop treating NSmen like slaves/ mercenaries if Singapore is to defe

Re: SAF needs to stop treating NSmen like slaves/ mercenaries if Singapore is to defe

---

Quote:

Originally Posted by walaneh Quote: Originally Posted by Bic_cherry Thread source: (SGtalk): SAF needs to stop treating NSmen like slaves/ mercenaries if Singapore is to defend herself successfully. ... This kind of blatant, inequitable double standard treatment will certainly severely penalize NSmen who are retrenched, studying, between jobs, sabbatical leave, house husbands, taking care of ill relatives, unstable income source or paid lump sum fees at intervals with no formal documentation, project based work in across different continents, structurally under-employed, anyone without black-white proof of regular salary/ too onerous to declare locally, un/ underpaid due to poor-business/ failure etc and cause NSmen to view the SAF as an economic tool/ device to prop up GDP statistics at all costs: thus subjugating the professionalism of a robust fighting force to the short term concern of boosting commercial (GDP) statistics. ... walaneh! :shock Reservists are supposed to be employed liao got income liao mah! :worried

As mentioned, for want of a more equitable remuneration scheme which recognises the actual NSmen efforts towards contributing to the security of Singapore as measured by the appointments in NS he has obtained etc (as quoted above but I tidy it up here for U), the following less commercially active NSmen receive the short end of the stick due to unfair NS remuneration policies which myopically reward immediate commercial profit to the detriment of long term beneficial outcomes as defined as follows:
- Business owners/ employees temporarily sacrificing some/ all salary to keep business afloat financially: additional hardship due to SAF penalizing the individuals for commercial unprofitability even if it is necessary to tide a business through economic downturn etc.

SAF needs to stop treating NSmen like slaves/ mercenaries if Singapore is to defend herself successfully.

SAF needs to stop treating NSmen like slaves/ mercenaries if Singapore is to defend herself successfully.

It is absurd that SAF reservist remuneration schemes seems to discredit the objective military appointments/ performance of NSmen gleaned from their 2.5yrs of NSF training experience and prefers to remunerate NSmen in a very biased, subjective manner based upon their civilian salaries (commercial worth), as if SAF were some medieval colonial naval entity heavily involved in slave trading, the employment of mercenaries and other immoral/ illicit activities (e.g. the kidnapping slaves from Africa, British India Company forcibly importing Opium into China).

I say this because for SAF to remain a cohesive fighting force of professional and committed men of at least 2yrs full time military training, SAF has to professionalise/ personalise its NSmen remuneration schemes, rather than irresponsibly attach a reservist soldier's value to his commercial value: since this only encourages generations of NSmen to find excuses to downgrade/ avoid military liabilities in lieu of striving for a higher civilian salary, as evidenced in the fact that an unbelievable >60% of NSmen have since successfully applied for medical downgrades, so serious, "Vast majority of NSmen not even fit to take physical fitness test(?let alone able to pass it?).".

AGC is right to prosecute Kong Hee and gang to the fullest extent of the law.

AGC is right to prosecute Kong Hee and gang to the fullest extent of the law

Quote:

Originally Posted by SIMMTANN  Source thread (A1): City Harvest Church appeal: Case to be heard in September This scriptural passage you quoted has also been used often by well-scrubbed straight arrows, both religious and irreligious, to highlight the fact that all Homo sapiens are not sinless. They’re effectively telling moralists to get off their high horse while the Lord Jesus kind of challenged people to cast a stone at a sinner if they thought they were without sin. The parable of ‘tossing stones at a sinner’ makes a moral or spiritual point - avoid making moral judgements of your fellows. Not incidentally, only Jesus has the moral authority to judge humans since He’s faultless, and He’s made the supreme sacrifice for humankind. It’s one of the central tenets of the Christian faith that devotees with absolutist belief believe with every fibre of their being.

Singapore: Medishield-life= terminal life support for a BANKRUPT healthcare system?

Singapore: Medishield-life= terminal life support for a BANKRUPT healthcare system?

As admitted by Health Minister Gan Kim Yong: “If you look around, our investments in health promotion and diseases prevention, I think... it is actually significantly lower than the amount of money we spend on treating diseases... ... .. We need to take a holistic approach towards health promotion, taking into account how can we empower consumers so that they make the right choice” ['Empower consumers with holistic approach to healthcare: Gan Kim Yong', TODAY, 11 Feb,2015]

The consequence of lifestyle/ preventive healthcare lapse: dire statistics:
- "Singapore has the second-highest proportion of diabetics among developed nations, a new report by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) revealed...10.53 per cent of people in Singapore...Only the United States fared worse..."['Singapore 'has 2nd-highest proportion of diabetics''; ST, 2nd Dec2015]

Parliamentry Old boys club, leading SG from 1st world to 3rd.

Parliamentry Old boys club, leading SG from 1st world to 3rd.

Singapore: New + Novel/ independent ideas/ inclusivity= most unwelcome here.

This is because independent candidates are CONSTITUTIONALLY DISQUALIFIED from becoming NCMP according to section 39.(1)(b) which states:

LTA gives S$15,450,617 COE hongbao bonanza to rich elite this CNY.

If this amount squandered on the rich were to be multiplied by 24 COE bidding exercises per annum, I estimate that the PAP gahmen would have easily 'squandered' S$370,814,808 p.a. in all. Instead of spending 2 precious hours squabbling over 1 petty NCMP seat, ought not parliament discuss how the catB COE pricing system should be tweaked so that gahmen revenue will not be spilled/ lost?

Median opportunity cost of NS= S$75,000++/pax (as implied by paternalistic PAP gahmen)...

Median opportunity cost of NS= S$75,000++/pax (as implied by paternalistic PAP gahmen)...

According to Singapore gahmen, median opportunity costs of EACH NSman in national service (Full time plus reservist liability) is S$75,000 or more.

I conclude this from the fact that: "For male citizens above 16.5 years of age who have not enlisted for NS, their parents need to furnish a bond in the form of a banker’s guarantee of $75,000, or 50 per cent of the combined annual gross income of both parents for the preceding year, if their son remains overseas for a period. - See more at: http://www.allsingaporestuff.com/art...r-not-required "

MOH= penny wise & pound foolish; treats illness only when it is too late.

Isn't prevention better than cure? Indeed, an ancient Chinese saying states:
“The superior doctor prevents sickness; The mediocre doctor attends to impending sickness; The inferior doctor treats actual sickness;”

Thus the doubt that MOH is actually doing anything to prevent people's illnesses from deteriorating (see ST letter below 'Subsidise more treatments at polyclinics'): so much to the extent that they need lengthy hospitalisations and treatments just to live another day (or is MOH just pandering to drug and technology companies and thus encouraging people to fall sick just so that they can utilise the expensive patented medical products when their medical conditions have deteriorated to a terminal stage (& make shareholders of drug + med tech companies $$$wealthy in the process))? Why does the MOH fail to provide ANY subsidy for essential allied healthcare services: e.g. physiotherapy/ podiatry services which can immensely improve a patient's health awareness/ habits and reverse/ prevent early illness from deteriorating to the stage where hospitalisation is acutely necessary to just to sustain life (平时不烧香，临时抱佛脚 [ping shi bu shao xiang , lin shi bao fo jiao] is a good description of MOH approach to public health in Singapore ).

Sans bicycle, Singapore will probably surrender once more, not too long after SG50.

Faced with severe healthcare challenges, a high terrorist threat and criticisms about high per-capita greenhouse gas emissions from Singapore, I think that Singapore has NO OTHER CHOICE but to embrace the humble bicycle with open arms.

Evidence of an incompetent SG gahmen in the face of an increasingly ill/ unfit population, addicted to fatty foods and allergic to exercise: i.e. 'lifestyle sick' (sick due to unhealthy lifestyle choices) :
Photo of obese person from: http://thewestsidestory.net/2-1-bill...ide/11632.html