How Did Minister Khaw Pay Only $8 For His Surgery?
In October 2010, it was reported that Minister for Health Khaw Boon Wan paid only $8 in cash for a heart bypass surgery he underwent in May that year. There is quite a bit of anti-government sentiment online and this renewed unhappiness amongst many who were upset with the relentless rise of the cost of living in Singapore, particularly healthcare.
I’m not going into the politics of it as this is a financial blog, but from a financial planning perspective I disagree with some of the views that were expressed on various sociopolitical websites.
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Singapore Budget 2011 in Summary
Minister for Finance Tharman Shanmugaratnam unveiled Singapore Budget 2011 on Friday in Parliament.
The announced package by the Minister included various payouts, top-ups, as well as tweaks to existing systems amongst other initiatives.
The following are some of the points of his Budget speech that I found more relevant and worth highlighting.
SM Goh Chok Tong’s Take on Insurance
A few excerpts from SM Goh Chok Tong speech at NTUC Income’s 40th anniversary:
Affordability of Term vs Whole Life
“What can we do to keep insurance protection affordable? I urge the insurance industry to make a more concerted effort to address this. Part of the problem lies in the conventional practice of insurers in bundling the savings and protection elements into what is known as Whole Life Plans. Since the savings element in such Whole Life Plans can be very significant, the insurance premiums could be 3-5 times that of pure protection Term Assurance plans, for the same level of protection. I faced the same problem when I first started work. I could not afford a Whole Life Plan but had the good sense to choose a Term Assurance policy.”