Is the ComCare Fund Cash Payout Sufficient For Low-Income Singaporeans? The ComCare was set up as a means to provide financial assistance to low-income Singaporeans. It aims to inspire individuals to be responsible and encourages families to be the main pillar of support for its members, while receiving assistance from the government. Currently, those who have no stable income and are unable to work due to age, sickness and/or unfavourable family circumstances may qualify for the ComCare Long Term Assistance. For a single-household individual, he may receive $450 cash assistance to support his living expenses. With the high cost of living in Singapore, will the cash payout of $450 be enough for an individual to scrape by, considering in the factors of housing loans or rents, utility bills, spending on food, transportation and healthcare? Currently, the income at the 20th percentile of full-time …show more content…
According to Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), Singapore stands first in the world’s most expensive city to live in in 2015. In comparison with New York, it is 11% more expensive for basic groceries and three times more costly for transport in Singapore (Williams, 2015). Drawing reference to Kok (2015), “people with jobs may still need financial assistance”. Health problems, family arrangements and low education were some of the reasons given. Kok also mentioned a taxi driver, sole breadwinner of a family of five, who earns $2,200 per month and receives $400 from ComCare monthly, managed to only scrape with his daily necessities, kids’ education and medication for his illness. There is no deny that the government has pumped more money to the ComCare Fund, however, according to Tai (2015), “we are still not past the problems of high income inequality, bottom wage stagnation, high costs of living and fast pace of growth that makes it harder for the less able to catch
As the government wanted to cut healthcare spending as it is a major part of the deficit.
That’s why the whole country is in chaos: drugs, violence, unemployment, and homelessness. The American society is the richest and most prosperous in the world but it is hardly safe and peaceful,” (Reyes 181). America shouldn’t have input on how Singapore acts
One would expect that amount of money the US spends on healthcare to equate to great patient care and reduction of patient mortality, however, that is not
No Benefit Required Throughout history, dating back as early as the 1800’s, the government has worked to reform the welfare system in the United States. The goal of reform is to reduce the population of government dependent people and to assist those who are dependent in finding self- sufficiency (Welfare Reform …). In July, Scott Walker addressed the need for reform in his budget proposal. In the revision, he omitted any wording that would limit the ability of government to test applicants and recipients of Food-share and unemployment in Wisconsin.
With taxes from healthcare slowly creeping into one’s income, a person under government healthcare is essentially paying the same, if not more, than a person under independent healthcare (Peikoff). Whether it is the scary policies in the PPACA or the destruction of market drive through government handouts, government healthcare is not the best route for the US. A free-market system provides much more advantages than a government system. A free-market system also puts more freedom in the hands of a consumer.
First, the ACA has brought about considerable improvements in access to affordable health insurance in the United States. On the basis of their own reports, newly insured Americans are also able to see physicians within reasonable periods of time, and anecdotal reports about restricted access to out-of-network providers, although a concern, have not yet caused a major backlash. Second, the implementation of the ACA has coincided with another important development — a slowdown in the rate of increase in national health care spending. From 2010 through 2013, per capita U.S. health care expenditures increased at the historically low rate of 3.2% annually, as compared with 5.6% annually over the previous 10 years. As a percentage of the gross domestic product, health spending has stabilized at approximately 17%.
Preventive services were provided to Medicare recipients for free and prescription drug discounts will help lower costs over the following ten years (“USDHHS,” 2014). From 2012 through 2013, the ACA began integrating health care systems addressing health care inefficiencies to help reduce overall costs and to prepare states, hospitals, and insurance companies for upcoming changes. According to Goodrich and Conway (2013), the ACA’s most anticipated provision began at the end of 2013 with the launch of the Marketplace, which provided individuals and small businesses access to affordable health
Health care has been at the forefront of debate and public policy in the United States for decades. Ever since President Theodore Roosevelt proposed health care reform during his 1912 run for president, reform has been a policy position often espoused in American politics (Palmer 1). Certain types of health care reforms have been successfully implemented, such as Social Security in the 1930s, Medicare in the 1960s, and finally the Affordable Care Act in 2010. As the goal of the Affordable Care Act is to provide care for every American, the healthcare law is the closest the United States has ever approached to a single payer system; a health care system that provides universal care to every American. Despite that, current systems within the
Expansion isn’t always good. Medicaid expanded using federal and state funding. Medicare has kept rates down for seniors and has cut down on wasteful
Not only did the general price of insurance rise for higher income families, but the taxes on medical devices used in procedures and pharmacy sales rose right along with it. “In essence, the wealthiest in the US are being asked to fund the healthcare for the poorest.”
The law that was intended to improve the status quo of health care has, in essence, caused a dangerous paradigm shift in health care costs. Fundamentally, the Affordable Care Act is a failed attempt to reduce health care costs in the United States. The Act was designed to increase affordability of health insurance for extremely low-income families; nevertheless, the Act exponentially increased health insurance costs for the majority of Americans. In America, majority rules-- why should health care be an
On the other hand, supporters show through statistics that Medicaid, with the latest addition of Obamacare, has benefited up to 17 million Americans since 2013. The big improvement allowed many people to be insured under the health care umbrella, they argue. Furthermore, ACA has drastically reduced the amount of people without health insurance in half a century. Despite the growth of people insured with Obamacare, the latest study by Moody’s Investors Service claims that nonprofit hospitals under this expanded Medicaid are unsatisfied with the results thus far. Instead of a result of reduced debt and monetary progress at hospitals, they face unpaid bills, and Americans paying out of their own pockets, the study says.
But we already pay for healthcare in our taxes collectively and to insurance companies individually, and it's costing us dearly. We hear stories every day now about how someone died because they couldn't afford their medication or treatment. Of people suffering for years because they couldn't afford to see a doctor. We see the wasteland of suffering that our current system has given us, and we can't let the fear of change keep us from doing better, for all of our sakes.
This is more than enough money to live on especially with next benefit of being a
29-35 years Above 35 years Gender Female Nationality Sri Lankan Monthly Income (Per Month) Less than