Friday, November 4, 2011

21% increase in Medical Test !

Many of us do not go through the details in our medical bills, especially those hospitalization charges with a 'complicated' long list of billing. If we do, likely we are in for surprises. I have been billed wrongly 3 out of the 4 unlucky occasions when I ended up in hospital. Changi Hospital billed me for x-ray which was never done and overnight bed charges when it was a minor day surgery with no overnight observation. KK billed me for item which was not issued to me. Sigh....yes they make mistakes both human and system errors. I learn that Changi system will automatically reflects bed charges and has to be manually 'unchecked'. The nurse will presume x-ray is done if there is surgery.

Then the cost of medicine which I blogged about in my previous post. They are not subsidized ! As the amount is small, most patients thought they are subsidized. But the fact is they cost more than purchasing them from Guardian Pharmacy. Going by the large volume of patients per polyclinic per day - this could work out to a substantial sum !

I am diagnosed with Glaucoma in May this year. I am seeing the doctors at SNEC and applied for subsidy. Glaucoma can lead to blindness. The medical bill will be substantial over the years as the disease deteriorates.

We are at the mercy of the doctors regarding the frequency of consultation and medical tests done. So far I have gone for 5 consultations and 10 medical tests! The best part or rather the worst is one of the tests has 21% cost increase just over a period of 5 months ! As most patients do not go through their bill in detail, likely these so called government subsidized clinics and hospitals can get away with their profiteering at tax payers expense without being noticed. Government is subsidizing patients with tax payers' money, but are these Polyclinics and hospitals really passing on the cost back to the patients ?

Note : The eye test concern is taken as SNEC. It is called Optical Coherent Tomography which charges went from $56 to $68 (21% increase)

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