Thursday, April 11, 2013

Complicated Polyclinic Billing

In 2005, the billing in Polyclinic used to be clear and simple with just 2 columns and 2 rows for a straight forward consultation :

 Service Description                        Total Amount Payable
 Consultation - Adult (C)                                 8.00
                                                                    _____
 Total amount payable (include 5% of GST)       $8.00
                                                                    _____

Fast forward to 2012, somewhere along the way billing process has become very complicated, just like all other things in S'pore from taxi fare, CPF & HDB policies, COE........etc, etc

Now Polyclinic billing reflects 5 columns :
1) Service Code
2) Description
3) Quatity
4) Full Amount (S$)
5) Payable Amount (S$)

For the same consultation , the number of rows in the bill has increased to more than 10.  Basically, they are screaming to tell you that government is subsidizing the bill. So we have rows stating :
- Less : Government Grant
- Amount Payable Before Tax
- Add : 7% GST
- Amount Payable After Tax
- Less :GST Absorbed By The Government
-and so on...etc


Now the full amount for consultation is $36.82, the payable amount is $10.50 for a straight forward consultation. Even private GPs in HDB do not charge over $36 for medical consultation. How the govt arrives at this figure is strange. But it is not surprising as it is their usual tactics distort the subsidy amount to make it looks good.

They can be so blind to their illogical policy that they fail to see how ridiculous and unjust it is. They recently just abolished the $3 administration fee they charged patients in Polyclinic who chose to use their own CPF money in Medisave to pay Polyclinic bills instead of paying cash.

This policy has been in force for decades and citizens have been crying foul. $3 out of $8 is 37.5% in 2005 Polyclinic charges and 28.5% in 2012 bill. The govt is worst than Ah Long (illegal loan sharks). At least if one is desperate enough to borrow from illegal money lender, one is paying interest on loan from the lender. Here we have lower income patients who used their own money in CPF and being ripped off by the govt! What sort of govt would enforce such policy to penalize the poor, instead of helping them ?


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