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Government

Singapore Will Stop Covering the Medical Bills of Unvaccinated COVID-19 Patients (npr.org) 337

"Singapore's government has been covering the medical bills of COVID-19 patients throughout the pandemic," reports NPR. "But it says unvaccinated people will soon be on their own." Those who are "unvaccinated by choice" will have to start paying for their own COVID-19 treatment starting December 8, the Ministry of Health announced on Monday, citing the strain they are putting on the nation's health care system.

"Currently, unvaccinated persons make up a sizeable majority of those who require intensive inpatient care, and disproportionately contribute to the strain on our healthcare resources," it said in a statement...

"Our hospitals really much prefer not to have to bill these patients at all, but we have to send this important signal, to urge everyone to get vaccinated if you are eligible," Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said on Monday.

Singapore has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world. As of Sunday, 85% of its population was fully vaccinated, and 18% had received booster shots, according to health ministry data.

Thanks to Slashdot reader AleRunner for sharing the story...
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Singapore Will Stop Covering the Medical Bills of Unvaccinated COVID-19 Patients

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  • Good. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by The Evil Atheist ( 2484676 ) on Sunday November 14, 2021 @08:38AM (#61986557)
    Fuck them.

    Hopefully Australia will follow suit.
    • Re:Good. (Score:5, Informative)

      by quenda ( 644621 ) on Sunday November 14, 2021 @10:56AM (#61986853)

      Hopefully Australia will follow suit.

      They can't because all public hospitals were already free in Australia, not just for Covid as in Singpore.
      In Singapore, hospitals normally bill patients, who get part of the money from compulsory medical savings and insurance plans.
      Only for Covid admissions was everything made free, but now for unvaccinated people, they must pay hospital bills for covid like any other illness.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
      It is a very efficient system, delivering top class care for only 4.5% of GDP, compared to 9% in Australia, or 17% in the US.

      I guess Australia could void the Medicare insurance of unvaccinated Covid patients, and bill them like non-residents, but that would be a far greater step than Singapore has taken, and be politically impossible.

      • by ac22 ( 7754550 )

        Healthcare spending as a percentage of GDP is a somewhat flawed statistic. For example, Ireland spends 6.9% of their GDP on healthcare, one of the lowest percentages in the EU (which averages 9.9%).

        Why is Ireland's spending so low? Well, Ireland's GDP per capita is a huge $84,000, one of the highest in the world, but much of this "economic activity" is due to Ireland's status as a corporation tax haven.

        In comparison, the UK has a GDP per capita of just $40,000, yet the UK's median/mean incomes are actually

        • by quenda ( 644621 )

          Yes, Ireland is an outlier. But is there any reason the comparison is not valid for the 3 highly developed countries mentioned?
          Few would argue that healthcare costs are out of control in the US, and that Singapore is exceptionally good at keeping costs down.

          • by ac22 ( 7754550 )

            Australia's 9% of GDP spent on healthcare is unexceptional, and you correctly point out that US healthcare costs are huge. That only leaves Singapore.

            Singapore is far from being an ordinary country. It is a very wealthy city state, with a mere 5.7 million population. London has a similar population to Singapore, and similar income levels - approximately double those of the UK in general. But most Londoners rely on the UK's NHS for their medical treatment, so the UK's average healthcare spend of 10% of GDP b

    • My sentiments, sort of if. If they want the freedom to choose they should have it and I bear them no ill will in that choice, but by making that choice I believe that the should suffer the direct consequences of their actions. I also not only should they have to pay for their treatment they should be de-prioritized, so if there are sick people who chose to get the vaccine that need the bed, they should take precedence no matter how much money they have.

    • Fuck them.

      Don't do that. It's a great way of spreading Covid.

  • by VeryFluffyBunny ( 5037285 ) on Sunday November 14, 2021 @08:59AM (#61986587)
    The USA is working on a gun-based vaccine in order to make vaccination more acceptable to Americans.
    • The USA is working on a gun-based vaccine in order to make vaccination more acceptable to Americans.

      We have air hypo guns for vaccinations, we only use them on active military though, who by the way have given up their right to refuse medication or even know what it is. They can actually refuse it in at least most cases, but then they get a Dishonorable Discharge.

    • So we're gonna deliver it akin to how we vaccinate the animals in the zoo?

      Kinda fitting.

      • by Rei ( 128717 )

        Would be an effective way to disperse out-of-control antivax protests - just send some people out with tranquilizer guns filled with vaccines. They'll back off immediately ;)

        • I'm assuming that by 'out of control anti-vax protests' you mean Republican/white supremacist rallies? Might backfire though & we'd end up with hoards of heavily armed angry Karens storming our democratic institutions.
    • by swilver ( 617741 )

      No need, regular guns will work fine.

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • by c ( 8461 )

      Those post apocalyptic rednecks had better hope they stay healthy; something like 98% of medical doctors are vaccinated.

    • Something that is very likely, almost inevitable, is that people will sincerely believe whatever ails them is the fault of the Coronavirus vaccine. Pretty much any big even that gets a lot of news coverage will later have a "syndrome" claimed by people who were affected by it. It never fails.
    • by Dog-Cow ( 21281 )

      I'm vaccinated. My 3g reception still sucks and 5g is nonexistent. I was ripped off.

    • In the US, rural hospitals are all already in financial trouble. The uninsured coronavirus patients are going to bankrupt them. And then there will be nowhere to get health care in redneck areas.
  • Lesser of two evils (Score:4, Interesting)

    by blugalf ( 7063499 ) on Sunday November 14, 2021 @09:32AM (#61986667)

    Can't find anything wrong with such measures. Even in a crisis on this scale, societies are still stopping short of forcing the vaccination directly, which is a good thing. It remains a choice, but the choice is fast becoming very expensive. There is no silver bullet here, but this still strikes me as the lesser of two evils.

    Austria is going down a comparable path and has now imposed a lockdown for unvaccinated people [theguardian.com].

    • Singapore already has dual track restrictions for both the vaccinated and unvaccinated for a while now.

      And from end of this month, the difference in Singapore, in terms of activities you can get involved in, will be even more higher.

      They are slowly allowing the vaccinated to do more and more things, while the unvaccinated have more restrictions imposed on them.

      I think it was just a few weeks ago that the news came out that unvaccinated will have to do more covid tests (depending on the industry) and the emp

  • Just don't treat any Covid related diseases. After all, according to them it's just akin to the flu, or it doesn't exist altogether.

    That should take pressure off the intensive care units and it would increase the average IQ of the population in the long run, eliminating the people needing those soon-to-be eliminated low-qualification jobs too.

  • by JoeyRox ( 2711699 ) on Sunday November 14, 2021 @10:03AM (#61986737)
    Since they are the self-appointed party of personal responsibility, I'm sure they'll have no issue with medicare, medicaid, and private insurance company's excluding COVID-19 care coverage for unvaccinated individuals.
  • The Draft (Score:3, Insightful)

    by bigdavex ( 155746 ) on Sunday November 14, 2021 @11:41AM (#61986931)

    A generation ago people were drafted to fight in a war in the U.S..

    Now people are concerned about government overreach for requiring a free, potentially life-saving vaccination.

    We've turned into a bunch of wimps.

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