LSH: Govt spends nothing on Healthcare, CPF & HDB?

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

24-10-2013 02:45 PM[IMG]*******************/mybb/images/mobile/posted_0.gif[/IMG] Post: #1
sgbuffett
Member

Posts: 213
Reputation: 13 Quite surprise when I read this thought it is some kind of hoax.
But after sometime digesting what he said, the author really has a good point.

Here is the article:
http://leongszehian.com/?p=6148

1. For housing it is quite simple, the subsidy is a "market subsidy" which the govt computes as a "loss" on paper. But net cash flow for the govt is positive, for housing. The govt net net does not spend a single cent for housing, in fact cash flows from CPF and Singaporeans to govt coffers in the housing scheme.

2. For healthcare it is hard to understand:
Govt does not spend a single cent on healthcare?

Quote:"So, from a citizen’s cash-flow perspective, if we pay about $7 billion a year into Medisave (which is taken by the Government vide non-marketable Government bonds which pay the same interest as the Medisave account) and the Government spends $4.885 billion a year – is it not in a sense, equivalent to the Government not having to spend a single cent on healthcare?

Even if we include the total Amount Withdrawn from Medisave for Direct Medical Expenses of $768 million, withdrawals to pay Medishield premiums of $446.7 millionand and Medifund grants to institutions of $98.2 million, in 2012 - the grand total sum including Government public healthcare spending may still be less than $7 billion.
Basically govt is cash flow positive due to Medisave & medishield. $7B flow into Medisave, Medishield,

Quote:According to the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) web site, Singapore’s healthcare public spending as a percentage of GDP was about 1.4 per cent or $4.885 billion ($4.081 billion operating expenditure and $641 million development expenditure) in FY12, making it one of the lowest spending in the world.
So $7B plus goes into Medisave & medisield but $1.2B is paid out. This over time created an accumulation of $60B in medisave account. Now how the govt use the $60B?

Quote:Also, what about the excess returns earned by the Government on the $60 billion total Medisave balance (Temasek and the Government Investment Corporation (GIC) had annualised returns of 16 per cent in S$ terms for the last 39 years, and about 6 per cent in US$ terms for the last 20 years or so,
The govt makes about 6-16% return on the this which more or less the $4.8B budget for Ministry of Health on public healthcare spending.

So you net off. The govt actually spends next to nothing on healthcare...and in fact cash flow positive to the tune of 3-4B each year with money flowing into Medisave.

Wow...talk about indirect taxes.




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