APPOINTMENT OF SELECT COMMITTEE TO VERIFY THE HEALTHCARE SUBSIDY OF GOVERNMENT POLYCLINICS AND PUBLIC HOSPITALS

The Minister for Health (BG George Yong-Boon Yeo): Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I seek your consent and the general assent of Members present to move a motion to appoint a Select Committee to verify the healthcare subsidy of Government polyclinics and public hospitals, and another motion to nominate Members to this Select Committee.

Mr Deputy Speaker: I give my consent. Is it the pleasure of honourable Members that these motions be moved?

Hon. Members indicated assent.

BG George Yong-Boon Yeo: Sir, I beg to move,

"That this House appoints a Select Committee to Verify the Health Care Subsidy of Government Polyclinics and Public Hospitals with the following terms of reference:

(i) To verify the figures for the fees charged by polyclinics and private GPs, and the average bill sizes in private and public hospitals, which the Minister for Health provided to Parliament on 15th March 1996;

(ii) To verify the subsidy levels for services provided by polyclinics and public hospitals;

(iii) To verify the figures and statements given: (1) in the article "The Truth About Health Care Costs", published in The New Democrat 1996 Issue No. 1, and (2) in Mr Ling How Doong's speech in Parliament on 11th March 1996, substantiating the SDP's claim that "health care costs are hardly subsidised at all."."

Sir, at the Budget debate on 11th March this year, Mr Ling How Doong suggested that the Government has misled the public on the subsidy of polyclinics and public hospitals. Mr Ling said and I quote:

`I suspect that the so-called subsidy by the Government is not below cost subsidy but below market price subsidy. Let me cite an example. If you go to a polyclinic, you pay $7 per visit excluding medicine. Formerly, you may have paid $12 including medicine. It varies. So you can say, on average, you probably pay $13-$14 per visit to the polyclinic. But if you visit a private practitioner, you pay about $16. But you must not forget that when you go to a private clinic and they charge you $16, the doctor must have made at least 50% from there. He must have made $8 from there. So the actual cost is only $8.'

Mr Ling then went on to say and I quote:

`If the Government is serious about subsidy, the subsidy should be below cost and not below market price. I cite a simple example. In Singapore, C class ward charges are $25 per day, excluding food, toilet paper, medicine, etc. For a C class ward, the Government claims there is a subsidy of $80. So without subsidy, it comes to $125 per day. If you compare with a private ward outside - we have a number of hon. Members here who have clinics outside - you will find that, for $180, you stay in a two-bedded ward with an air-conditioner, telephone and TV. So is this subsidy? In a private hospital, in a four-bedded ward, you pay $157, with air-conditioner, colour TV, etc.'

Mr Ling continued:

`Bearing in mind all the infrastructure and equipment, everything in the hospital is paid for from the taxpayers' money. Therefore, when you talk of subsidy, the Government should make sure it is below cost subsidy. It is very easy to work it out this way. If the private hospital charges $200, how much do they make from this amount? If they make $100, that means their cost is $100. So if members of the public are asked to pay $80, that means the subsidy is 20%. It is very simple. We do not have to go beyond that. The Government should do that. Then I will agree that it is really subsidising Singaporeans.'

Sir, in other words, Mr Ling is saying that the Government is not really subsidising Singaporeans, and that the Government has misled Singaporeans about its subsidy of healthcare costs.

Mr Ling was picking up an item in the latest issue of the New Democrat entitled "The Truth About Health Care Costs", which alleged that "healthcare costs are hardly subsidised at all." On 15th March, during the Committee of Supply debate on the Health Ministry, I said:

`... the SDP in a recent issue of the New Democrat talked about "the truth about healthcare costs" in Singapore. Really, it should be "falsehoods about healthcare costs", and those are falsehoods which Mr Ling repeated in this Chamber. We all know, in fact, that polyclinic charges are much cheaper than GP charges. In fact, they are a third to a half less than for general practitioners - about $10 versus $18 for coughs and colds, about $25-$30 versus $50-$80 for chronic conditions. And that is not taking into account the fact that children and the elderly pay half price. The overall subsidy level for polyclinics is about 50%.' And I added at the time:

`If the SDP persists in such misleading comments, I am willing to have a public committee to verify the numbers.'

I handed out tables to Members to establish beyond doubt that polyclinics and public hospitals are much cheaper than private GPs and private hospitals. I said:

`... across the board, the data is clear. I strongly urge the SDP to print a correction in the New Democrat for misleading the public in this very outrageous way.'

I added:

`... in the Budget Debate, he compared bed charges. He does not understand that some private hospitals, in order to bait and switch, deliberately market bed charges low and everything else they add on and pile on. But, as for the public hospitals, we are very honest and straightforward. Our bed charges cover all kinds of incidentals. These figures are compiled every 6 months. They are updated and they are available in the Internet. Maybe, the SDP should highlight the MOH's webpages in the next issue of the New Democrat.'

Sir, having corrected Mr Ling in this Chamber, I urged him to retract SDP's allegations. But I also said that if the SDP persisted in misleading the public, then I was prepared to have a public committee to verify the numbers. On 18th March, the SDP issued a press statement welcoming the establishment of such a public committee and looking forward to taking part.

Sir, it is very important that the people of Singapore should know what the facts are. Either the Government has misled the people of Singapore, or the SDP has. This is a matter of fact, not a political opinion. To establish the facts beyond doubt, I propose that Parliament appoint a Select Committee to Verify the Healthcare Subsidy of Government Polyclinics and Public Hospitals with the following terms of reference:

(a) To verify the figures for the fees charged by polyclinics and private GPs, and the average bill sizes in private and public hospitals, which the Minister for Health provided to Parliament on 15th March 1996;

(b) To verify the subsidy levels for services provided by polyclinics and public hospitals;

(c) To verify the figures and statements given (1) in the article "The Truth About Health Care Costs", published in the New Democrat 1996 Issue No. 1, and (2) in Mr Ling How Doong's speech in Parliament on 11th March 1996, substantiating the SDP's claim that "health care costs are hardly subsidised at all".

Such a Select Committee of Parliament has the powers to call for official data, summon officials for questioning, request the assistance of the Auditor-General and hear representations from members of the public and political parties.

Sir, I beg to move.

Question put, and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House appoints a Select Committee to Verify the Health Care Subsidy of Government Polyclinics and Public Hospitals with the following terms of reference:

(i) To verify the figures for the fees charged by polyclinics and private GPs, and the average bill sizes in private and public hospitals, which the Minister for Health provided to Parliament on 15th March 1996;

(ii) To verify the subsidy levels for services provided by polyclinics and public hospitals;

(iii) To verify the figures and statements given: (1) in the article "The Truth About Health Care Costs", published in The New Democrat 1996 Issue No. 1, and (2) in Mr Ling How Doong's speech in Parliament on 11th March 1996, substantiating the SDP's claim that "health care costs are hardly subsidised at all." Ps Speaking: BG George Yong-Boon Yeo(Minister for Health);