6 July 2022
There was a discussion about why every Singaporean has to pay an annual insurance premiums for Medishield Life for the hospital stay and basic medical treatment in public hospitals. On the other hand, Hong Kong residents need only to pay for the essential hospital stay.
These insurance premiums could add up to more than SGD 1,500 per year for each Singaporean.
Why the Differences?
There is a Chinese saying about "the wool always comes from the sheep".
The difference is on whether the free medical treatment services offered by the Government hospital have been prepaid by the taxpayers.
In this case, the Hong Kong government could have already collected a fee from the Taxpayer and therefore, there is no need for the Hong Kong resident to pay for the service again.
Example?
A good way to find if the above statement is true is to examine and compare the personal income tax structure between Hong Kong and Singapore as shown in the following example.
If we work out the personal income tax that a Hong Kong and a Singapore worker have to pay, we will have the following situation:-
The above working shows that a Hong Kong worker has to pay 13.4% of his annual salary whereas a Singapore worker has to pay only 4.15%. In other words, a Hong Kong worker will have to pay SGD 7,078 more than a Singaporean worker. This SGD 7,078 should be more than enough to cover not only the insurance premium of the medical treatment but also many other Hong Kong government's essential free services.
Therefore, we can conclude that the free medical treatment provided to Hong Kong's residents must have been prepaid by the taxpayer.
References:
1. MediShield Life premiums and subsidies in Singapore
2. Public Hospitals in Hong Kong: How Much Does It Cost?
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