Fiscal marksmanship and planning for medical expenses

 

I finally managed to get some information on my mum's hospitalization.

In brief, my mum had a bad fall and hit her head while under a regime of blood thinners. It led to bleeding in her brain, affecting the brain regions that cover speech and movement. I hospitalized her after she could not speak coherently. 

While that time was excruciating for me, my mum's recovery was speedy, and she was discharged after a month from Woodlands Health. The hospital continues to look after my mum via a mobile team of doctors and nurses.

I thought perhaps revealing my expenses could help other readers plan ahead for medical emergencies. My mum is a PR, so Medishield does not apply to her, but we stayed in a Class C ward. There was no surgery, but there was 4 days of ICU stay with teams of allied health professionals working on her speech and physical recovery. Now, I know that some folks might gloat and say that I did not pay for an ISP, but my mum had a history of high blood pressure, making it impractical for my family to insure her even when she was younger. 

I don't have a serious breakdown of the fees yet, but the CPF website already has some information. A $12,250 deduction has already been made to my Medisave, and I will likely receive a $6,050 bill much later, which I need to pay in cash. 

So, it is likely that my bill is slightly above $18,000. This is an outstanding deal as the Class C ward in Woodlands Health puts 6 patients in a room, and there are air cooling units in the ward and Youtube access. 

In the grander scheme of things, a $6,050 fee payable in cash is significant but not something that will break a family's back, although I suspect a Singaporean will pay way less. However, I decided to top up my Medisave immediately with our accumulated cash reserves, hoping we would be prepared for our next medical disaster. In the meantime, I get to compound at a rate of 4% and even get tax benefits.

One big lesson readers can learn from this is that, predictably, I know some parts of my family will question my decision to put my mum in a Class C ward. I don't understand why people keep asking my mum whether she can afford the hospital stay when I'm the guy ultimately responsible for finding the money to do it. The answer is simple - my mum is a PR who is not insured. Some relatives will try to demonstrate or insinuate their superiority because they can do it under private wards - I think as fiscally prudent people, we need to resist all calls for it. My medal of pride is that I'm by my mum's side in hospital 6 days every week because I need to teach in a Poly on Thursdays. 

Ask their kids whether they can do that.

So, we are our own insurance company, and we have a six-digit uninvested sum to deal with medical emergencies. If any family ensures a senior for price hospitalization right up to their 70s will pay so much in premiums, they would not have their Medisave constantly overflowing to their CPF-OA account, a privilege I enjoy. 

My family also regenerates this hospital bill via dividends in a matter of weeks and not even months - I just need my mum to lay off buying 4D and Toto expenses for a while - I don't issue CDC/Toto vouchers after our family's version of the pandemic.

This is the essence of fiscal marksmanship. 

If there are ways to be frugal, just do it, and don't bend under pressure. 

There will be plenty of expenses after hospitalization. I'm still paying about $300-$400 for monthly house calls, and I need to pay about $700 more for two months of physio. 

Penalising a family or government is unfair if they have a significant surplus. If anything, a person's Medisave should be reloaded as the next medical emergency will not be far away if seniors are in the household.