High Medical Cost for Singaporean with Foreign Spouse

These days I've been thinking a lot about the money I spent on my wife's pregnancy, so far it all added up to around S$1000 and that's only for 3 visits at the gynae, all within a week, and I'm the type who is very careful with spending money so I'm still getting used to spending so much, so fast. Of course I don't forget that my wife is a special case due to her operation but still, even if considering only the consultation and ultrascan charges, it's still a significant amount.

I have a colleague who knows a bit of my story and today he suggested getting insurance for my wife but actually I have spoken to my insurance agent last year, way before we decided to have a baby, and she told me that it's tough to get my wife insured due to her operation, furthermore it was a major operation i.e. open heart surgery. Plus she has to be on life-long medication. So when insurance is not available, and my Medisave is untouchable, what else can I do? Pay in cash.

But I'm glad I've been stingy so I managed to save up some money and put most of it in stocks, but actually not much, I have about S$6300 worth of stocks I can sell, and I have about S$900 cash right now, and I hope that cash can last till I get my salary so I don't have to touch my stocks. Anyway I'll be getting my mid year bonus on this coming payday so it's really something to look forward to.

I'm also thinking of the worst case scenario i.e. all stocks sold and all cash burned out, I think I would probably take a loan from DBS, they've been bugging me a lot, I have lost count of the number of calls I received from their telemarketers, and the number of letters with offerings of low interest loans. Oh I remember I got a call from them yesterday, this lady was asking whether I would like to take a loan as backup fund, now that's really odd, why would anyone take a loan as backup fund? Well I would if there's no interest.

I've also been thinking about how other Singaporeans with foreign spouse are managing, especially those with lower per-capita income than me. You see, my salary is S$3300, there's only one person depending on me which is my wife so 3300 divided by 2 is 1650, we are not struggling but no luxury for us, we can forget about car, private housing, expensive holidays or branded goods but we are alright with that because we also wish to keep life simple, you can say we don't have a choice but well, one has got to think from the positive angle right. Today I saw the following part from this blog,

...The article is about a security guard called Damien Koh who fell in love and married a Vietnamese woman. His wife was granted a LTVP but not PR (or citizenship) because he earned $1500 a month. They have 2 boys both are Singaporeans. Two weeks ago, Damien had a heart attack and passed away. The article discussed how his wife is at a lost because Damien the sponsor for her LTVP  is no longer around. Luckily, the MP for the area is Lily Neo and she will try her best to help her with the LTVP . When contacted, Dr. Lily Neo said there are "many foreign spouses living in HDB rental flats in her ward".

I'm not sure whether his wife was working, and they have 2 boys, must have spent a lot on medical costs since his wife was a LTVP holder and back in 2011, there's no such thing as LTVP+. But let's say his wife was earning the same amount, so they have 3000, divided by 4 is 750, not even half of what we have now, I can say that we are much better off than they were. Sigh, sometimes I will be thinking what if I married a local lady instead, life would be so easy, but doesn't that sound really stupid? Why should I restrict my choice of partner based on her nationality? Well everyone will argue back saying oh marrying a foreigner is like that, it's expensive, that kind of argument really makes me chuckle, so are they saying local ladies are cheap?

Review Heart Doctor Report at SGH Obstetrics and Gynaecology (O&G) Centre

So we went back to O&G to review the report with the gynae and we talked about my wife's heart surgery done in Thailand. This time we brought along a memo from the Thai doctor who operated on my wife, we also told the gynae that last time we checked, the Thai doctor said my wife can have baby, but only one child at the most, and there will be a 10% risk. The gynae then gave us two options, one is to go for abortion but we must do it within 24 weeks of pregnancy as that is the legal limit, two is to continue with the pregnancy and they will monitor closely, of course we choose the latter.

The gynae then told us that they have to take my wife off Warfarin and put her under Low Molecular Weight Heparin (LMWH) for the next 7 weeks starting from today, by the way, my wife is about 5 weeks pregnant now. She said this is because the baby will be developing vital organs from the 6th to 12th weeks so it's important to avoid Warfarin during this period, and the alternative blood thinner for this period will be LMWH  And from the 13th week onwards until close to delivery, my wife should go back to Warfarin. Then when we are close to delivery, we will need to change back to LMWH  She also mentioned that vaginal delivery will be too much for my wife's heart and we will need to do a Caesarean delivery.

Unlike Warfarin which is taken orally, this LMWH has to be injected under the skin, but not into the muscle, sounds like a delicate task, and it has to be done twice a day, 12 hours apart. I've done it for my wife just now, it wasn't as difficult as it sounds, she didn't bleed at the point of injection, and she feels ok so far, I think that should do it, phew, but she was yelling every time I push in the liquid so I had to do it really slowly, a little bit at a time. I'm glad I did ok considering I never did anything like that before.

Finally, we got an appointment on coming Monday for a blood test to make sure the LMWH is working as intended, and at least we seem to be moving forward, I hope we can reach the 12th week with no problem.

For those searching for LMWH, the brand I'm using for my wife is Clexane, one syringe contains 60mg Enoxaparin Sodium and qs ad 0.6ml water.

So today I paid,
S$58.85 for repeat consultation under associate consultant.
S$211.80 for 14 days of LMWH; 28 syringes.

Can Use Medisave to Pay for Pre-Delivery Expenses... Really?

This is covered under Marriage and Parenthood Scheme.
This is the FAQ.

I feel very disappointed and irritated when I read this part in the FAQ,

What is Medisave Maternity Package and its purpose?
Medisave may be used for maternity expenses. This includes expenses incurred during delivery and pre-delivery medical expenses such as consultations, ultrasounds, tests, medications, etc. Under the Medisave Maternity Package, up to $450 may be withdrawn for pre-delivery expenses when claimed together with delivery charges. All receipts for pre-delivery expenses must be submitted with the delivery charges for claims at the hospital.

It means that I can only claim up to S$450 for pre-delivery expenses, and I got to cough it all up in cash first, and I can only make the claim if the baby is delivered, wow. I don't understand, it's my money after all, why should I be bound to this kind of stupid rule, not as if I'm using it to do something silly.

If you read here and count only the medical charges at SGH, it all comes up to S$700+, and that's only for 2 visits. I understand that my wife is a special case, and she's a foreigner, but capped at S$450? Maybe for normal cases yes, maybe for Singaporean or PR women, then probably won't hit that amount since they are subsidized, but I don't know, how did they even come up with that fixed amount, why shouldn't it be variable?

Appointment at SGH High Risk Clinic

We saw the doctor today at the High Risk Clinic, it's at level 2, right above the O&G centre. We were there early at 9.15am, on time for our appointment, luckily there wasn't any waiting. There was one doctor and two other personnel offering input, I'm not really sure who they are though, but I think they are doctors too, maybe different specialisation. Anyway, it all came down to understanding more about my wife's heart surgery which was done in Thailand and they really don't have any info on it. They needed to know exactly which valve was replaced because it makes a difference. So the doctor arranged for a Echocardiography session, also to be done in SGH but at Block 4.

After lunch, we went for the "echo" session (short for Echocardiography), it took almost an hour and I was instructed to wait outside, so I have no idea about the process. After that, we were told that the heart doctor wanted to speak to us. She told us that my it was my wife's aortic valve that was replaced, and it is a metal valve. She also said that my wife's heartbeat seems irregular, probably due to the Digoxin, and also that my wife do not need to take diuretics, so she will inform the gynae to take those two out of her medication. She also said that my wife's replaced valve seems narrow, putting her at high risk pregnancy at best, worse case could be severely high risk, all depending on the narrowness of the valve. But she can't advise further as she needed to know exactly what kind of valve was put in, the size and etc.

Finally, we were told to bring along whatever documentation that we have on that surgery and come back to O&G to see the gynae again, and she will advise again. The next appointment is on 05 Jun at SGH O&G.

So today I paid,

S$84.53 for repeat consultation under senior consultant.

S$478.00 for the "echo". (yes you read that correctly, four hundred and seventy eight Singapore dollars)

I feel quite overwhelmed though, the amount seems to get higher and higher, not sure if I can manage, got to be thriftier than ever but it's not all about the money, the session with the heart doctor really dampened my mood, all the risk talk really makes me worried, but we'll see how it goes...

Appointment at SGH Obstetrics and Gynaecology (O&G) Centre

Our appointment was at 10.20am and we reached there at about 10.45am due to a traffic jam; we took a taxi. When we reached there, we registered and waited outside the doctor's room, then a nurse did a basic health check for my wife, took her weight and asked her to do a pregnancy test.

After that, we were told that my wife needed an ultrascan as she is pregnant, by the way, that's the 4th time we did the pregnancy test, and of course, it's positive. We waited a really long time for the scan, but when it started, it was quite interesting. As my wife is only about one month pregnant, there's really nothing much to see, actually we find it weird as to why they requested for the scan. Anyway, the specialist couldn't see anything if she scanned from the tummy so she had to insert a long and thick electronic penis into my wife's vagina. She even put on two pieces of condoms on the device...

From the scan, the baby is about the size of a bean, very small, even the doctor said it was too early, but well, seems like everything's fine so far, but we were told that we need to go to this High Risk Clinic on Monday to speak with their heart doctor because my wife is on Warfarin.

Finally, we collected the prescription at about 2pm, so the whole thing took quite a while, but we also went for a quick lunch at around 12.30pm.

So today I paid,
S$177.75 for first-time consultation under senior consultant (109 before gst) and ultrascan (57.12 before gst).
S$1.60 for 30 days supply of folic acid.

So Gain City Came Today to Fix My Aircon

And they didn't really fix it. They did a check, opened up the blowers, compressors, did some testing and found that there is a faulty part in the compressor and they have to order that part before they can fix my aircon. Sigh, and I thought I can enjoy my aircon tonight, and the weather looks hot now, I hope it rains later.

Update: Yes! It's going to rain, and looks like one heavy downpour!

Dark Sky

Singapore Ranks Number 4 for People with Long Life

Source

And I thought Singapore is a darn stressful place and people usually die very young, but that news report seems to say otherwise, what the heck, sounds like bullshit.

I mean look at my lifestyle, wake up, travel to work, wait for lunch, wait to go home, travel back home, have dinner, park myself in front of the computer, sleep, repeat for 5 days, and all these for what? Money, because without money, it's like a car without fuel, a bird with no wings, a football game with no football, you know, the key component, driving force.

And I'm grumbling, I know there are people who work more hours than me, for example retail staff, 10 or 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, even working on public holidays.

But then again, what's the point of thinking so much, as long as a person is associated with money, I think that person will be very tired, even if he or she is financially free, that person has merely moved on to the next level of tiredness, you see, who doesn't want more money, more money won't hurt, so people will always try to aim for more, it's human nature, there is no such thing call enough.

Add the above to living in Singapore, it's even worse, everything here costs money, and everything is getting expensive, but salary don't get much higher, actually I'm still doing fine, I have to wonder how people who earn far less get by, that's why I really respect those who can live with much lesser than me.

Enough grumbling, back to reality.