Dear Overseas Singaporeans, As you may already know, MOH has not responded to us for about 2 months now. It is totally unprofessional and unacceptable. However, when I started this petition, I already knew that it was going to be a long way to fight for our rights. We must persist. The patient and relentless party that does not give in will win the game. I’ve just returned from being in Singapore for about 6 weeks. I have some updates:- 1. ML is a irrelevant and terrible health care insurance even for locals – Overseas Singaporeans aren’t the only ones being forced to pay for ML when it is irrelevant to us. Local Singaporeans working in MNCs who are covered by corporate healthcare suffers the same fate. It is also becoming clear that hardly anything is claimable. http://theindependent.sg/medishield-life-only-paid-300-of-a-5k-bill-and-no-subsidies-for-900-medicine/ It’s like asking someone to buy a $5,000 life cover or a car insurance that limits cover to $1,000. It is clearly not fit for purpose. 2. ML is over-collecting from citizens - The MAS expects insurance funds to meet a Capital Asset Ratio (CAR) of 120%. The CAR of the MediShield Fund was 165% at the end of 2012. The Health Minister said that the MediShield Fund has set a target CAR of 200%. They never needed to collect from Overseas Singaporeans but they do not seems to care for the financial hardships they will be causing. http://www.wp.sg/integrated-shield-plans-debate-on-medishield-life-committee-report-ncmp-gerald-giam/ 3. Meeting with MP Low Thia Kiang on 16 Dec 2015 – We spoke briefly about MOH’s lack of response and how it was extremely unfair to make Overseas Singaporeans pay for something they will not use. He said that unfortunately, there is no way to challenge the current law unless we opt for a Judicial Review. That is a legal process and we will need to appoint an attorney and that would require millions. There is also a chance that they would seek repayment of legal dues if we lost. This method, although expensive, is not one I’m ruling out currently since there is a real chance that we will win. If each of us contributed our one year’s ML premium, we would have the millions we need to fight for our rights. 4. Meeting with MP Sylvia Lim 04 Jan 2016 – Ms Lim is a lawyer herself and she has listened to our case and offered to raise questions at a Parliamentary Debate in January 2016. I will attach my email correspondence with her separately. She has been the most helpful MP so far. 5. Press Articles – I have done an interview with FiveStarOneMoon and are engaging several other Press media to get more coverage. I will send out the article once it is published. In my conversation with health journalists, it seems that we are not the only ones not receiving a response from MOH. They have also been evading journalists’ request for clarification. I am intending to write to Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) by the end of this month and will update you once I have sent the correspondence. ---------------------------------------- What you can continue to do:- ---------------------------------------- 1. If you are home for Chinese New Year, please visit your local MP. You can find your “Meet the MP Session” at https://www.parliament.gov.sg/list-of-current-mps. They all have a meeting with their local constituencies every week. 2. Email PMO and the following GPCs for Health (contact details listed in link in #1) in particular and urge them to raise parliamentary questions. (http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/pap-forms-12-gpcs-for/2257350.html):- a. Dr Chia Shi-Lu (Chairperson) b. Dr Lily Neo (Deputy Chairperson) c. Mr Christopher de Souza d. Dr Fatimah Binte Abdul Lateef e. Ms Joan Pereira f. Mr Sitoh Yih Pin g. Dr Tan Wu Meng h. Ms Tin Pei Ling You may use my email to Sylvia Lim as a template. https://medishieldlife.wordpress.com/2016/01/15/mp-sylvia-lim-to-raise-questions-on-ml-for-overseas-singaporeans/ 3. Continue to publish the responses or the lack of it from MOH on this website. United we stand. Divided we fall. Let’s continue our fight towards a better Singapore for all! Juliet Low.