Comments on: Inequality without poverty

By: ssumner

ssumner — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 00:08:28 +0000

Philemon, A hybrid system is usually considered universal if everyone’s covered in one way or another.

Chuck, That was a joke.

Shelly. Yes, the big lie that the government keeps repeating. The top federal income tax rate this year is 43.4%.

By: Shelly

Shelly — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 23:00:31 +0000

The top U.S. tax rate next year after the passage of the Jan. 2, 2013 American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 set the top rate at 39.6%. All state taxes are subtracted first from federal taxes owed, so Texans – and taxpayers in other states – keep more than the 56% you claim, surely.

By: Crocodile Chuck

Crocodile Chuck — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 08:28:44 +0000

Interesting post, until the reader hits this clanger:

“The average airport in Singapore is as good as the best airport in the world”

1) its the only airport
2) Changi is the best airport in the world

Fly much?

By: Roy

Roy — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 16:37:44 +0000

Hi there,

I had just chanced upon this article.

I had written something about the income inequality of Singapore: http://thehearttruths.com/2012/12/30/singaporeans-this-is-it-this-is-how-our-government-takes-our-money/

Would perhaps like to also know your thoughts on them.

Thanks!

Roy

By: Singapore and democracy « Aznol Mints

Singapore and democracy « Aznol Mints — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 04:04:14 +0000

[...] http://www.themoneyillusion.com/?p=17809 [...]

By: Philemon

Philemon — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 03:53:11 +0000

Scott,

I tried looking for a definition of “universal health care” only to discover that the concept seems somewhat fuzzy on the edges. At one end, some people (e.g., the most recent incarnation of WHO) use the term as implying a move away from user fees towards financing via taxation, while others are not so committed to this specific modes of financing but emphasize the more general idea of enduring that health care (and related financial protection) to all citizens of a country.

In the case of Singapore, on the one hand, there is quite a bit of tax funded subsidies for, e.g., hospitalization and major procedures, government mandated insurance coverage for extra large expenditures, and even a government run endowment fund of last resort for the needy.

But on the other hand, there is also a firm commitment to make sure that individuals have ‘skin in the game’ by requiring some sort of out of pocket co-payment (relatedly, there are strict limits to how much one can draw from one’s HSA (Medisave) and for what purposes). In addition, a lot of primary care is delivered by the private sector, for which one usually cannot draw upon one’s HSA.

So, depending on one’s metric, Singapore either have a universal health care system, or a hybrid system. Any good leads on what is the state of art as far as the idea of universal health care is supposed to mean nowadays?

(Some details on the financial aspects of the Singapore system here: http://www.moh.gov.sg/content/moh_web/home/costs_and_financing.html)

By: ssumner

ssumner — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 02:01:51 +0000

Bali, I meant that everyone has access to health care.

Everyone, Thanks for all that info, I’ve learned a lot.

By: mbk

mbk — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 01:07:25 +0000

Well, breaking news – on Monday over a hundred Chinese national bus drivers did not show up for work and as of yesterday government has started calling it a strike. The first strike in 25 years, and it is staged by Chinese foreign labour. If that’s not odd then I don’t know. Anyhow, a police report has been lodged.
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/bus-drivers-singapores-first-strike-25-years-233706807–finance.html

By: Immigration arguments « Foseti

Immigration arguments « Foseti — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 19:25:22 +0000

[...] (i.e. restricts freedoms) specifically to mitigate the consequences of having a diverse population, Scott Sumner and Bryan Caplan seem to like [...]

By: Bali

Bali — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 08:02:20 +0000

Sir,
Singapore does not have universal healthcare coverage!
Out of pocket spending is a dominant source of financing healthcare expenditure; and medical savings accounts finance <10 % of total health expenditure.