There is No GOVERNMENT Subsidy

This paragraph isn't really about stupidity, just an observation that many Singaporeans do not know what it entails to be a subsidised patient. Just because you are registered as a subsidised patient does not mean you get all drugs at subsidised rates, as there is a list given by the government as to which medicine is subsidised. Any medicine that falls outside this list means you have to pay the full rate regardless of who you are. Note: it is the government that decides on the list, not the hospitals or polyclinics.

The stupid part comes when a person repeatedly ask why there is no subsidy given even though she has been told her medicine does not come under the list of subsidised medicine. As if it is not enough for her to ask, but she has to get her friends to ask as well. My technician probably repeated herself 3-4 times, explaining why no subsidy was given. Really got on my nerves, that I had to tell the patient bluntly that we are not the ones to decide on the subsidy. No subsidy means no subsidy. The government decides so go ask the government.