“If you have nothing better to say, better don’t say anything.”

After volunteering and being the Project Coordinator at Project Awareness (A计划) all these while, I come to realise there are many things about life we should reconsider. Is money really about everything? Some people spend their whole life chasing papers, but ultimately are they really truly happy? Once a senior tell me, when his mom was weak and frail, he hired 2 maids just to take care of her, yet he feel very accomplished doing so. Why is this even happening in the first place? What if this were to happen to him, would he want to be taken care by 2 maids that his son hired just to take care of him?

I have met a lot of low income families through my volunteer works. I believe that we should not look down on anyone no matter what’s their past or situation. Every day, I receive a lot of messages from the public that they wish to help some of our beneficiaries, and I appreciate each and every one who came forward to reach out to those in need. However, I do receive some messages from a small group of people, questioning what we do, giving unnecessary comments, and demoralizing us and our group of volunteers. 

It is totally okay if these people do not have the heart to help others, but it is not okay when they start putting others down. There’s a quote I always stick by, “If you have nothing better to say, better don’t say anything.” Ultimately what we just want is the residents and families to benefit from everyone efforts, to help them tide through their difficult period in their life, so that they can lead a better life and that is enough.

So if you love to create trouble or being a nuisance and hinder our kindness works, I believe that serving the community is definitely not for you, and you should be somewhere else instead. Most importantly, stop the DIRTY game that you might have in mind.

But if you like to help any of our beneficiaries, do let us know as we always love to work with any organisations, any companies, or any one, regardless of who you are, where you are from, as long as we are able to help the community, and the people benefited from our efforts.

Only people with a guilty conscience will find this post offensive.

Rations for Mr Stanley and request more people to help for this family

Its always saddening when I received messages like, "I need your help. No thing at home. Last week I buy thing but my salary was less so I never buy many thing. So can u help me. Can I get ntuc voucher. Pls help me." Or "my house got nothing. We eat what you give us."

We wish to help every single family out there who are in this kind of situations, but our resources are limited. One example is Mr Stanley family in Champion Way. He is working as a security guard and having to his wife, his 7 kids, and his grandma and he has just discharged from hospital as well. His salary is less than 1k per month. Today we just bought some rations for his family. Each time it cost about $100 worth of groceries but due to the number of family members he has to feed, it can only last them 3 days.

This is just one such family that we have to support, and they truly need your support to tide over this difficult period of their lives, hopefully being able to find a higher paying job, or waiting till the kids grow up. I hope that someone would be able to help them with their bills, groceries, or vouchers, to help them through their most difficult period of their lives.

If you can visit Mr Stanley and his family at Champions Way, do whatsapp me at +65 9151 9924 for more information. Thank you for your kindness.

Kindness should not mixed together with Politics

On 20^th June 2015, something terrible happened before distribution. An opposition party that Not Supposed to be mentioned, actually requested Project Awareness to help them out on their Kindness Day, which is to spread kindness to the low income families in Singapore. So we discussed and decided why not? End of the day, we just want to help the residents of Singapore, so it does not matter who we collaborate with, so long as the residents benefit from it, we are happy to support.

It was supposed to be a happy event distributing goodies bags to the residents on that day, however to our dismay, when we including our volunteers have reached the place, the President of that party told us that today’s event is their party event, it’s not a collaboration between us and them, and our volunteers are not allowed to be seen in their pictures. This is ridiculous. Not that we want to be seen in their pictures, but our volunteers are not to be seen in their pictures?

Hence we decided to pull out from the whole thing, because in the first place, they are not appreciative of our volunteers’ efforts, and even the volunteers themselves says that they do not wish to support such ridiculous people. Most are wondering if they are really doing kindness or just trying to get extra points because the General Election is nearing? 

End of the day, we know that our hearts are with the residents and人民是无辜的，特别是弱势家庭 (the residents are innocent, especially the low income families) Hence, we proceed to do our distribution on our own instead.

We decided to organise a distribution the next day and meanwhile visit the families that we took care of.

Shopping for goody bags for the low-income families

Mr Buang Family

Uncle Goh

Ms Ramlah

Ms Rohaya and Family

Should We Upgrade Our Medishield?

Some of my customers are wondering, should they upgrade their basic Medishield that they are currently having? What are the benefits of upgrading their Medishield to Private Integrated Shield Plans?

1) Government Hospitals vs Private Hospitals

Medishield is designed to cover for large hospitalisation bills in Class B2 and C wards in government hospitals.

While government hospitals do provide professional health care, sometimes you have to be prepared to wait for a long period of time for treatments. I have heard stories where you have to risk waiting several months just for a surgery, and many prefer to be transferred to a private hospital for a faster treatment.

If you prefer to have the choice of seeking treatment from private hospitals and not have to worry about incurring a huge amount out of pocket, then choosing a private integrated shield plan that covers for private hospitals can provide greater peace of mind.

Wouldn't you prefer to have a faster and earlier treatment?

2) Limited coverage vs Full coverage

Medishield Life has claim limits for different portions of the bill e.g daily ward charges and surgical procedures.

Integrated shield plans typically come with As-Charged coverage instead of limits, you can submit the actual bill amount for claim without worrying about the individual sub limits, and this helps to protect against medical inflation.

3) Option to cover the co-insurance and deductible portion of the bill also known as Excess

Under both Medishield Life and Integrated Shield plans, we are expected to pay for a portion of the bills known as co-insurance and deductible.

However, private insurers providing Integrated Shield plans offer the option of purchasing cash riders (cash top ups on top of the basic plans) which cover for the deductible and co-insurance or at least reduce the amount of out of pocket expenses.

So if you prefer to have the peace of mind knowing your medical bill can be fully covered and not paying a single cent of the bill, then such riders to Integrated Shield plans would come in handy.

4) Coverage for pre and post hospitalisation related follow up charges

Medishield Life covers mainly for inpatient and selected outpatient treatment like chemotherapy and dialysis. However it does not cover for specialist scans or consultation prior to hospitalisation nor post hospitalisation follow up treatment.

Integrated Shield plans include these benefits, typically for bills incurred within 90 days before and after hospotalisation, some even longer.

Conclusion

If you value the freedom of choice to seek treatment in private hospitals and not have to worry about rising medical bills due to inflation, or if you want to be covered for pre and post hospitalisation related expenses and prefer not to co-pay part of the bill, then integrated shield plans would still be something worth looking at for a greater peace of mind.

With the enhancements in Medishield Life, there would inevitably be an increase in premiums.

Ultimately, here are 2 questions to consider in determining whether to upgrade or not

1. Do you value the enhanced coverage and peace of mind enough to pay more for them?

2. Are the premiums affordable and can it be manageable for you?

Do contact me at +65 9151 9924 for a non-obligatory discussion.

How Much Insurance Coverage Do You Think It's Enough?

Many people tell me that, aiya. I'm still young and healthy, no need to buy insurance now,  or, okay la I have enough savings for my rainy days. Unfortunately, things don't always go as planned. Too many Singaporeans don’t have enough insurance coverage for one simple reason – they don’t know how much and what insurance they need in the first place!

Being underinsured, while better than being uninsured, is still a risky situation that can hurt you financially in the event of an unfortunate mishap. Young Singaporeans especially in their 20s and 30s are particularly vulnerable to being underinsured – which is dangerous because these are the years when you should be buying enough insurance to protect your future wealth!

So How Much Insurance Do I Need?

To find out how much insurance every young Singaporean needs, here's a simple way to calculate:

Take your annual salary times 10 to 15 times. This will be a pretty good rule of thumb.

For a more detailed calculation, it’s always better to contact a financial consultant to calculate your financials, as each and every one situation is different.

Conclusion – You Need at Least $500,000 Insurance Coverage to Last You 10 Years!

That insurance coverage number is in line with what the amount of insurance recommended by the Life Insurance Association (LIA) Singapore for the average working adult in an average household – which is $490,000.

So before you decide to choose the cheapest policy available or worse, skip out on insurance entirely because you think putting all of your money into savings or investments is better – just remember that all it only takes ONE accident to wipe out your savings.

Don’t take the risk of assuming nothing will ever happen to you – purchase an insurance policy so that the financial risk is transferred to your insurer!

Do you have enough insurance coverage? Share your thoughts with me on Facebook or WhatsApp me at +65 9151 9924!