{"id":246946,"date":"2021-12-12T08:37:15","date_gmt":"2021-12-12T08:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=246946"},"modified":"2021-12-13T08:30:25","modified_gmt":"2021-12-13T08:30:25","slug":"singapore-to-start-charging-covid-patients-who-are-unvaccinated-by-choice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=246946","title":{"rendered":"Singapore to start charging Covid patients who are \u2018unvaccinated by choice\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Virginia Harrison \u2013 The Guardian Nov 9, 2021<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p>Singapore will no longer pay the Covid-19 medical bills for people \u201cunvaccinated by choice\u201d, the government said, as the country grapples with a surge in cases.<\/p>\n<p>The government currently covers the full Covid medical costs for all Singaporeans, as well as permanent residents and long-term visa holders, unless they test positive soon after returning home from overseas.<\/p>\n<p>However from 8 December, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.moh.gov.sg\/news-highlights\/details\/calibrated-adjustments-in-stabilisation-phase_8Nov2021\">the government said<\/a> it will \u201cbegin charging Covid-19 patients who are unvaccinated by choice\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>It said unvaccinated people \u201cmake up a sizeable majority of those who require intensive in-patient care and disproportionately contribute to the strain on our healthcare resources\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Covid-related medical bills will still be paid for people who aren\u2019t eligible for a vaccine. The government will also foot the bill for individuals who are partially vaccinated until 31 December, giving them time to get a second dose.<\/p>\n<p>Singapore has among the highest coverage rates in the world, with 85% of the population fully vaccinated.<\/p>\n<p>Yet the city state is struggling with rising Covid infections and last month warned its healthcare system was at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2021\/oct\/21\/singapore-hospitals-risk-being-overwhelmed-after-record-daily-covid-deaths\">risk of being \u201coverwhelmed\u201d by surging<\/a> cases. It came a day after the country expanded quarantine-free travel as part of a shift in its approach to dealing with the pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>The prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, previously said the global business hub could not remain closed indefinitely, and Singapore has moved from a zero-tolerance strategy with lockdowns and closed borders to living with Covid-19.<\/p>\n<p>A spike in infections after the relaxation of some restrictions prompted the island to pause further reopening in late October. Social curbs were extended for around a month in order to contain the spread of Covid and ease the pressure on the healthcare system.<\/p>\n<p>On 8 November, the country <a href=\"https:\/\/www.moh.gov.sg\/news-highlights\/details\/update-on-local-covid-19-situation-(8-nov-2021)\">reported 2,470 new cases and 14 deaths.<\/a> The ministry of heath said 67 Covid cases were critically ill in intensive care.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2021\/nov\/09\/singapore-to-start-charging-covid-patients-who-are-unvaccinated-by-choice\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Expect to see financial penalties being imposed on the unvaccinated elsewhere to, as a means to encourage them to get vaccinated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[105],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-246946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-coronavirus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=246946"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246946\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":246949,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246946\/revisions\/246949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=246946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=246946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=246946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}