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| 12/02/2007 |
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Taking care of our old
By nebulaenova @ 6:01 PM :: 1667 Views ::
4 Comments ::  :: The Golden Years : Elderly
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Today, I read in the papers about a comment made by our PM Lee, regarding taking care of the old (it was in the budget article on the front page). He said that when he visited households, many elderly are living alone, unlike in the old days.
I am taking care of my parents and I understand why many of our young are not ready to take care of their parents. The first thing is housing. Not only the prices of our "affordable" public housing getting more expensive, it is getting smaller too. When I got married, I realised the four-room flat that I shared with my parents are not big enough for me to start my own family, my husband and I bought a bigger flat (we can only afford a 5-room) and brought my parents in. The funny thing is, it is called a 5-room flat but we still only get 3+1 rooms and a study room, so small you can't fit a bed in. These are "new generation" flats.
When I have my children, we realised we need to hire a maid to take care of the household since I have to work to pay for the flat. So now we have 6 family members + 1 maid, all squeezed into the 115 sqm flat.
The funny thing is when the government decided to give rebates and handouts, we get penalized for staying in a 5-room flat. When many of the elderly got the full Economy Restructuring Shares (ERS), my parents only get a fraction as they are staying in a 5-room flat, so they belong to the upper-middle class. We also get the smallest household rebates.
Moving around is also difficult - imagine transporting two aged parents, two children and a maid? We have to buy a car and this adds to our monthly expenses. Why buy a car you ask? Well, have you ever tried transporting everyone during the weekend peak hour in the MRT train?
I have no qualms in taking care of my parents. I think it is only right and an honorable duty. However, I wished things are easier for us, housing for instance. I wish we were allowed to buy bigger flats at cheaper prices and/or we get to loan from HDB and not a bank. Needs change over years and we were allowed only twice to be eligible for a loan from HDB.
The other thing is accessibility. We need to change our transportation system to be more user-friendly to the elderly in anticipation for future years. I wish there are designated seats in the MRT/buses for the ones in need e.g. elderly, children, pregnant lady because our society is not ready to be a graceful one yet. Cheaper weekend cars for families with children and parents divisible by the distance of their homes to MRT could help to identify genuine cases where private transportation is needed.
Rebates and handouts that are not tied to type of housing but rather household income divisible by the dependents in the household could also help.
What I think is working and should continue - allowing Medisave to pay for chronic illnesses, the tax rebates etc. The government should not only take care of the elderly but also the people taking care of the elderly. Afterall, we are saving precious tax dollars by taking care of our own.
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