Rich Snail » Health

The single best thing we can do for our health

jacques — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 02:08:35 +0000

Sometimes, the simplest answer is the best one.

I know it’s sometimes difficult to find some time for exercises. What with all the commuting, socializing and working one has to do on a daily basis. But walking a few minutes and choosing to take a flight of stairs instead of the dreaded elevator are simple yet powerful solutions.

If like me you look after a toddler / young kid, you can also use him as a work-out buddy. My son loves when I lift him up in the air and pretend he is a plane, he also very much enjoy our little walk and being carried around when I am taking care of errands. My arms have never been this strong

Hats off to the Doctor-Professor who came up with this 23 1/2 hour concept and to the illustrator – awesome job !

The German Healthcare System

jacques — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 01:00:29 +0000

Seventh in my series on National Healthcare System is the German Healthcare System.

It just went live on the Lighthouse website a few weeks back, and we got good feedback from our German clients. As with many universal insurance system, overall health care expenditures rose to more than 10% of GDP in recent years. German legislators are trying hard to contain costs, and with the ever-ageing German population, they will have to double their efforts in the future.

A little teaser to entice you to follow the here above link.
You will discover that the German system:

is very decentralized ;
is the oldest universal health care system in the World;
lets individuals choose among the statutory funds in their region;

Economist Weekly – Health Care, Tourism and Globalisation

jacques — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 13:42:58 +0000

The ASEAN region is famous for its tourism, sandy beaches and colourful temples. But a new trend is emerging over the past few years where occidentals get on the plane not to enjoy hot sand and clear blue water – at least not in the first place – but to get treated here. Many hospitals in Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia are seeing an influx of tourists, especially Americans in their world class hospitals. You even have websites like www.malaysiahealthcare.com which purpose is to promote this trend !

To discover more on this very interesting phenomenon, I recommend the following read Operating profit. Of course, you know me, it is from the Economist. Otherwise this section would have a different title!

What I love about this is that it really embodies the power of liberalism and competition. The US system, which became inefficient and over-priced, better adapt or it will start feeling the heat!

3 Reasons to Get Health Insurance Young

jacques — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 16:42:31 +0000

Many young people do not have health insurance. I used to not have health insurance. Why would we need one? We are naturally resilient, healthy, and are much less likely to have a serious medical condition than any other age-class.

Then why did I get insured?

1- In case something happen

I know, it sounds obvious. But working in this field, I realized how essential insurances are. It only is a matter of time before you get something – you never know when you are going to get hit by a bus, catch a virus, or simply rupture your appendix. And living in Malaysia does not help – just check the statistics for road accidents in 2007 to get an idea of what I mean…

2- Pre-Existing Protection & Chronic Conditions

Insurance companies try to discourage people from waiting until they get sick in order to purchase health insurance. One way in which they do this is to impose pre-existing condition exclusion periods. Such exclusion really becomes a problem when you have a pre-existing chronic conditions – from which you can never recover, they can only be managed. Hearth disease, diabetes, arthritis and asthma are considered chronic.

Since it is more likely that a chronic condition will affect an older person, a young expat would be wise to consider getting a decent insurance before he develop one. If he waits too long – and is unfortunate enough to develop one – it is extremely difficult to obtain cover later as it will be seen as a pre-existing condition.

3- It actually is not that expensive

With $150 per month you can find a pretty decent insurance coverage. It may not give you routine dental, but you will have in-patient, out-patient, and optical. A good deal IMHO !

Subsidised Fuel or Education & Health?

jacques — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 10:57:17 +0000

The news came in 2 days ago. The government abruptly raised the price of subsidised fuel by 40%. This measure was in the “pipeline” for quite some time and recently became necessary to offset the high oil price cost to the public purse.

This lead to horrible traffic jam that same evening as many Malaysians were trying to fill up their tank to enjoy the last remnant of a 1.92RM / liter gas price. Many lost a few hours in the process to save a few Ringgits. I can understand this reaction from lower-class Malaysians who live on less than RM1,000 per month. But I was surprised to see the kind of reactions in Bangsar and Damansara Heights, with many BMW and Benz lining up. Seeing these reactions I smiled remembering the concept of Homo-Economicus…

The ruckus started the following day. Many (Shall i say all?) are really unhappy about the price increase and the way the government handled this situation.Some will complain about the new price. To those I would remind them that those subsidies are reckoned to cost about as much as defence, education and health care – combined!

If I were to have a say, I would give priority to education and health care over petrol subsidy any time of the day! Let’s hope this increase will benefit those two sectors down the road…

Others took a step back and put things into perspective. They started opening again the pandora’s box of the last elections. Ho wealth has been managed or many will say mismanaged in the country. I think this is the right debate to have !