National Day Rally (NDR) 2018 In 5 Mins: All The Costs That Matter To Singaporeans

TL;DR – National Day Rally 2018. Things that matter to Singaporeans

The 4 main reasons for the cost of living pressures:

• Concerns of young families
• worries of sandwiched generation
• lifestyle changes
• price increases.
• The rate of change in terms of salary and income feels as though it will never be able to catch up with the cost of living.

On housing cost:

• 80% of Singaporeans live in a HDB.
• Singaporeans can pay for downpayment with their CPF.
• PM Lee believes that 99-year HDB lease is long enough for flats to retain substantial value, and act as a good retirement nest egg for most Singaporeans.
• Should any Singaporean living in a HDB, have to return old flats at the end of the lease, the government will help them get another one. After all, Singapore’s oldest flats are at most 52 years old, with a remaining 47 years on their lease.
• Home Improvement Programme aims to improve flats when they are about 60-70 years old.
  (It will be extended to 230,000 flats in estates like Pasir Ris, Yishun and Tampines to benefit from it)
• Voluntary Early Redevelopment Scheme (VERS) to allow Singaporeans to vote if they want their estate to be taken over.
• With VERS, one can allow the government to buy back their HDB early. The money can then be used to buy a new one. This scheme will be looking to be implemented 20 years later.

On Healthcare cost:

• Those who are born in the 1950s are the “Merdeka Generation”. By next year, the government will launch the Merdeka Generation package, to help this group of Singaporeans meet their medical expenses.
• Increasing the supply of healthcare by building new polyclinics in Sembawang, Eunos, Kallang and Bukit Panjang by 2020; and in Nee Soon Central, Tampines North by 2023
• Singaporeans with chronic ailments will now be able to enjoy the benefits of subsidised medical treatment, as the Community Health Assist Scheme (Chas) is now extended them.
  (Do note that the benefits will be pegged accordingly to one’s income.)

Read more: The True Cost Of Healthcare In Singapore That Every Singaporean Should Be Aware Of

Here’s the medical cost Singaporeans are looking at, at the moment:

On Utility bills:

• As Singapore is not an oil producing country, fixing electricity tariffs may incur more cost in the long-run.
• Initiatives such as U-Save will help lower-income Singaporeans with their Utility.
• In fact, cost of electricity has gone down if one compares with 10 years ago.
  This is true! Read more: Putting Money In The Bank, Trying To Deal With My Electricity Bill and Increase In Water Bill

On cost of food:

• Government will look to make food cost more affordable by increasing the number of hawker centres.
• They already built 7 new hawkers in recent years and Singaporeans can look forward to 13 more new ones.
• Is this the best solution to cost of food?

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