Please charge me more

When we went to pay the hospital bills after Adik was discharged after a 3-day treatment, I was shocked to learn how much we were charged. Not because it’s too expensive, but because it’s too cheap. Can you guess how much it was? Sure I know it will be cheap because it’s a government hospital, but I didn’t expect it to be that cheap.

A bit of illustration:
First visit, Clinic A: 10-minute consultation, 3 types of medicines RM30
Second visit, Clinic B (because Clinic A is then too far): 10-minute consultation, 4 types of medicines RM22
Third visit, Clinic C (because Clinic B is closed): 15-minute consultation, a referral letter (we were advised to go to the hospital) RM10
Fourth visit, Hospital D: 4 10-minute consultation, 3 types of medicine (2 administered orally & 1 by injection) 12 times, checking of temperature and oxygen level (kalau tak silap) 12 times, 1 x-ray, 1 blood test, 3 nights bed, 12 meals for two (patient and carer) etc etc RM17.50!
And there I was, worrying if we had enough cash in our wallets to pay the bill.

Perhaps there wasn’t much privacy being in an open hall with 20 other people (it does allow interesting interactions with other people though). Perhaps it was not too comfortable sharing a child-size bed with my daughter. Perhaps the shower room reminded me a bit of my asrama days (making me feeling slightly nostalgic hehe). Perhaps the food was sometimes bland, though at other times quite delicious, and in any case always palatable (I’m not too fussy anyway). I may have paid my due of taxes. But I still think I should be billed more. I’m glad we didn’t have a government servant guarantee letter, else we’ll probably end up paying only RM1 or RM2 or something and I’d feel so guilty, because I know we can afford to pay more.

What if there are other people like me, who are willing to pay more? I’m not talking about private wing etc (that’s a different story altogether), but just the regular service. I’m not suggesting the government increases the hospital bills in absolute terms, that would not be fair to the people from the lower income group who really can’t afford to pay more. Only the people who can (ermm.. can, as well as want to?). A ‘drop-your-contributions-here’ box (haha) would not be transparent and can easily be mishandled. What about a simple hurdle? Charge a higher rate (say 20% from RM17.50 to RM21), and those who wish to get 20% discount may fill out a form. It’s a hurdle, because there will be some folks who would think “Malaslah isi borang, I’ll just pay the extra bit”. There’s no need to give proof of income, it’s just a simple hurdle. Can it work? Imagine what can be done with that extra 20%! Well, okay, let’s say only half of the payee are willing to pay (slightly) more, the other half would gladly fill in forms – it’s still a 10% increased revenue. And it should be used to pay the doctors and staffs a higher salary.