by Izmil Amri

Some dude just graduated. Dude got job. Job pays money. Dude is kinda happy. He can finally take the girlfriend out without having to borrow money from the dad. The dad is stingy. The dad worked hard for money. Dad has a mini market back in Ipoh.

Dude works day and night for a certain firm that sues people. For loan default. For accidents. For stealing cats. Sue them day and night. No, dude is not a lawyer. He is not interested in going to hell. Dude’s a very pious Catholic dude. Goes to church kinda dude.

Dude gets paid two thousand bucks monthly. After EPF, he gets around one thousand eight hundred. After paying car loan and room rent, dude’s left with eight hundred bucks. He allocates a quarter of the remaining amount for petrol. Quarter of it for food. Quarter for incidentals. Quarter for parents, back in Ipoh. Parents like it. Dude’s kinda happy. Girlfriend not too happy. No allocation for shoes and handbags.

He uses internet at the office. Watch television at the mamak. No need to pay for internet and cable.

Dude doesn’t smoke. All is good.

Except that he has this condition. Health condition. Dude’s asthmatic. Can’t really breathe right. He has an inhaler handy. And keeps spares in numerous locations. Car, office, home, girlfriend’s handbag. Occasionally when the attack gets serious, he goes to the hospital for a nebulizer.. err.. neubalizer.. nebulai.. forget it. Dude doesn’t spell that well.

Inhaler costs him RM20. If the pharmacies close in the middle of the night and he runs out of said inhaler, dude’s forced to buy from the clinic. Sometimes it’s RM30. If he get’s lucky and they have the smaller inhaler, then it’s RM16. Last he went, that was the price lah.

That gas thing at the hospital is a different story. If he goes through triage and gets hauled into the emergency room, he leaves right after getting the gas, before needing to head to the pharmacy and paying for some ridiculous amount. The same applies when dude goes to some government hospital. Cunning dude. “Government got money. They can take care of the Rakyat’s health,” says the dude.

One day while he was scrolling through Twitter, he noticed this thing called 1Care. “What is this?” he says. “Another attempt to stamp a number one on something other than on an underwear?”

Dude was not so happy with the news.

He told the girlfriend. He told her that the new system will force all household to give up to 10% of their monthly income to some kind of national health insurance scheme. That means, from the remaining portion after he has paid the loans, he will need to cut some expenses. From where? The parents? The food? Plus his medical expenses per month is not even that much. “Save it for a rainy dah lah,” says the girlfriend.

“You crazy meh? I earn two thousand bucks, ten-percent from that is two hundred bucks. One year I pay two thousand four hundred bucks. For healthcare? What healthcare? I only spend twenty ringgit a month for my silly inhaler. If I sick, I buy panadol lah. If headache, I buy minyak cap kapak. If got luka-luka, I put minyak gamat. Why should I pay RM2400 per year for things I won’t be needing? How often do you expect me to get sick and get into an accident? You want to find new boyfriend is it?”

Girlfriend was taken aback. She knows that any glimmer of hope for him to buy her a Birkin bag is now lost.

“You know what else is crazy? You cannot choose your own doctor. The gomen will assign one doctor for you. What if the doctor is not a good doctor? If you want to go see a different doctor, you have to pay from your pocket. And then ah.. can only see that doctor six times a year. Everytime also he give paracetamol. Like that ah.. I also can become doctor. I inject myself la like this. Die laa.. where got money. How to get married?”

Girlfriend starts to get worried.

Girlfriend takes smartphone. Scrolls through Twitter… Tweets, “WTF is this #1Care. Take rakyat’s money suka-suka. How to go shopping lah like this.” -The Rocket

_____________________________________________________________________

To find out more about 1care:

Download the PDF proposal here –  1Care_for_1Malaysia

‘Like’ the FB page here – https://www.facebook.com/taknak1care

Read more info on the blog opposing it – here

Watch the videos and know the facts – here