money no enough? (2)

in my last blog entry a couple of days ago, i expounded on the chief reason (after speaking to many tied agents and advisors) being money no enough as to why consumers in our tiny red dot nation are generally under-insured.

and lo and behold, in today's edition of the straits times, there is a special report focusing on those that are really living from hand-to-mouth in our society titled, "running on empty".

the 74 page report by the Lien Centre for Social Innovation at the Singapore Management University acknowledges that basic social needs such as food, clothing and shelter are met through direct government action and non-governmental social service organisations but there will always be unmet needs of which i count being insured to be one of these needs.

my comments:

the straits times report mentioned mr ang seng hwee, 65 and his wife, madam lee siew moi, 53 who lived on $297 in cpf payouts every month, for 5 months. in september, the local community development council approved mr ang's appeal by granting him $200 a month for 3 months together with $80 vouchers for power and water bills.

another individual, mrs tan, 59, is a preschool teacher assistant and her 60 year old husband are finding it hard to support her sister, 77 and his mother, 91. her sister, who is single, suffers from diabetes, hypertension, osteoarthritis and schizophrenia.
the tans have a combined monthly income of about $2,300 and about $800 goes towards supporting their 2 relatives. they have 2 children in their 20s, who have just started working and mrs tan said:

"it will be unfair to ask them to support their aunt and grandmother as well as us."

another couple, madam gan hee, a 57 year old housewife and her retired construction worker husband, mr tan ah choi, 75, lives in a 4-room jalan bahagia flat which they shared with their 3 grown up children, a son-in-law and granddaughter, as well as madam gan's unmarried younger sister, gan ten, 50 who is jobless and gets her meals from a free-food distribution centre run by the charity, willing hearts. and to save electricity, they switched off their fan.
they say money is tight but they cannot downgrade (to a smaller flat) as their 2 older children, both in low-paying contract jobs, cannot afford their own flats. their youngest son is a student at the institute of technical education.

why have i singled out these families?

to be honest, i have highlighted the plight of these families and they represent living examples of people who need insurance but to them, money no enough.

but for the many individuals and families where i have met (and for the other tied agents and advisors as well), and cited money no enough to take up insurance, is simply too hard to swallow, going against the backdrop of the marginalised numbers in our society.