The Taste of Welfare

Two months ago, I mentioned on this blog that my daughter Elena was born without any out of pocket expenses, courtesy of Britain's NHS. It was not immediately apparent to me then that the delivery and hospitalisation were only the beginning of a long list of benefits our family would receive.

In the weeks after Elena's birth, we were visited at home by a midwife named Estry from the hospital once every 2-3 days, for a total 5 visits, to check on Elena's development and also that mother was coping. There is also a drop-in clinic where we could turn up every week for the midwives to check on Elena's progress. There is even a baby massage class every Monday.

Two weeks ago, Elena developed a scaly condition on the face and around the neck. It was diagnosed by the doctor to be baby eczema. Once prescribed by the NHS doctor, child medication is completely free in the UK until age 16. This week, Elena underwent two rounds of immunisation, again completely free of expenses.

Healthcare is not the only form of welfare benefit we are receiving. Soon after we were discharged from hospital, we were provided with an application form to the Child Benefits Office. We received a letter this week from the office that child benefit for Elena has been approved. Child benefit is not some kind of tax credit, it is not means-tested, but outright cash for every child. Eighteen pounds a week (around S$54) would be credited into our account and it would be backdated to the week Elena was born. It is not a huge sum of money, but it is certainly enough for milk and diapers.

As Singaporeans, Grace and I feel are not used to receiving state benefits. We are constantly surprised that Britain's welfare benefits extend even to non-citizens. Unlike citizens who grow up in a welfare state, we will probably never learn to see these benefits as a right. The experience is therefore novel enough for us to feel a deep sense of gratitude every time we receive benefits.

And a Row over Housing

Last week, a British minister Margaret Hodge suggested that Britons should be given priority to public housing over immigrants - a "legitimate sense of entitlement". What sounded like sensible policy (and a vote winner?) was anything but, considering mainstream British political attitudes. Cabinet colleagues and labour party bigwigs almost immediately launched scathing attacks on Ms Hodge. Housing should be allocated on the "basis of need" and not some kind of criteria that favoured one group over another. To the extent that humanitarian concerns override political consideration, Britain is indeed Blair's "special country".

If someone were to suggest in Singapore that Singaporeans should be given priority on housing or healthcare, I wonder what would the response of the Singaporean public be? How many of us would support such a policy on the basis of it being a citizen's birth right, national service sacrifices and so on? How many of us would actually support a policy that treats immigrants the same? The answer to this question will say a lot of us as a people.