This article was originally published by Tyler Durden at ZeroHedge.

Singapore’s government announced Monday that it would no longer cover the healthcare costs of unvaccinated COVID patients.

“Currently, unvaccinated persons make up a sizeable majority of those who require intensive inpatient care, and disproportionately contribute to the strain on our healthcare resources,” the country’s health ministry said in a statement.

“We will begin charging Covid-19 patients who are unvaccinated by choice” on Dec. 8,” the statement continued.

The government has covered medical bills for all Singaporeans, but that stance appears to be changing. 

“This was to avoid financial considerations adding to public uncertainty and concern when COVID-19 was an emergent and unfamiliar disease,” the health ministry explained.

Covering healthcare costs for “the majority who are vaccinated … until the COVID-19 situation is more stable,” it added. 

Singapore has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world, with 85% of its population fully vaccinated and 18% having received booster shots, according to government data.

The ploy to squeeze unvaccinated people by frightening them with medical bills if they get sick is to scare them into being vaccinated. We exposed this type of ploy by governments in a piece titled “COVID-19: The Weaponization Of Fear & The Loss Of Freedom.” 

COVID has been a godsend for governments as a convenient pretext to expand power over the people using fear-based strategies. Politicians have even more leverage and can easily sway people’s behaviors in any which direction they desire.

Singapore’s exploitation of the virus to punish unvaccinated people is the latest example of how governments worldwide are sliding into authoritarian regimes.