Guide to Best Health Insurance in Singapore

One phrase you need to know is healthcare inflation. Inflation basically drives up prices of goods and services by around 3% each year. Healthcare inflation, on the other hand, runs up to 2 or 3 times that general inflation rate. Why? That’s because advances in medicine, medical research, and medical technology are costly. In fact, these are the 3 main factors driving healthcare costs in Singapore today.

If you fall ill, get hospitalised for 3 weeks on no-pay leave, and receive a S$40,000 medical bill upon check-out, your health insurance plan should be able to absorb a huge chunk of those healthcare costs for you. You may end up paying 5%, and another S$1,500 or so in deductibles (you will learn about this later) – but the rest will be "paid" by your insurance company. This way, you don't have to empty your bank account and borrow from your family, friends, and loan sharks to pay your hospital and medical expenses.

If you are a sole breadwinner who got diagnosed with a terminal or critical illness (touch wood!), are forced to stop working, and unfortunately pass on, you'll be leaving your spouse, parents, or children behind with no source of income – and hefty medical expenses to foot. Your life insurance plans will give them lump-sum payout cheques to help them continue with their lives for a short period (while they find new sources of income) – basically protecting their financial stability for a year or two.

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Hospital income insurance offers you a fixed amount of cash daily (e.g. S$250) from the insurer for each day you’re hospitalised, up to a maximum number of days (e.g. 365 days) per accident or illness.

Long-term care insurance offers you a fixed amount of cash monthly (e.g. S$400) for long-term nursing care that typically includes assistance with daily activities such as bathing, dressing, and feeding. This coverage is often offered by insurers in the form of ElderShield supplements.

Disability income insurance offers you “income replacement” of up to a certain percentage of your gross monthly income. So, if you’re making S$5,000 a month, your insurer might allow you to insure 80% (varies by insurer) of your income – meaning in the event of an accident that leaves you disabled, your monthly payout would be S$4,000 until you’re able to perform your duties once again.

Hospitalisation insurance offers you reimbursement from the insurer for any medical expenses, treatment bills, and hospitalisation costs. Depending on the policy, the coverage you receive may either be full or limited.

Critical illness insurance offers you a lump sum payment from the insurer to help alleviate hefty medical expenses in the event you are diagnosed with a critical illness such as cancer, heart attack, kidney failure, coma, etc. The list of qualifying critical illnesses varies by insurer.

Similar to critical illness insurance plans, a terminal illness insurance plan gives you a lump-sum payout if your doctor diagnoses you with a terminal illness – meaning you are down with an end-stage illness and have been given a limited amount of time to live.

When you are considering to purchase an insurance health plan, first budget your finances to ensure you can sustainably afford the monthly premiums for the next couple of years. Note that monthly premiums will be for the IP (Medisave-payable) and the co-payment rider. Next, ensure you will be able to afford future premiums which will be higher than your current premiums. Health insurance premiums increase constantly for 2 reasons: as you age, your health risks increase; healthcare and medical costs are always advancing and on the rise.

While cost of an insurance plan is something you definitely have to consider, you should not just settle for the cheapest plan you see. This way, you may be compromising on the healthcare coverage you receive. Instead, you should consider looking for a plan that fits your budget and provides extensive coverage. However, an insurance plan with high and all-encompassing healthcare coverage may come with hefty premiums and require you to pay more than what you can sustain in the long term. You will want to strike a practical balance here.

Some IPs differ in length of coverage so it is better to ensure your IP covers a longer period of hospitalisation for your benefit.

An Integrated Shield Plan (IP plan) basically serves to increase your annual claim limit for your MediShield Life plan – therefore increasing your healthcare coverage. MediShield Life's annual claim limit is only S$100,000 but an Integrated Shield Plan's annual claim limit may run up to S$1,000,000 instead. With the increase in claim limit, you will also be covered for a wider range of healthcare conditions, more ward classes, pre- and post-hospitalisation expenses, and medical coverage outside of Singapore.

The basic MediShield Life provides Singaporeans and Permanent Residents (PRs) with coverage for Class B2 and C wards in public hospitals. While you can still opt to stay in Class A or B1 wards, it requires you to top-up the excess cost. This is one of the reasons why individuals may opt for an Integrated Shield Plan (IP) – so that they can have insurance coverage for higher-tier wards in public and private hospitals. A higher-tier ward or access to private hospitals may reduce your waiting time for access to medical treatments and hospitalisation.

Another plus point that people like about getting an Integrated Shield Plan is the access to an insurance agent. Your agent is your point of contact for anything health insurance-related. Hence, when you need to make a claim or check your coverage, you can simply drop your agent a text or call instead of browsing through multiple hospital and government websites.

MediShield Life, for instance, is a mandatory health insurance offered by Singapore's Ministry of Health (MOH), with coverage for all Singaporeans and Permanent Residents (PRs) – but it has its limitations such as a S$100,000 claim limit per year, access to only class B2 and C wards in public hospitals, no coverage for maternity-related conditions, hospice, and moreAn Integrated Shield Plan (IP plan) basically serves to increase your annual claim limit for your MediShield Life plan – therefore increasing your healthcare coverage. MediShield Life's annual claim limit is only S$100,000 but an Integrated Shield Plan's annual claim limit may run up to S$1,000,000 instead. With the increase in claim limit, you will also be covered for a wider range of healthcare conditions, more ward classes, pre- and post-hospitalisation expenses, and medical coverage outside of Singapore.

Your employer’s policy may also have a variety of limitations such as deductibles, sub-limits, or co-insurance, and the probability of you leaving the job or facing retrenchment. Having your personal health insurance or Integrated Shield Plan (IP) will give you a plan to fall back on.An Integrated Shield Plan (IP plan) basically serves to increase your annual claim limit for your MediShield Life plan – therefore increasing your healthcare coverage. MediShield Life's annual claim limit is only S$100,000 but an Integrated Shield Plan's annual claim limit may run up to S$1,000,000 instead. With the increase in claim limit, you will also be covered for a wider range of healthcare conditions, more ward classes, pre- and post-hospitalisation expenses, and medical coverage outside of Singapore.

This is like the excess in car insurance — you need to pay this the first time you get hospitalised in a policy year before the insurer will pay the rest. It’s either $2,000 (B2 ward), $2,500 (B1 ward) or $3,500 (A ward/private).

You also have to co-pay 10% of the hospital bill regardless of the deductible.

All IPs offer “riders” (add-ons) that reduce those costs down to just 5% co-insurance. IP riders are add-ons to your Integrated Shield Plan that give you more coverage/benefits.