Why waste money on somthing I might never need?

Let me share my story with you.

I came from a less privileged family background, and it was not easy for any of us to afford proper medical coverage. However, 20 years ago my mother suffered from cancer. Thankfully, the insurance that my mum previously bought from a stranger had saved her. This incident led her children to join the insurance industry, including myself.

I always share this story with my clients to consider the possible consequences of not affording to pay premiums for an insurance. Does that mean that they can afford to fall sick? Not only is health insurance able to offset the potentially expensive medical expenses for the quality services provided in Singapore healthcare, it can also ease off the potential worries associated with the healthcare expenses, which can usually create a lot of emotional and mental burden among families.

As an insurance practitioner for the past 20 years, as well as being a beneficiary from the corporate health medical system, I am thankful for these arrangements from health insurances. In fact, the government has also made the purchase of basic health insurance compulsory for everyone in Singapore regardless if you are a citizen, permanent resident, or even a hired migrant worker. This government policy ensures that people have their basic healthcare needs taken care of, which reduces the concerns of expensive medical bills especially when facing difficult-to-combat illnesses such as COVID-19. I might sound like contradicting myself here, but I will go into the details in a later section.

AM I COVERED BY MY EMPLOYER?

Health insurance need not only be bought at the individual scale; it can also be bought at a company scale at a more cost-effective price. As such, employers can consider such options in order to take another step in protecting their staffs’ wellbeing, which proves to be economically beneficial in the long run because the staffs’ wellbeing strongly correlates to the company’s performance. Products such as Group MediWell Plus allow for comprehensive group coverage regardless of the size of the organisation. For a company buying an aggregate private hospitalisation plan, their premium can be as low as $296.39 per year depending on the age group. From another perspective, an employer’s act of buying insurance translates to a healthier workplace culture, as it means that the organisation prioritises ethics as much as it prioritises economic progress.

WHO CAN I BUY INSURANCE FROM?

There are many insurers in Singapore that provide insurance plans, such as Now Health International medical insurance. Each insurance policy varies in their coverage offered. While some insurers allow for fast claims of medical expenses, there are also plans that allow for flexible or specific coverages and even covering your employees worldwide. Worldwide covered is especially important medical coverage and often employers bought travel insurance instead of international medical insurance due to cost factor. One important aspect where employers didn’t realise is the travel insurance is time sensitive and many disease outbreak like Covid-19 is already a known event, therefore travel insurance won’t be able to respond to it. Unlike international medical insurance, diseases like Covid-19 will be covered when you’re travelling overseas or back at home in Singapore by having international medical insurance.

WHAT OTHER TYPES OF HEALTH INSURANCE SHOULD I CONSIDER?

Nevertheless, these are the general kinds of plans that insurance companies provide:

• Personal accident insurance covers expenses incurred in the event of accidents. Many personal accident plan such as PA Star Insurance by Sompo Insurance cover Medical Treatment for accidents and 17 Specified Infectious Disease including Dengue Fever, Hand Foot Mouth Disease and ZIKA virus. Events like Recuperation Cash Allowance due to Accidental Miscarriage, Trauma Counselling Expenses, Facial Disfigurement & Reconstructive Surgery are also covered. Insect / Animal Bites and Food Poisoning are also covered.

DO I NEED MEDICAL COVERAGES IN ADDITION TO SINGAPORE’S COMPULSORY MEDICAL INSURANCES?

As mentioned before, Singapore citizens and Permanent Residents do have mandatory health insurance plans, such as MediShield life, as well as a compulsory saving plan called CPF MediSave which is contributed by both the employer and employees. While both MediShield Life and CPF Medisave can provide basic protection against large hospital bills, these are merely safety nets that can only offer minimal protection. That is to say, even with these basic mandatory health insurance plans, families still have to bear huge financial burdens in the event that a member in the family is struck with a severe illness. Foreigners would be in a worse situation in this case. In fact, health insurance agents like me have encountered many stories of people who regretted being unable to save their loved ones due to the lack of a plan to buy private health insurance early. It is really important to purchase your own private health insurance as a means to protect yourself.

At Raffles Provident LLP, we can help you customize your plans according to your needs and budget. We recognise that there are people who might require international medical coverages; hence we encourage you to consider covering yourself with our regional or global health insurances.

Even in the case of terminal illnesses, it would seem much better to first exercise all the possible options the world can offer, before bidding a proper farewell without regrets. It is always better to ensure that safety nets are in place, and these can be established with a thorough understanding of the various costs and benefits that are available around in Singapore. This is especially so in precarious times, such as the COVID-19 situation that has happened on a global scale, when people start to realise that health is an integral part of living safely and happily.