Health Insurance Guide in Singapore | Compare Health Insurance Policies

Health Insurance | Insurance

by Priyadarshini 28 March 2022

Looking for the most affordable health insurance? Read about different health insurance options like MediShield, Integrated Shield Plans, and other basic coverage options below. Compare the various types of health insurance policies that are available to you based on your budget and needs before you decide to buy any insurance policy. In this blog, we give you a health insurance guide in Singapore.

Why Do You Need Health Insurance?

What exactly is health insurance, and why do you require it? Health insurance protects you from one of the most significant financial hazards you may ever face: healthcare bills. Health insurance protects you against hospitalization and medical costs, as well as medical bills resulting from injuries, illnesses, or disabilities. It just takes one costly accident or illness to deplete your savings and retirement funds. As a result, in order to deal with the ever-increasing healthcare costs, you will require health insurance.

Healthcare Inflation

Inflation raises the prices of goods and services by approximately 3% every year. Healthcare inflation, on the other hand, can reach two or three times the rate of ordinary inflation. Why? This is due to the high expense of breakthroughs in medicine, medical research, and medical technology. In reality, these are the three most important factors influencing healthcare prices in Singapore today.

Short Hospitalisation

If you become ill, are hospitalized for three weeks on no-pay leave, and receive a S$60,000 medical bill upon discharge, your health insurance plan should be able to cover a significant portion of your healthcare costs. You may wind up paying 5% and another S$1,500 or so in deductibles but the remaining amount will be “covered” by your insurance provider. You won’t have to exhaust your bank account or borrow from relatives, friends, or loan sharks to cover your hospital and medical expenditures this way.

Long-Term Illness

If you are the sole breadwinner and are diagnosed with a terminal or critical disease, are forced to quit working, and regrettably pass away, you will leave your spouse, parents, or children without a source of income – and enormous medical expenditures to pay. Your life insurance policies will provide them with lump-sum payoff cheques to assist them to get by for a short time (while they look for new sources of income) – essentially protecting their financial security for a year or two.

Related – Best Health Insurance in Singapore 

Health Insurance Guide in Singapore

MediShield Life Insurance

Singapore’s Ministry of Health provides MediShield Life, a basic health insurance plan for all Singaporeans and Permanent Residents (PRs). It covers basic public hospital services with reimbursements based on prices for class B2 and C wards. If, on the other hand, you prefer to be warded in class A and B1 wards of public or private hospitals, you must pay the difference.

Integrated Shielding Strategy (IP)

Private insurers can sell Integrated Shield Plans (IPs) to supplement the coverage offered by MediShield Life. With this additional coverage, you will have access to a broader selection of healthcare options as well as larger claim limits. Integrated Shield Plans not only cover pre-and post-hospitalization fees but also broaden the selection of wards available in public and private hospitals.

IP Riders

IP riders are optional extensions to your integrated shield plan. While Medisave will pay for your Medishield Life and Integrated Shield Plan, IP riders must be paid in cash. There are a variety of riders accessible, and no two riders are the same. Some riders have a hospital cash benefit, which provides a financial allowance for each day spent in the hospital. Some IP riders will reimburse the deductible and co-insurance that the Integrated Shield Plan does not cover, therefore covering a larger amount of your hospital bill.

Health Insurance Guide in Singapore

Should You Purchase Supplementary Health Insurance?

One of the most prevalent reasons why Singaporeans do not purchase supplementary healthcare coverage is that they currently have adequate coverage under MediShield and their employer’s insurance policy. However, everyone’s health demands and insurance coverage may differ; therefore, you should review your insurance policies for gaps, limitations, and exclusions. So, before you assume that your present health insurance policies are adequate, examine your entire coverage, look for gaps, and consider acquiring additional health insurance coverage to cover those bases and lower your risk of being hit with a large medical cost that cannot be covered.

Factors to Consider Before Choosing an Integrated Shield Plan?

Affordability

When considering purchasing a health insurance plan, first budget your resources to guarantee you can afford the monthly premiums for the next couple of years. Next, make sure you can pay future premiums that are higher than your current costs. Health insurance rates are always rising for two reasons: as you get older, your health risks increase, and healthcare and medical costs are constantly progressing and rising.

Coverage

While the cost of an insurance plan must be considered, you should not settle for the cheapest plan available. You may be sacrificing your healthcare coverage in this manner. Instead, look for a plan that meets your budget and gives comprehensive coverage. However, an insurance plan that provides comprehensive healthcare coverage may be expensive and you may have to shell out a lot more than you can afford in the long run. You must establish a practical balance here. 

The best way to decide on an insurance plan is to do extensive research, compare various insurance plans by different companies and then choose one that fits the bill. 

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