13 Best Health Insurance (Hospital Integrated Shield Plan) in Singapore

Now that you’ve understood the differences between the two, you may be more inclined to take up an IP to provide yourself with the most comprehensive coverage.

So, what’s there to consider when you’re selecting such plans? Let’s take a look.

Protection Coverage

Essentially, this refers to the amount of risk or liability the plan will cover for you.

This can also be constituted to risk management, where you would want to ensure that you are prepared for any uncertainties.

For example, some IPs like AIA HealthShield Gold Max provide coverage for 30 critical illnesses per policy year.

Coverage Amounts

This is a key factor to consider because you would want to presume that the premium you’re paying is worth the protection amount you require when the need arises.

It is typically referred to as the sum assured in IPs.

Using the same AIA HealthShield Gold Max example, their coverage amount is up to $100,000 for the 30 critical illnesses per policy year.

Pre-existing Conditions

As its name suggests, pre-existing conditions mean underlying health issues that currently affect an individual before your IP starts.

While MediShield Life covers all pre-existing conditions, IPs do not – which comes in the form of exclusions or restrictions.

Some insurers are stricter with certain pre-existing conditions while some are more lenient.

So if you have one, you might want to shop around from different insurers to see what you can be covered for.

There may also be a need for you to check if there are other options to bridge this gap of pre-existing conditions you may have like asthma or diabetes.

Exclusions

In simple terms, exclusions in IPs or any insurance plans refer to certain events or risks that the IP insurer will not cover for.

For example, one such general exclusion can be “the use of medical devices, drugs, therapeutic products that are not registered by the Health Sciences Authority of Singapore”.

So do keep a lookout for these exclusions you might encounter in different health insurance plans on top of your pre-existing conditions.

Underwriting

Underwriting refers to the process of where your IP insurer will assess the risk and determine whether or not to accept your application, and if accepted, what coverage terms the IP will offer to you.

The main purpose of underwriting is to ensure the premiums charged to you correspond closely with the risk you present.

Retrospectively, your insurance representative will also be considered your field underwriter.

Underwriting includes both medical and non-medical factors.

This will determine the exclusions you might face mentioned above. It’s important to note that you should not hide anything during the underwriting process.

Hiding or not declaring any of the below factors might cause you problems in the long run when attempting to make claims.

You can refer to the table below for a brief idea of the underwriting process. This information is usually gathered from forms provided by your representative that you would have to fill up.

Annual Withdrawal Limits

The additional coverage provided by IPs is payable by MediSave up to an Additional Withdrawal Limit, where the remainder is payable by cash.

So, it is important to understand how much you can actually withdraw until you have to dip into your personal savings accounts.

These are the MediSave Annual Withdrawal Limits as of 2022, which are dependent on age on the next birthday.

Premium Terms

This refers to the number of years you, as an IP holder, have to pay for the premium. Premium payments for IPs are usually up to age 60, but this will be dependent on what is stated by the insurer in your plan.

Depending on your preferences, this also includes the intervals at which you would like to pay for your premiums – either monthly, quarterly, half-quarterly, or yearly.

Premium Increases

As mentioned earlier, premiums increase substantially with age or are relatively dependent on the plan’s pricing structure.

So when looking at the premiums, make sure to look at how much you’ll pay in entirety for as long as you’re paying.

Some IPs charge higher while you’re younger and can be cheaper than others as you get older, while some may charge lower now but get more expensive than others as the years go by.

Most plans, if not all, would typically state that their premiums can be expected to be adjusted from time to time – which are in line with their claims experiences, medical inflation, and general costs of treatments, supplies, or medical services in Singapore.

Budget

How much money are you willing to dedicate to such health insurance plans?

Do you have a steady income of which you can set aside a portion towards IPs?

You do not want to end up in a situation where you’re unable to pay for the premium amounts stated in your IP.

As you can pay for your health insurance using your MediSave, you can decide to fork out additional cash for more coverage or not.

Make sure you’re only paying for what you need, and not having to overspend or make ends meet just to pay for coverage.

Comfort Level

In unexpected situations, you may find yourself needing to stay at hospitals for treatments or monitoring.

Thus, you would need to ask yourself what exactly you are comfortable with: whether you prefer to stay at a private or public hospital, or a ward type in either hospital that guarantees you a higher level of privacy – such as a single room or with additional amenities.

Here’s an example of the ward types and facilities offered in Singapore General Hospital, so you know roughly what to expect. These vary in different medical institutions.

This level of comfort also lies in the freedom to choose your own doctors, which are offered by certain IPs.

Claim Limits

There are two types of claim limits as follows:

• Lifetime limit: The maximum total amount of all claim reimbursements that your IP insurer is liable to you through your lifetime. Once a lifetime limit is reached, the IP will also terminate.

• Annual limit: This is the maximum amount of reimbursable costs payable to you over an annual period, either a calendar year or policy year depending on your IP.

Ease of Claims

This refers to the time and process involved when it comes to claims. Given that the claim process is regulated by the Ministry of Health, IP insurers are relatively timely.

You can check out the table of claims return rates across each IP insurer here, for a better representation. Currently, AIA, Singlife with Aviva, NTUC Income, and Prudential hold the top spots.

Pre and Post Hospitalisation Treatments

Pre-hospitalisation treatments refer to any medical charges that are incurred before you are admitted to the hospital as a patient.

Pre-hospitalisation can generally include,

• Diagnostic & Laboratory Test Charges,
• Specialist Consultation Charges, or
• Treatment in the A&E, that is prescribed by the attending physician or specialist.

As such, post-hospitalisation treatments refer to medical charges incurred after hospitalisation.

Post-hospitalisation can generally include,

• Follow-up specialist consultation charges (e.g physiotherapy after a broken ankle)
• Prescribed drugs or procedures that have to be followed through

Do also keep in mind that the limit on these expenses is generally between 30 to 60 days before and after the hospital admission.

This means that you can only claim the benefits stated on your IP if the expenses are within the stipulated period.

Panel of Doctors

The panel of doctors refers to your IP provider’s list of approved doctors whom you can receive treatment from. At times, this ensures enhanced coverage and higher claim limits.

Generally, the more panel of doctors the IP has, the better it is for you.

But more importantly, the panels must be convenient and have the speciality you might require.

Deductibles

Deductibles are specific amounts of your medical expenses that you must first pay out of your own pocket before your IP insurer can provide you with the claim benefits.

Additionally, if the bill is less than the deductible amount, you would be forking out the entire hospital bill.

Here’s a simple example to illustrate:

“My IP has a per annum deductible of $1,000 and a 20% co-insurance. I had been admitted to the hospital for one day of observation and incurred a charge of $250. Since the charges were below the deductible, I had to pay the full cost of the hospital bill from my own pocket.

It is also common that the deductible amount is tiered to the hospital ward class you stay in as well. As you can probably guess, the higher the ward class, the higher the deductible amount.”

Plans with lower premiums, however, usually have higher deductibles.

Deductibles can exist in three types:

• A per annum deductible,
• A per disability/per year deductible, and
• A per disability (or a per claim) deductible.

Currently, the per annum deductible is the most common, where you only pay for it once in a policy year.

Co-insurance

Co-insurance is the percentage of your medical bill you would have to pay on top of your deductible. These are usually in place to reduce over-consumption and can range from 10 to 20% of the remaining amount after the deductible.

Let me explain this with the example mentioned earlier:

“My IP has a per annum deductible of $1,000 and a 20% co-insurance. I had been admitted to the hospital for one day of observation and incurred a charge of $250. Since the charges were below the deductible, I had to pay the full cost of the hospital bill from my own pocket.

Despite how this amount was not claimable, I was advised by my IP insurer to file the claim, for it to be considered as fulfilling part of the deductible amount for that policy year. 

Yet again, I was admitted to the hospital for a major surgery – where the cost of the bill had been $3,500. This time, you would be required to pay for deductible and co-insurance. Here’s the breakdown.” 

*Since I had fulfilled a $250 deductible during my earlier admission to the hospital, the deductible I must pay is the difference.

Riders

Riders are optional ‘attachments’ that can be purchased on top of your IP. They are additional payments that are stacked on your premiums.

It can exist in two ways, in the form of (1) monetary benefits (such as to offset deductibles and co-insurance), and (2) other benefits (such as daily hospital cash benefits, allowances, medical coverage, or even home visits for post-care).

Riders also expire when your IP reaches its end date, or when you reach a specified age – whichever is earlier.

The term of your rider will never be longer than the basic IP, since it cannot stand on its own.

Just a quick note:

In 2018, the Ministry of Health had announced fee benchmarks which included haltering the sale of full riders – where anyone who is looking to purchase a new rider from April 2019 would be required to pay at least 5% of the hospital bill. This new fee structure is typically referred to as co-payments. 

This comes with a cap of $3,000 a year, provided that you go to your insurer’s approved panel of doctors. 

Claim Procedure

There are many ways you can proceed with a claim if the need arises.

It may differ slightly across all insurers but ultimately, the process is quite similar and straightforward.

Let’s look at AXA for example, where their claim procedure can be broken down into four simple steps:

However, you can just ask your financial advisor to make these claims for you.

Downgrading your Integrated Shield Plan

Should you wish to downgrade to a lower coverage plan due to unforeseen financial circumstances, you can do so with the same insurer at any point in time – without any additional underwriting involved.

This also applies to the process of downgrading back to the basic MediShield Life coverage.

Switching Health Insurers

In the event you wish to switch to a new IP, do bear in mind that this process is slightly tricky.

Once you make the switch, it is expected that your original IP with the previous insurer will be terminated.

With this switch, you would have to undergo the underwriting process again which may be time-consuming.

What’s more – it is likely that you would have aged since the change, thus premium costs and terms would be subjected to changes as well.

In addition, you may lose coverage for your existing medical conditions covered by your original plan with the existing insurer, and may not be able to re-apply for your original coverage subsequently.

However, once you’ve made the switch, you have the option of going back to the previous insurer within 30 days from the date of termination.

That being said, if you do decide to switch back, there will be no incidence of re-underwriting – as if the initial IP had never been terminated.

That’s why it’s important to make a good selection at the start, taking into consideration all these factors mentioned above.

This way, you don’t face any issues with your health insurance plans.

Integrated Shield Plan Providers

Now that we’ve understood the various factors above, we will now look at the providers of IPs in Singapore:

• AIA HealthShield Gold Max
• AXA Shield
• Singlife with Aviva MyShield
• Great Eastern Supreme Health
• NTUC Income Enhanced IncomeShield
• Prudential PRUShield
• Raffles Health Insurance Raffles Shield

Some of these insurers provide a standard IP, also known as the “no-frills” product, that is mainly targeted at covering large Class B1 ward hospital bills and selected outpatient treatments.

Given how this standard IP is regulated by MOH, the benefits provided are identical across all policies.

The standard IP is an affordable option for Singaporeans who want additional coverage beyond MediShield Life and may find other IPs with higher coverage too expensive.

Conclusion

Wow, that was a heck load of information thrown at you, wasn’t it?

Well, I certainly have to be extensive and thorough! Here at Dollar Bureau, we’re your go-to personal finance resource after all.

And, especially when it involves you forking out your hard-earned money (be it from your Medisave or with cash) to pay for your IP premiums – I should be as detailed as possible.

So, I hope that this guide has made it easier for you to make an informed decision when you decide to opt for additional coverage on top of your MediShield Life.

Personally, I do find health insurance to be an essential form of insurance – especially with the rising costs of healthcare that will continue to pose a challenge in the future.

On top of that, I’m able to get a more comfortable stay in the case of emergencies – so what more can I ask for?

However, we do have to acknowledge that there are some limitations to our choices above.

We focused more on the value for money you can get instead of considering all the factors we’ve mentioned above.

Our selection is also limited to age groups 31-35, which many don’t fall under too!

Thus, take our selections as a guideline rather than a solution.

Different individuals and families might have different needs and factors to consider. If you don’t fall within the same age group, you’ll need to compare the price and value for the respective age group you’re in.

As health insurance is the most important type of insurance for you to get, it’s definitely worth doing additional research and talking to different people for their input.

If you’re unsure about which is the best for you or would prefer to get qualified advice, we suggest talking to a financial advisor.

We partner with qualified, unbiased, and MAS-licensed financial advisors to help you make the best choices for yourself.

Click here to get connected.

References

https://www.moh.gov.sg/cost-financing/healthcare-schemes-subsidies/medishield-life/comparison-of-integrated-shield-plans