Hi BBCWatcher,
Im Malaysian 31yo working in Singapore, looking for Hospitalisation Insurance. B1 ward + cover 90%-95% of bills. Any suggestions affordable plan for me? Should I get a Insurance Agent or direct purchase ?
You can do your homework and see which is best suited for you.
blog.moneysmart.sg/health-insurance/integrated-shield-comparison/
The difference won't be that much between companies but it's more important to get yourself covered. Find someone you can trust and work with
Yeah, actually I Google before I post here. The website u share I read before,that is for SC and PRs. I’m just Malaysian holding work permit in spore. I’m confuse should I look for a agent or direct purchase ?
I got friends doing GE and Pru but I have no idea which is better for me.
Jq1130 is quite correct that there's a relative abundance of information on the "best" Integrated Shield plans for Singaporean citizens but almost none for foreigners.
OK, with that said, here's how I'd approach this analysis. The first thing is to understand what the "fallback" position is with respect to coverage in Malaysia (home country). I'm not familiar with what medical coverage (public, private, etc.) is available for Malaysian expats back in Malaysia, but if there's a reasonable way to maintain some basic level of coverage there, I would. Most countries can be a pretty unfriendly place when a foreign worker falls ill and cannot work, effectively kicking you out almost as soon as you're medically able to be kicked out.
Another point I should make is that you said "work permit." If that's literally correct, then your employer is required to maintain at least S$15,000 worth of medical insurance coverage for you and also to cover any medically necessary treatment beyond that. Of course the employer has no obligation to pay for care in air conditioned hospital wards, for example.
OK, with that background, you've got two basic medical insurance choices if you want to "backstop" whatever your employer provides. One choice is to buy some sort of "expat" coverage that isn't mostly limited to Singapore. (Integrated Shield plans provide pretty limited coverage outside Singapore. Generally speaking they only cover emergency and urgent care outside Singapore, and then only up to Singapore's prices for your particular insurance plan's maximum ward coverage level.) Pacific Prime is an insurance broker in Singapore that specializes in such "expat" plans, so you could check out what they offer.
Or, yes, you could go with an Integrated Shield plan. One potential advantage with an Integrated Shield plan is that you'd avoid additional coverage limitations for preexisting conditions discovered after the first date you enroll (as a foreigner) if you then end up staying in Singapore as a PR. However, there are two big challenges with public hospital B1 ward plans: being accepted at all as an "unaffiliated" foreigner (a foreigner not married to a Singaporean citizen or PR -- some carriers grant such enrollment exceptions), and then, if you are accepted, not having a unique proration factor applied that reduces your coverage compared to citizens. So let's look at the "as charged" public hospital B1 ward plans to see if any of them clear both of these big hurdles if you're a foreigner:
AIA HealthShield Gold Max B Lite: No
Aviva MyShield Plan 3: No
Great Eastern Supreme Health B Plus: No
NTUC Income Enhanced IncomeShield Basic: "Probably"
Raffles Shield B: No
So there's your only "as charged" public hospital B1 ward plan probably offered to foreigners: NTUC Income's Enhanced IncomeShield Basic. You have to pay the "foreigner" premium to get full benefits (no proration factor), which is currently S$401 per year at your age for the base plan. The Classic Care rider is another S$78 per year, which caps your out of pocket costs per year for covered services at S$3,000, so your total premium would be S$479. I say "probably" because it's the only such plan I've found for which I haven't found a foreigner eligibility or proration limit, but it's possible NTUC Income still won't accept you. Unfortunately foreigners cannot apply for that particular plan and rider online, so you'll have to visit a NTUC Income insurance office or chat with one of their agents.
One alternative if you discover you cannot enroll in that particular plan is to choose the next step up, a public hospital A ward plan. Great Eastern, Prudential, and Raffles Shield all offer excellent plans in that market segment, and I know Prudential at least is open to foreigners, so let's look at their premiums for somebody age 31....
PRUShield Plus (base plan): $445
PRUExtra Plus CoPay (rider): $259
Total = $704
So, quite a bit more expensive, but one of the A ward plans might be the best you can do if you cannot get enrolled in NTUC Income's plan.
Hope that helps!
