Overseas Hospitalization on IP

[bobobob]

Hi all, my IP plan with AIA says it allows me to claim for overseas hospitalization.

It says:
We shall reimburse the Eligible Expenses incurred for overseas medical or surgical treatment
if the Insured is Confined in a Hospital outside Singapore as a result of an Emergency outside
of Singapore, limited to Reasonable and Customary charges which would have been incurred
for similar medical treatment or surgery carried out in a private Hospital in Singapore.

I guess other IP have a similar feature? Has anyone ever claimed for overseas hospitalization on their IP? It sounds to me like maybe you can forgo travel insurance to some extent because of it. Perhaps when COVID is over and we can travel again we can boldly go on holiday covered by just our IP?

 

[torrent06]

Travel insurance covers for other things besides hospitalisation. Integrated shield plans are primarily meant to cover for hospitalisation in Singapore. If you read the wording, they limit how much is claimable. If the hospitalisation costs are higher than what it would be in Singapore, you will have to bear the rest and will it cover for the costs of emergency medical evacuation (which can be extremely expensive) if you need to be treated back in Singapore?

 

[BBCWatcher]

That’s right. There are quite a few shortcomings: Singapore-based cost limits (utterly insufficient in many places, including in the United States) and no coverage for medical evacuations and medical repatriations. There’s also the usual exclusion of coverage for pre-existing conditions, and anything not approved in Singapore (such as an expensive drug that’s safe and approved elsewhere) is subject to rejection. Good travel medical insurance covers these big gaps.

It’s kind of strange that no Integrated Shield carrier is yet offering good travel medical insurance in their rider. For example, it’d be nice if Raffles Shield added Bupa Global coverage to their rider, or at least if they offered it as another rider, since (I believe) Raffles already has a deal with Bupa. But for some strange reason the carriers haven’t connected these particular dots yet.

 

[bobobob]

I do have a rider that covers up to 50k per year for medical repatriation. Do you think it may suffice for a short trip to South East Asia country? I agree, if I were going for a month long trip to Europe, I will want proper travel insurance.

 

[reddevil0728]

Such thing shouldn’t scrimp and save

 

[soneat]

I do have a rider that covers up to 50k per year for medical repatriation. Do you think it may suffice for a short trip to South East Asia country? I agree, if I were going for a month long trip to Europe, I will want proper travel insurance.

I feel its "cleaner" to get a proper travel insurance.
With discount codes, campaign etc, you can usually get 50% of more discount from the Standard quotation pricing.

Do bear in mind if you claim such stuffs under your IP shield plan.
i) you will/might be subjected to claims based pricing
ii) you will have more questions to answer, if you buy new policies for yourself or your children because there will almost always be a question: "Have you ever claim or intending to claim from any Health, Life policies.....".

 

[BBCWatcher]

A hypothetical 40 year old can get a worldwide annual travel medical insurance policy from Bupa Global for 96 British pounds, equivalent to about S$177 as I write this. That policy, available for direct purchase from Bupa Global's Web site, doesn't really have any coverage caps. I haven't found anything better, although I keep an open mind.