Let's walk through this....
Integrated Shield base plan premiums are MediSave payable. Let's assume the following ages (at next birthday) and immigration statuses in Singapore:
Citizen spouse: 34
PR spouse: 32
Citizen child: 2
In this example, for Great Eastern's SupremeHealth B Plus base plan the premiums will be $70 per year for a citizen adult and $56 per year for a citizen child, both fully MediSave payable. The TotalCare Classic B rider will be $35/year for the citizen adult and $25/year for the citizen child.
NTUC Income's Enhanced IncomeShield Basic plan will cost a PR adult $81/year, fully MediSave payable. The Classic Care rider is $78/year. This plan and rider can be purchased online directly from NTUC Income.
Total
cash outlay so far to cover the whole family with Integrated Shield plans, including riders: $35+$25+$78 = $138. That's equivalent to $11.50 per month, but it is paid up front, yes. The rest is fully MediSave payable.
No, I disagree in terms of insurance priority if you're referring to term life insurance.
Death of a sole or primary income earner isn't actually the worst calamity. An even worse calamity is the long-term disability of a sole or primary income earner, because that person is not only no longer supporting his/her family but is also an ongoing expense. Moreover, that person's long-term CPF assets (MediSave and Special Account in particular) are not paid out to survivors. They're held in place.
Both are quite important, but DII is actually more important in typical situations. There is a fate worse than death in financial terms: lingering.
So let's look at DII first. I can get online premium quotations from
MoneyOwl for Aviva's private (generally available) Disability Income Insurance, which MoneyOwl calls "Occupational Disability." Let's assume a male 34 year old specifically and DII coverage term to age 65 with a 6 month waiting period and a $3,000/month non-escalating payout (which assumes a $4,000/month salary or higher since the maximum coverage is 75% of salary). We're also assuming a desk bound job (typical office work). That particular DII coverage will cost $33.87 per month inclusive of the 35% premium discount.(*) If the spouse gets DII coverage that'd obviously cost more, but let's assume for now that the spouse is a stay-at-home parent or has limited market wage income and thus won't be getting DII.
Now moving on to term life insurance with TPD, looking at
Comparefirst.sg. For a male nonsmoker age 34 next birthday, $200,000 of term life insurance to age 65 with TPD will cost $197 per year (equivalent to $16.42 per month, but paid up front) from Tokio Marine. For a female nonsmoker age 32 next birthday, $200,000 of term life insurance to age 65 with TPD will cost $143 per year (equivalent to $11.92 per month, but paid up front) from Etiqa.
Anyway, the bottom line is that Integrated Shield, DII, and term life insurance coverage can
easily fit within $200/month of budget for this household. Of course these coverages can be adjusted; it's just an example, a good one. The initial monthly cash outlay in this example is equivalent to $73.71 -- WELL within $200 per month -- although the term life insurance and Integrated Shield rider premiums are paid up front. Nice! Please note that only the term life insurance premium is guaranteed level. The Integrated Shield and DII premiums are not guaranteed. The Integrated Shield premium will definitely increase over time. But wages generally increase, too, so these should be manageable.
(*) MoneyOwl also rebates 50% of the sales commission, so the first year premium is effectively lower than this figure. Also, this premium can be paid annually if desired for a little more savings. Quotations for Aviva's MINDEF/MHA group disability rider, AIA, and Great Eastern are not available online and require working with agents or directly with the carriers' offices.
