I have to admit that insurance was, until recently, an afterthought for me. My mother has been a financial adviser for over 20 years and I had always left it in her capable hands to ensure I had sufficient coverage. I agreed to whatever she suggested to me with a nod and a signature. All I needed to do was ensure I paid my premiums to avoid her nagging.But earlier this year, I had to undergo day surgery that was not fully covered by my corporate health insurance, and also had to deal with large expenses looming in the form of a wedding and Housing and Development Board flat purchase.That prompted me to take a closer look at my finances, including my insurance policies. It was a timely review for me because the Ministry of Health (MOH) had on Apr 1 implemented new rules for Integrated Shield Plan (IP) riders to keep private health insurance sustainable amid rising medical costs.
Under these new rules, new policies would generally have lower premiums, but require a larger part of hospital bills to be paid out of pocket. The idea was to discourage Singaporeans from purchasing IP riders unnecessarily and over-insuring themselves, a trend that has been driving up healthcare costs and premiums.And so I took some time out to consider some key questions: What kind of health insurance do I really need, and in what areas do I want to be covered?WHAT IS AN IP AND AN IP RIDER?As most people would know, health insurances helps cover the cost of dealing with injury, illness or disability, should they arise.The insurance market offers a wide variety of policies with coverage limits that differ for specific diseases or conditions, hospital wards and types of healthcare services, among other things. There are "layers" when it comes to getting coverage for the cost of a hospital stay in Singapore, said Ms Li Huijing, the head of partnerships and investment management at MoneyOwl.
