Best health insurance policy

[Bluesky3000]

Have been approached and proposed by various agencies on health insurance, could anyone give me some advice on which to choose? Looking at short-term about 5 years stay in sg for work.

[3carlos]

1. What does your company offer

First thing to do is to check what your company provides you. There are generally 3 different tiers offered in Singapore:

- Company package hospitalisation and surgical (H&S) plans - these can provide up to $200,000 per year cover, but are more typically at least $15,000 per disability (which I would be concerned about)
- Company bespoke H&S plans - typically less common, but companies of sizes about 50 may want more control and the cover is also more difficult to predict
- Company premium H&S plans - these plans are very similar to international medical plans offered to individuals, but they are offered to companies. If your company has this sort of plan, you may be allowed to convert it to a personal plan at the end of x years

2. Do also check how portable your plan is

Different companies have different restrictions, though most of them will not allow portability to USA (so if that's the case then there is no issue). Do check first if you know where your next stop may be.

Portability is important because some expats I work with move from country to country, ignoring the fact that at the end of the day, they may decide to move home at 50 without a stable medical insurance (and probably ignoring things like pension planning as well).

3. Family discount

Some insurers offer from 2 pax onwards, some from 3 pax onwards and some just do not offer.

4. Different needs for different people

I have met a family and honestly all of them needed plans from different insurers. They wanted their son to have vaccination cover immediately, and the wife was planning for another pregnancy in the next 2-3 years. The husband was covered under Company H&S Package with very low cover, but decided that he wanted the most basic cover. This is all possible, do not feel pressure to get the entire family on the same plan because some times that may be expensive.