healthcare/medicare

[southsea]

At last I have managed to get my residence permit and company set up for 2007.
Thanks to everyone on here who gave me advice.
The only thing I am still trying to sort out is health insurance for the self employed.
Any tips on local or international insurance policies that do not cost an
arm or a leg ?

[yjames]

Hi Southsea,
Hope that you are all excited about your company's incorporation. With regards to your healthcare needs, there are a couple of ways that you can make arrangements. Firstly, you can take up an individual medical insurance plan. There are a wide variety of plans available and they cover different elements and degrees of sickness as well. The premium range depends on the age and gender of the applicant and also its health history. For a 35 year old male, premium is about $30 per month for a simple plan to $100 per month for a luxurious hospital treatment in private hospital.

Take note of certain clauses such as waiting period (the time needed before certain benefits become eligible in the plan) and guaranteed insurability terms (the obligation to allow applicant to renew in subsequent years no matter how his health deteriorates) and also territorial coverage constraints.

I suggest that you also consider Medisave-approved hospital plans as a basic element of coverage needs as they are generally cheaper in premiums and comes with better coverage for catastrophic illnesses. Premium is about $30 per month (35 year old male) but for much bigger coverage.

The other suggestion is to look into employee benefits scheme where you can make arrangements for group coverage on hospitalisation bills or even out-patient (clinics visits) charges. As i do not know the size of your company, I cannot comment on how much the premium range will be. But do consider this as sometimes, such coverage can be relatively cheap compared to individual plans.

Do drop me a private mail if you want something more detailed. Hope it helps!

[Strong Eagle]

At last I have managed to get my residence permit and company set up for 2007.
Thanks to everyone on here who gave me advice.
The only thing I am still trying to sort out is health insurance for the self employed.
Any tips on local or international insurance policies that do not cost an
arm or a leg ?

You can get a basic policy that covers hospitalization and major medical in Singapore for a very reasonable price... and this is for a private room. I would not worry about coverage for doctors visits because the costs are very reasonable.

You can then get a travel insurance policy to cover you while out of the country. I've got one that includes emergency evac if the local facilities are not up to par.

You can drop me an email for more info.