medical insurance question

[Robnc]

Hi all.. I have searched thru these posts for something about this, but am not having any luck. My husband has been offered a job in singapore and the insurance part of it (coming from the US) is a big question for us. It states that the employee (hubby) will have 100% coverage but that dependents ( me and my son) will have $800 coverage. How can that be viable? Can anyone explain to me how this works? We have asked the HR guy but no response so far (he doesnt live there)

Thanks for all and any responses.
Rob

[Strong Eagle]

They may be referring to deductibles. But expat insurance is much more complicated for Americans if you intend to visit from time to time.

You can buy local medical insurance which is quite inexpensive, and like all med insurance, costs vary for such things as private room, outpatient care, deductible, etc.

This med insurance will not cover you outside of Singapore. You can cover this through a good travel policy (I had used AIG for my employees). This covered emergency care and evacuation while they traveled in the region.

This type of insurance normally won't cover you in your home country. You may want to take a look at an expat policy which covers you in home country, resident country, as well as travel and evacuation. For UK as a home country, this policy is quite reasonable, much more expensive for someone who has a home country in the US. US health care costs make a US expat policy about twice as much as a UK policy.

This type of policy will permit you to remain in the US for long periods and still have coverage, and will allow you to return home for long term treatment of catastrophic illness such as cancer.

Not affiliated, etc, but you could look at GlobalHealth or just key in 'expat medical insurance' into Goggle.

I'd ask your HR guy where they are getting the insurance from, along with a whole series of questions based upon what I told you above.

Cheers.

_________________

[Robnc]

wow. thanks eagle.... MANY more questions than we realised. I guess its time to go back to them and clarify. Thanks SO much for the guidance.


We are actually an australian born couple, with a US born son and have now lived in the US for 14 years and are dual citizens... planning the time in Singapore as a kind of stepping stone back to Oz. I guess if we had anything catastrophic happen we could head there, but REALLY appreciate the advice and guidance. Thank you again. Rob

[aster]

SE, can you recommend any medical insurance just for Singapore, so that I could compare it to GlobalHealth?

Preferably something that includes everything from initial GP visits to single room accommodation in private hospitals, the whole deal.

And do you get a card that you would only need to show at the hospital in terms of guaranteeing coverage, or would you still have to take out your CC and then do all the paperwork to get your money back?

[matchy]

more and more companies in singapore are looking into this issue and some of them actually offer foreigners insurance for medical....

[Mi Amigo]

more and more companies in singapore are looking into this issue and some of them actually offer foreigners insurance for medical....

As Basil Fawlty would say, "Specialist subject - the Bleeding Obvious."
Not quite reached your five inane posts to allow you to PM yet, so I expect we'll see another pearl of wisdom soon

[sundaymorningstaple]

Actually I think he had five but one of the other mods whacked one of 'em!

[biomarker]

Is $2800 offered by employer enough for a foreigner to get a comprehensive insurance for both husband and wife?

Insurance mainly to cater tho needs of a couple with no children yet but insurance would cover pregnancy, maternity related costs, dental and all major illnesses.

Basically what is annual premium for a fairly comprehensive insurance cover for a couple that covers pregnancy also?

Thanks

[zzm9980]

I'm not sure where you're from to compare to, but they break up insurance quite differently here from what I'm used to in the US. I have seperate policies and coverage for "medical" which covers essentially everything outpatient, one for hospitalization, then another for "major medical" which is things like diseases. I still don't understand it. I assume that $2800 is your Medical/Outpatient for clinics and specialists. That should be sufficient, well would be at least for me for most things.

Where I used to work I get S$5000 for this. The first S$1200 is completely paid for. The everything after is 80% covered / 20% co-pay upto a total of S$5000. Things not covered come out of an FSA which gets a fixed amount every year, some of it rolls over. These amounts are for the whole family.

In the past nine months, here are a rough outline of what I've paid on medical expenses:

- I had an ear infection. I went to the clinic, saw a doctor immediately, had two prescriptions, and a follow-up the next day. Total cost S$28

- My daughter (now 10 months) has had a checkup and two vaccinations. Checkup was S$22, the vaccinations were about S$200 each. The vaccinations were not covered by this policy (common here apparently(, but could be covered optionally by a flexible spending account I had.

- My wife needed an MRI and Blood test. MRI was S$700, Blood Tests were $480. This was covered.

- Dental cleaning and two cavities filled - $220ish

- Glasses -$90 lenses, $too much for frames (wife wanted Prada...) Covered by FSA.

Now things like major diseases would come out of their own policy. Hospitalization and any expenses occurred while hospitalized come out of their own policy. Case in point, if the MRI had revealed something which would have required even an overnight stay, the wife's MRI would have come out of that policy. The limits for these policies are way higher, like S$50k or S$100k.

It may be hard to compare your insurance to mine, but hopefully this helps explain it a bit. I know I was confused as hell when I first showed up from the US. S$1200 would barely have covered the ear infection and prescription in the US

[x9200]

Is $2800 offered by employer enough for a foreigner to get a comprehensive insurance for both husband and wife?

Insurance mainly to cater tho needs of a couple with no children yet but insurance would cover pregnancy, maternity related costs, dental and all major illnesses.

Basically what is annual premium for a fairly comprehensive insurance cover for a couple that covers pregnancy also?

Thanks

Monthly? Yes.

[biomarker]

Thanks zzm9980 & x9200.

That was a detailed reply.
What I understood was a private health insurance for expats to be comprehensive: medical/outpatient+specialists+ "major medical illness" +maternity/pregnancy would be upwards of 5000$.

Jeez!!!! x9200.

2800$ as monthly insurance for a couple is very expensive..that is >30k/ $ year.

[x9200]

Don't be that surprised. Take for that instance Bupa packages, very VERY popular among expats coming to Singapore. I believe the premium for a policy that covers roughly everything is something between 10-15k (SGD) per person.
I use Global Health by Chartis, North America + dental excluded and pay roughly USD3000 (annually). Pregnancy is not covered under this insurance unless you pay extra USD1000 15 month prior it starts - it is still worth the money but requires a bit of planning ahead. Dental coverage takes another few hundreds out of your pocked but offers rather limited protection (IIRC).

[zzm9980]

Just to clarify, x92 and I are talking about two different things. I was describing 'local' health plans (good ones, but still local), he's describing expat insurance. I just want to make sure you're clear on that. When I first read your post, I thought you were asking about a local plan.

Locals plans are pretty good IMO, but there is a lot of 'gaps' that may be important for you. And they generally require you to front the money and get reimbursed. Some companies will have arrangements with specific clinics/hospitals for auto-billing. For example, as long as I go somewhere that is part of Raffles Medical Group, I just need my ID card.

My wife hasn't had a kid here so I have no idea how much a pregnancy costs. But both plans I've been under seemed to reimburse only something like $3k-5k worth of pregnancy related expenses. You're required to pay them all up front, and then after the kid is born you can submit a claim. There was a bunch of things not covered too.

[aster]

The insurance you guys are talking about, do you have to pay anything by yourself and then claim or do you just show a card and they take care of things "back-stage" so to speak?

[biomarker]

Thanks again folks.

zzm9980 understood my "cryptic" post correctly.

I need a local issuance where I am looking for a fairly comprehensive medical insurance for me & my wife.
PURELY LOCAL. We would travel a lot but I plan to take a separate travel insurance for that. Health care coverage in North America or Europe is not a consideration.

This surely helps in understanding.