Everyone should be insured with a Shield plan but how much do you know about the one you are holding onto? The CPF provided us with Medishield and the private insurers that has Shield plans will include; Prudential Pru Shield, AIA Healthshied, Great Eastern Supreme Shield, Aviva Shield and NTUC Income Shield.Each individual can only own one Shield plan. Therefore, if you already have one and you purchase another one, the old one will be taken over by the new one automatically.
It is important to note the differences among the many types of shield plans available in the market. Never make the decision on which one to buy by only comparing prices.
Questions to ask your Financial Adviser before purchasing a Shield plan:
- How much is my deductibles and co-insurance
- How much is my per life-time coverage
- How much is my per-year coverage
- Are my claims as per charge or is there going to be a cap
- What are the exclusions
And lastly the most important thing that one should look out for is the fine prints. I was doing a comparison some time ago and was shocked to find this clause in one of the fine prints that I had read.
" Insured has to inform the company 4 days prior to hospitalization"!!!! Shocking???? How can one has such a clause and I repeat its in the fine prints. This is a BIG unknown risk to the insured. Isn't ridiculous to have such a clause? How can one know when are they going to be hospitalised? Especially if its due to an accident?
Therefore, read your fine prints and be aware of what you are buying. Hmm... if you are curious to know who this insurer is.... ask your Financial Adviser :)
(Logo abstracted from MOH website)
6 comments:
Calm down, Lilian.
They expect us to be fortune tellers - able to tell when we are going to be hospitalised.
Haha
First, let it be known that I am not an INCOME agent. I was also puzzled by the clause. So I asked my financial adviser. The reason is actually to our benefit.
You see, the clause only applies to non-emergency cases. Most hospitals require you to place a "deposit" with them upon admission. This deposit will be used to offset the co-insurance and deductible after the bill is finalised with payouts from the shield plans.
Some of us would have added a rider to cover the co-insurance and deductible so that we need not pay a single cent.
This clause actually enables INCOME to have time to prepare a letter of guarantee for us.
This letter of guarantee will inform the hospitl that we are insured under INCOME and they undertake to pay all the cost.
So, when we admit with this letter, we do not pay the deposit at all.
This is important as the deposit may come up to be a few thousand, especially for private hospitals.
HI KH,
Im not too sure over the benefit of the clause.
Becos I had friends, relatives, etc being admitted for hospitalisation but no 'deposit' is required from them at all.
What the hospitals do is, they will get you to fill in some forms and one of the question will be, do you have any shield plans?
And if the answer is yes, then no payment is required. The hospital will deduct automatically from your medisave. Then the insured with the actual invoice which they will received 2 weeks after discharge, make their claim to their individual insurer.
Then money will be credited back to their medisave if the money is paid up-front by medisave.
I'm not too sure how experience your Adviser is because I had never come across any hospitals that requires you to pay a deposit before. And same sentiments from many Advisers that I had came across too.
Oh so the insurer is NTUC INCOME...
KH, its ok we know you are not an INCOME adviser :)))
hmm ya... I was not asked to pay any deposit too when i was hospitalised, so was my mum...so i dont understand, which are the hospitals that ask for deposits?
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