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SINGAPORE: Private health insurers will roll out a new suite of Integrated Shield Plan (IP) riders on Wednesday (Apr 1), with premium reductions ranging between 16 and 55 per cent.
The changes follow new requirements by the Ministry of Health (MOH), announced in November last year, aimed at curbing rising insurance premiums and private healthcare costs.
Under the new requirements, riders sold from Apr 1 are no longer allowed to cover the minimum IP deductibles, which range from S$1,500 (US$1,163) to S$3,500 per policy year and vary by ward class.
This means that those with new riders will have to pay at least S$1,500 before insurance coverage kicks in.
The co-payment cap has also been raised to a minimum of S$6,000 per year, up from S$3,000 previously, requiring policyholders to pay a larger portion of their bills.
Singapore has seven insurers that offer IP riders – AIA, Prudential, Income Insurance, Great Eastern, HSBC, Raffles Health Insurance and Singlife.
MOH said previously that with the new requirements, the new riders are expected to be much more affordable compared to the previous ones, with premiums expected to be about 30 per cent lower than existing riders with maximum coverage.
NEW RIDERS
The four major insurers – AIA, Prudential, Great Eastern and Income Insurance – have introduced new rider products that comply with the updated rules.
These insurers are designated domestic systemically important insurers. This means that if they fail, their failures are assessed to have a significant impact on the financial system and the broader economy in Singapore.
Great Eastern, which unveiled its new products on Tuesday, is offering four rider plans with premiums being reduced between 16 per cent and 50 per cent.
For those aged between 40 and 60, premiums for Great Eastern’s private hospital plan are 42 per cent cheaper than the previous rider.
For the same age group, premiums for its restructured hospital A Ward plan have been halved compared to the previous rider.
For example, a 50-year-old who bought Great Eastern’s new private hospital rider plan would pay an annual premium of around S$1,700, compared to S$2,925.56 previously.
If he opted for a restructured hospital A ward rider plan, he would pay around S$210, compared to S$419.65 previously.
At a media sharing session on Tuesday, Great Eastern said the lower bound of its range of premium savings - 16 per cent - was for those aged between one and two, specifically for its private partner hospital plan.
Prudential has also replaced its previous suite of riders with three new riders that are at least 30 per cent cheaper across all age groups and plan types, with some having larger differences of up to 55 per cent.
AIA Singapore said premiums for its new suite of riders are 30 per cent lower than the previous suites of riders across all ages.
Income has rolled out two new riders, with the premium difference varying depending on the type of plan and the policyholder’s age.
Across its restructured hospital plans, Income said the average premium savings is 47 per cent, while the average difference for its private hospital plans is 26 per cent.
For those aged between 40 and 60, the insurer said the average premium savings for the new riders is 41 per cent, while premium savings for those aged above 60 is 39 per cent.
While the four insurers did not share their new premium tables with CNA, Great Eastern and Income said they will publish this on their website on Wednesday.
Illustrative figures from Great Eastern show that for a S$50,000 hospital bill, patients on their most comprehensive rider plan could pay as much as S$5,825 out of pocket compared with S$2,500 previously.
However, the difference becomes more pronounced for larger bills. For a S$150,000 hospital bill, out-of-pocket costs could reach S$9,500 under Great Eastern’s new riders, up from S$3,000 to S$6,500 previously.
ADDITIONAL BENEFITS
While coverage for basic hospital bills remains largely unchanged, some insurers are adding targeted benefits.
For instance, Prudential’s new riders offer additional policy year limits of up to S$100,000 if hospitalisation is due to critical illness, and a 12-month premium waiver during retrenchment.
Meanwhile, Income said its new riders incorporate additional benefits such as Cell, Tissue and Gene Therapy Benefit (CTGTP) that covers treatments that are not on MOH’s CTGTP Benefit list.
