What is Medical Insurance
With medical care costs escalating steadily, you need to protect your financial health should you be hospitalised as a result of an illness or accident.
Medical insurance or health insurance is perhaps one of the most overlooked area in financial planning. And many people do not realize that a hefty medical bill can potentially derail their financial plans overnight. For example, a heart angioplasty at National Heart Centre would set you back between S$21,000 and S$31,000.
So, do you have a fool-proof medical insurance plan in place?
Since the introduction of medisave approved integrated private shield plans, we are spoilt for choices. An enhanced plan has 'as charged benefits' instead of sub limits for each category of medical expenses. Besides the usual room and board, surgery, doctor's fees and treatments etc, other benefits available with such plans include confinement in community hospitals, pregnancy complications, congenital conditions, letter of guarantee and benefits for major medical transplant.
What to watch out for
Every life insurer would offer medical insurance solutions. A medical plan is made of 2 parts: 1) the basic plan and 2) the rider. There are full riders and there are partial riders. A full rider covers the deductible (up front payment, depending on the ward class) and co-insurance (10% of the balance of the bill after deductible). On the other hand, a partial rider covers only the co-insurance portion. Hence, it is expected that a full rider will cost more than a partial rider.
Besides the riders, the plan type will dictate the level of benefits. In choosing a plan, be sure to go with one that covers your health concerns.
How we help you
So, how do you then select from the plethora of options in the market? Do you have the time and energy to meet up with different insurers to understand their plans?
If the answer is no, then you would be better off consulting a professional financial advisor who has access to the different solutions available in the market. He or she would be able to highlight the differences between each plan and advise on a plan that best fits your needs.
We go through a structured questionaire with our clients to get them thinking about their requirements for health care. Our recommendation will be based on their responses to the questions.
We have counselled many who have pre existing conditions and advised what is best moving forward to ensure that they get cover for other conditions. As a rule of thumb, insurers exclude pre-existing conditions altogether. However, Aviva is the only insurer that has moratorium underwriting v/s full medical underwriting. Aviva’s moratorium underwriting is the first in the industry. This gives people with pre-existing conditions a chance to be covered for their existing conditions. What this means is that during the period of 5 years of continuous insurance from the date of commencement of the cover, if the insured person has not, in relation to the pre-existing condition experienced symptoms or sought advice or tests from a specialist, physician or alternative medicine provider or required treatment or medication, Aviva will cover that pre-existing condition.
The type of medical insurance you have can either make or break your financial plans.
Consult a professional financial advisor before you make the purchase. One wrong move and you could lose your insurance coverage completely.
