Singapore Insurance

SINGAPORE: Players in the insurance industry here may have to contribute to a fund to compensate policy owners in the event an insurer defaults. That is a proposal that the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is considering in a bid to strengthen the protection of insurance policy owners. MAS said a proposed Policy Owners' Protection Fund (PPF) will help to alleviate the loss of insurance coverage to policy owners. It is also of the view that such a fund will limit the potential disruption to the society as well as the economy, and will enhance public confidence in the sector. Among the proposed changes, the PPF schemes will provide 100 per cent coverage of protected liabilities for all life as well as accident and health policies. The PPF will be administered by the Singapore Deposit Insurance Corporation (SDIC). Member institutions will be assessed once a year for the PPF levies and the minimum levy is S$2,500 per annum. This is not the first time that such an idea has been bro...

Below is the Straits Times Article on NTUC clearing the air on why they paid the amount they paid for a certain case. Many times, people have no idea what they purchase from the insurance companies because of ignorance and also complicated rules and jargon used by the insurance industry. It is time that the government starts a compulsory education for all in Singapore. I REFER to Mr Ong Kok Lam's Forum Online letter last Wednesday, "Puzzled by insurer's payout for medical claim". Mr Ong wrote that his wife could claim only $240 of her $7,995.15 hospitalisation bill under her IncomeShield MA Plan, and inquired why the payout was not higher. Generally, the amount that a policyholder can claim depends on the type of insurance plan that he is covered under. All shield plans currently available on the market have a "deductible" and a "co-insurance" feature. A "deductible" is the amount a policyholder has to pay before the insurance benefit i...

What are restructured hospitals in Singapore? You will commonly find the term restructured hospitals in the various hospitalisation plans. I did some research to find out what these hospitals are actually. These hospitals are actually run as a private company and is wholly-owned by the Government through the Ministry of Health, Singapore, and it receives a government subsidy for the provision of subsidised medical services to its patients. These basically refer to the following hospitals: 1. Alexander 2. Changi General Hospital 3. National University Hospital 4. Singapore General Hospital 5. Tan Tock Seng Hospital 6. Khoo Teck Puat Hospital 7. Ng Teng Fong Hospital

There has been a recent change in Section 57 of the Insurance Act where the insurable interest on the life of a child has been amended to below age 18. An extract of the act states : "A Life policy insuring the life of a person which is issued by a registered insurer shall be void unless his child or ward under the age of 18 years at the time the insurance is effected." This essentially means that parents can no longer buy an insurance policy on their child's life once he is above the age of 18. Also, a transfer of policy (be it under any of the optional riders) cannot take place unless the child is below 18 years of age.

I stumbled upon this article while reading the news. Given the high incidence of cancer in Singapore, it might be interesting statistics to compile Researchers at Ireland have found something unique in curry that might help to cure cancer. Read the interesting article below to find out more. LONDON - A MOLECULE found in a curry ingredient can kill oesophageal cancer cells in the laboratory, suggesting it might be developed as an anti-cancer treatment, scientists said on Wednesday. Researchers at the Cork Cancer Research Centre in Ireland treated oesophageal cancer cells with curcumin - a chemical found in the spice turmeric, which gives curries a distinctive yellow colour - and found it started to kill cancer cells within 24 hours. The cells also began to digest themselves, they said in a study published in the British Journal of Cancer. Previous scientific studies have suggested curcumin can suppress tumours and that people who eat lots of curry may be less prone to the disease, al...

This is adapted from the article that came from Straits Times. While the Straits Times article said that there are only 4 types of cover a person need, I believe that there are 5 types of cover. 1. Death Cover. 2. Medical Cover. 3. Critical Illness Cover. 4. Disability Cover. 5. Personal Accident Cover.

I received a letter from AIA recently. It reads: In appreciation for your continued loyalty and support, we'd like to extend an exclusive invitation to you to apply for our first premier accident plan - AIA Signature. The AIA Signature plan offers you our highest level of accident protection, with coverage up to $500,000. The invitation is for a select group of priority AIA policyholders, of which you are one. Available for a limited time, this exclusive offer is valid from 15 Oct 09 to 28 Nov 09 and is strictly by invitation only. With AIA Signature, you can enjoy: A high coverage amount of up to $500,000 for Accidental Death, Dismemberment and Permanent and Total Disability Accidental Medical Reimbursement of up to $2000 Premiums do not increase with age And the above coverage is yours at only $400 until age 75. No health questions ask and no medical examination is required. I am not too sure what is so special about this accident plan because accident plans normally do not requi...

NTUC Income’s Aim Series are comprehensive life-cycle solutions to help investors manage their investments over their different life stages. Designed as “all-in-one” financial planning tools, the Aim Series consist of 4 Target Date portfolios, viz Aim 2015, Aim 2025, Aim 2035 and Aim 2045, which seek to provide long-term capital growth over the given investment time horizon. A fifth portfolio, Aim Now, is designed for investors who are looking for capital stability and potential income. Each Aim Series fund will have a different risk profile and will invest in a wide range of investments covering markets throughout the world. Aim 2015, Aim 2025, Aim 2035 and Aim 2045 will have investment horizons centred around 2015, 2025 2035 and 2045 respectively, and will typically invest in a higher proportion of growth assets in the wealth building life stage to capture growth opportunities from equities, property securities and commodities. These will be gradually reduced over the portfolios’ gli...

Manulife has a participating whole life policy called Life Protector Plus that is designed to provide high coverage at affordable premiums. For a male non-smoker age 27, coverage of $240K can be obtained at a monthly premium of $194. How it provides such a high coverage is with something called the Minimum Death Benefit (MDB) factor that depends on the entry age of the policy holder. Each band of entry age has a different MDB factor. Age 0 to 30 = 2.4 Age 31 to 35 = 2.15 Age 36 to 40 = 1.90 Age 41 to 45 = 1.65 Age 46 to 50 = 1.40 Age 51 to 55 = 1.20 So the basic sum insured for a guy age 27 is actually 100K but due to the MDB factor of 2.4, his coverage is increased till $240K until he is age 65. Thereafter, the MDB factor drops to 1.0 Do note that with any surrender of reversionary bonus or coversion of policy to reduce paid up, the MDB factor will drop to 1.0 This MDB factor also applies to the Critical Care Enhancer Rider (for critcial illness) up to age 65 too.

Aviva's Myshield is a hospitalisation and surgical insurance plan that helps to insure against medical costs. It is a Medisave Approved Integrated Plan which is an Enhancement plan on top of the basic Medishield plan operated by the CPF board. Medishield forms the basic tier of insurance whilst MyShield serves as the enhancement to Medishield. One unique feature of the the Myshield plan is that when both parents are covered under the plan, their children (up to age 20) will be automatically covered too for FREE. With the MyShield Plus rider, one will also be covered for the co-insurance portion. There are no riders available for the deductible portion. To be eligible for the plan, the person must be a Singapore Citizen or Singapore PR; age 75 years below based on next birthday; and must have a CPF Medisave Account from which to pay for the premiums of the policy. One of the strong points of this plan is its affordability especially for families because of the free coverage for ch...

According to this Channel News Asia report, the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS) is considering compulsory fire insurance for all mosques in Singapore. This was after the prayer hall of Kampong Siglap Mosque was burned by fire two days ago. Currently, only 90% of the 69 mosques in Singapore have fire insurance coverage as it is not mandatory under the building and construction laws for mosques to be insured against fire. Various insurance companies do provide fire insurance be it for home or industrial buildings. They include companies like MSIG, Tenet and China Insurance.

SINGAPORE : Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan is mulling an enhancement to the ElderShield payout. In an interview with MediaCorp, he said he is proposing a payout of S$800 a month over 8 years. The severe disability insurance scheme for long-term care currently pays out S$400 a month for six years. But he warned the enhancement would mean an increase in premiums. Mr Khaw said the change is necessary as most patients will desire a higher level of nursing home or home nursing care. It could cost S$800 to over S$4,000 a month to stay in a private nursing home. But the health minister stressed that ElderShield's philosophy of insuring only catastrophic needs will not change. This will ensure low premiums and minimise abuses.

I found this article on the Straits Times. Make sure that you do not fall into the same predicament as this Mr Tay. _________________________________________________ He got $900k but wants to claim an additional $17,000 A FREAK accident with a sheet of wire mesh cost Mr Tay Eng Chuan his left eye, and it took him seven years to get almost $1 million in insurance claims. But it will take a little longer before the saga is over. His last hope to claim a further $17,000 from his insurer now lies with the highest court in the country - the Court of Appeal. He received more than $900,000 in insurance payouts early this year after arbitration hearings in 2007. But unhappy with the result, he appealed to the High Court against the decision by the arbitrators. After the High Court ruled against him this year, he now wants to take the case to the Court of Appeal. Mr Tay, 60, a remisier, became blind in his left eye after the accident in November 2002. The accident happened as Mr Tay, an engi...

Tokio Marine Asia (TM Asia) has also launched a critical illness plan which provides the first cancer-only coverage in Singapore. It allows up to 5 claims on early cancer with no waiting period between claims. One can chose the protection term of up to either age 60, 65 or 70. The premiums are also much cheaper compared to Great Eastern's Early Payout Critical Care and AXA's Early Payout Living Enhancer. This is probably due to the fact that TM Asia's plan only covers cancer and not the other critical illnesses.

AXA has recently launched a new Critical Illness protection plan similar to Great Eastern's Early Payout CriticalCare plan. AXA's Early Payout Living Enhancer offers the following: 1. Expedited payout at early stages of critical illness, so you will not need to dip into your savings to pay for early medical treatment. 2. Extensive coverage of up to 60 medical conditions, which supplements your existing critical illness plans. 3. Exemption of waiting period between multiple claims so you are well protected in the event of multiple critical illnesses, up to 100% of the Sum Assured. 4. Extra death benefit of S$15,000 to help defray the immediate living expenses of your loved ones.

Early Payout Critical Care from Great Eastern can be purchased as a standalone critical illness plan or as a rider to one of their plans. Some of the key features of the Early Payout Critical Care are as follows: 1. Standalone plan or rider with varying terms (6 years till age 75). Entry age is 1 to 65. 2. Able to opt from $50,000 to $1 million in coverage. 3. Early payout is based on differing severity levels for the 30 critical illnesses which are grouped into 3 groups of Severity 25, Severity 50 and Severity 100. 4. There are limits to what can be claimed under Severity 25 and Severity 50. 5. Possible for multiple claims across unrelated illnesses without any waiting period The advantages of the Early Payout Critical Care introduced by Great Eastern are as follows: 1. First plan in Singapore to offer payouts at earlier stages of cancer. 2. Multiple lump sum payouts at different stages of the same critical illness or across different critical illness. 3. No minimum waiting period bet...

Below is my analysis of the one time redemption offer made by Great Eastern to policy holders of GreatLink Choice: 1. Great Eastern will definitely be making a loss from it. Even if not all policy holders take up the one time redemption offer, Great Eastern still stands to lose a huge sum of money. This though is done to prevent any further damage to the company name that might arise should policy holders follow the way of those who were affected by the Lehman mini bonds. Should policy holders have the chance to complain to MAS, the investigations could land some agents into trouble and might also tarnish the name of Great Eastern. 2. Whether this is a good public relations (PR) move remains to be seen. It most probably will be as clients will feel that Great Eastern truly cares about the interests of its clients. On the whole, the public will view it as a good move made by an insurance company versus how the banks have treated their clients in the Lehman saga. 3. Agents affect...

IN A stunning development, about 18,000 Great Eastern Life customers who bought investment products similar to the ill-fated Lehman Minibonds will get all of their money back. And they did not have to ask for it. The move by GE Life, which will cost the insurer a whopping $250 million, is purely voluntary. The products in question are called GreatLink Choice (GLC) - a series of single-premium investment-linked insurance products sold in five tranches between 2005 and 2007, netting $594 million in investments. Like Lehman Minibonds, GLC was linked to a class of complex financial instruments whose value has been badly hit by diving financial markets. So despite diversifying the risk and building in various loss-protection features, the values of the GLC plans have plummeted between 40 and 80 per cent. 'Great Eastern understands that these steep discounts have given rise to concerns among GLC policyholders,' group chief executive Ng Keng Hooi said in a statement on Friday. 'To...