Released the '天灯' a few days back. Hope it will bless me with a smoother year ahead:)
Anyway, I got my insurance sorted out finally, after much procrastination. 3 years plus to be exact...
My dad recent stay in the hospital made it much more compelling for me to get myself well covered. As I mentioned in the previous post, my dad is not a really financially savvy dude. However, it was really a surprise when I discovered that he was not even covered with the most basic and fuss-free coverage, the
Medishield. Thus, his treatment cost us a bomb even though he was warded in the cheapest ward. When I said a bomb, I mean a really fcuking huge ginormous bomb. A nuclear bomb. The total cost of his treatment almost wipe out the funds from my mum's
Medisave and we had to seek some help from the social welfare.
With this incident in mind, I hasten my search for the most comprehensive coverage with the budget of a peasant/peon/serf.
So with a grand budget of $50 in cash per month, I went on my search for the best coverage and upgraded/applied for the 4 policies stated below.
I was on this policy prior to this assessment of my insurance coverage. However I added 3 additional riders and increase my Death and Total Permanent Disablement(TPD) coverage.
All in all, my coverage for this plan includes:
Life insurance coverage
- Death due to illness - $200,000
- TPD due to illness - 120% of Sum Assured
Personal Accident Coverage
- Death due to non-SAF related accident - $225,000
- Death due to SAF related accident - $300,000
- TPD due to an accident - 120% + $25,000
Major Illness Coverage Rider
- Payout when inflicted with any of the 30 Major Illness - $100,000
Personal Accident Coverage Rider
- Death due to accident - Additional $200,000
- TPD due to accident -Additional Sum Assured
Disability Income Coverage Rider
- Monthly payout in the event of incapacity to work - 50% of last drawn pay
Miscellaneous Benefits
- Cash Rebate in good years
- Daily payout when hospitalize for more 10days up to a maximum of 30days - $40
- Advance payout when terminally ill(<1year to survive) - $100,000
Cost of policy monthly = $25.60 + $10(Major Illness Rider) + $8.90(Personal Accident Rider) + $9.84(Disability Rider)
= $54.34
*To be paid fully in cash
DPS is a low-cost term life policy which can be paid using monies from the CPF Ordinary Account(OA). Normally, any Singaporean would be automatically insured under this upon contributing to CPF. However, I must have been hit in the head years ago by a plane to be insane enough to opt out it then, leading to the hassle of applying for it now again.
The benefits for this policy are:
Life Insurance Coverage
- Death - $46,000
- Permanent Incapacity(inability to work) - $46,000
Cost of policy annually = $36
Cost of policy monthly = $3
*Payable using CPF(OA)
MediShield is a scheme by the CPF board to help members to pay part of their medical bills. This is achieved by complementing the CPF Medisave account. In theory, what this means is that members would first pay only their Deductible and Co-insurance portion of their bill either by Cash or funds from their Medisave account and MediShield would then follow up by settling the rest of the bill. Premium for this policy can be borne entirely by CPF(Medisave).
However, there are claim limits for this policy and they are as followed:
- Per Policy Year - $50,000
- Lifetime - $200,000
Cost of policy annually = $33
Cost of policy monthly = $2.75
*Payable using CPF(Medisave)
This excellent policy complement MediShield which further complement MediSave........
It is sickening stuff like this which makes me wonder why insurance coverage have to be so complicated when simple folks like me have a hard time understanding.
Anyway, back to the policy. This Income Shield plan provides a lifetime coverage for most of your hospitalisation bills. Once covered by this plan, members would only need to pay for their Deductible and Co-insurance(lower than MediShield) portion of their bill either by Cash or funds from their Medisave account. Premium for this policy is payable by using the CPF(Medisave). However, the premium for the riders for this policy have to be borne entirely by cash.
I have also applied for two riders for this plan as shown below:
Daily Cash Rider
- Daily Cash Benefit(Per Day) - $150
- Get Well Benefit(Upon recover) - $300
Assist Rider
- Pay only 10% of claimable amount
- Insured person not required to pay deductible
- Additional cash benefits if warded at a ward lower than what you are entitled to
Cost of policy yearly = $142(Medisave) + $83(Daily Cash Rider - cash) + $111(Assist Rider - cash)
= $142(Medisave) + $194(cash)
= $336
Cost of policy monthly= $11.83(Medisave) + $6.92(cash) + $9.25(cash)
= $11.83(Medisave) + 16.17(cash)
= $28
*Payable using a mixture of CPF(Medisave) and Cash
To summarise, I would have to pay a total of $88.09 monthly for all the above coverage. However, only $70.51 have to be paid in cash monthly with the balance covered by CPF. While I exceeded my budget of $50 by cash, I am feeling pretty
smug glad about getting such a pretty good deal with the amount I am paying compared with the coverage I am getting. In the event that I am stricken with any of the 30 major illness, I would most probably not have to fork out a single cent unless the insurers decided to play punk.
Is this the best value combination one can find in Singapore?
PS: This is a freaking long post. My fingers and eyes hurt.
PSS: The '天灯' flew behind the block of flat and disappeared. I am sorry if it burns any of your stuff.
