
Compulsory for all NS men, MINDEF's group insurance (also known as SAF insurance or NS insurance) is likely to be the first coverage most Singaporean males purchase for themselves. Touted as the cheapest insurance coverage available, is this really the case for MINDEF's group insurance plans? In this article, we compare MINDEF’s group term, early critical illness and personal accident plans against individual plans to see which is the most cost efficient option.
(See "When Is Whole Life Insurance The Better Option?")
#1 Term insurance
Offering an affordable option for protection coverage, term insurance is the cheapest life insurance available. With MINDEF’s group insurance known to be the most affordable coverage in the market, we compare this with an individual term insurance to see if this claim is true.

Offering the same annual premiums for all below the age of 65, MINDEF's group term insurance has an annual premium of $492 for 1 million coverage until age 65. This is 30 per cent cheaper than an individual term insurance thus showing that MINDEF's group term insurance is indeed the cheaper option for term insurance.
However, do note that MINDEF's coverage is offered on a group basis. Therefore, while you are covered under the group insurance, you are not the policy owner and do not have any control over the policy.
(See "All About Term Insurance 2019")
Simple, high coverage, affordable. Insurance done right for your family.
#2 Early critical illness (ECI) insurance
As mentioned in our article "Are Riders The Cheaper Alternative To Critical Illness Insurance?", CI riders are an affordable alternative for critical illness (CI) coverage. Comparing MINDEF's group ECI to an individual whole life plan with ECI rider and multiplier, here’s what we found out.

The first thing to note is that while initial annual premiums for MINDEF’s group ECI starts from just $320, premiums are banded according to age and will increase as the insured gets older.
Secondly, MINDEF's group ECI insurance is payable for as long as the coverage is inforce. In this instance, MINDEF's group ECI insurance is payable for 33 years. An individual whole life plan however offers a limited pay premium term with the insured able to choose whether he/she wants to pay premiums for 10, 15 or 20 years.
Lastly, whole life insurance accumulates cash value and has a surrender value. Assuming that the insured only needs coverage until age 65 and surrenders his whole life plan after, the lifetime premium of using a whole life plan with ECI rider is $23,127. This translates to an average of $700 a year for ECI coverage and is less than half of the lifetime premium required by MINDEF's group ECI insurance. Therefore, if you are looking for early critical illness coverage, you may want to consider using an individual whole life plan with ECI rider and multiplier instead.
(See "Should You Purchase Critical Illness Insurance Before 2020?")
#3 Personal accident insurance

At $12 a year for $100,000 coverage, MINDEF's group personal accident (PA) insurance is indeed cheaper than an individual personal accident plan. However, if we were to take a closer look at the coverage details, we can see that MINDEF's group PA plan only offers basic coverage such as those for accidental death, total permanent disability (TPD) and fractures.
An individual personal accident plan however, offers a more extensive coverage. This includes coverage for food poisoning, outpatient medical expenses and infectious diseases (e.g. SARS, Avian influenza, Hand Food and Mouth Disease, COVID-19 etc). Therefore while we see no harm in paying a mere $12 a year for $100,000 of personal accident coverage, do consider getting individual personal accident insurance for a more comprehensive coverage.
(See "Best Personal Accident Insurance Singapore 2020")
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