CareShield Life 2026: Here’s what’s changing and what it means for you

Did you know that the median age of CareShield Life claimants is 52 years old? According to the Ministry of Health (MOH), one in three Singapore residents has purchased a supplementary plan to their CareShield Life or ElderShield. This reflects rising awareness of the financial implications of long-term care needs as one in two individuals is expected to experience a severe disability at some point in their lifetime.

A recap on CareShield Life

Introduced in 2020, CareShield Life is Singapore’s national long-term care insurance scheme. Singaporeans and Permanent Residents born in 1980 or later are automatically enrolled in this plan from the age of 30 with this plan remaining optional for those born in 1979 or earlier.

CareShield Life provides lifetime monthly cash payouts if you become severely disabled with this defined as the inability to perform at least 3 of 6 activities of daily living (ADL). Premiums are payable up to age 67 and may be paid for with MediSave up to the additional withdrawal limits.

The 6 activities of daily living are: Washing, Dressing, Feeding, Toileting, Walking or Transferring.

Key changes to CareShield Life

Unsure about what are the changes to CareShield Life and how this may affect you? Here are the four key changes to CareShield Life.

1.      Increase in monthly pay-outs

The growth rate of CareShield Life payouts will double from 2% to 4%. This means that monthly pay-outs from CareShield Life will increase by 4 per cent each year starting in 2026.

(Source: Ministry of Health)

2.      Increased premiums and subsidies

With the increase in monthly benefits, premiums are also expected to increase to sustain the higher pay-outs. From 2026, there will be a one-step rise in premiums following which premiums will increase at 4% per annum. Premiums will remain fully payable by MediSave and no one will lose their CareShield Life coverage due to their inability to pay premiums.

(Source: MOH CareShield Life 2025 Review)

To mediate this increase in premiums, the government will provide an additional $570 million transitional premium support from 2026 to 2030. This is on top of the existing premium subsidies and is intended to moderate the increase in annual premiums, with the average premium increase being $38 and capped at no more than $75.

From 2026, long-term care service subsidies will be enhanced with additional cohort-based subsidies and the per capita household income eligibility threshold will also be raised.

To calculate your premium and check if you are eligible for any subsidies, you may use this feature on CareShield Life.

(Source: CPF website)

3.      CareShield Life will reinstate underwriting criteria for older individuals.

During the initial launch, CareShield Life allowed older individuals with mild and moderate disability to enrol into this scheme when it was first introduced in 2020. However, from 2026 onwards the underwriting criteria will be reinstated to moderate the extent of premium increases. This means that from 2026 onwards, this group of older individuals can only enrol into CareShield Life if they have no pre-existing disabilities.

4.      Regular reviews

These changes will be implemented progressively from January 2026 with the payouts and premiums to be reviewed again after 2030.

Estimated Long-term care costs

Profile: Age 56 individual with severe disability with a Per Capita Household Income of $1,500.

	Estimated monthly costs
Community Care including ·        Home Medical Services ·        Home Nursing services ·        Enhanced Home Personal Care (HPC+) services ·        Other costs of care, including caregiver-related costs and consumables	$2,700
Nursing Home (assuming fees for a Category IV highest care needs Nursing Home resident)	$4,900

(Source: Ministry of Health)

Want to get higher monthly disability benefits? Enhance your CareShield Life with these plans:

1.      Care Secure Pro by Income

Launched in September 2025, Care Secure Pro is Income’s upgraded version of the old Care Secure plan. The key benefits of Care Secure Pro are:

• Receive 60% of your chosen monthly disability benefit from one ADL for up to 60 months if the disability happens before age 75.
• Highest pay-out currently available in market for individuals who are unable to perform 1 ADL with up to 3600% of total disability benefit for an insured’s lifetime.
• Only insurer to include spouse, parents, and parents-in-law as part of this dependant benefit cover. Other insurers will only pay dependant benefit for a child under a specified age. This makes the plan suitable for individuals or couples with no children as this Dependant benefit would also benefit them.
• Highest in market for support benefit. Receive a support benefit of 300% (if unable to perform 2 ADLs) or 600% (if unable to perform 3 ADLs) of disability benefit if an individual becomes and continue to be moderately disabled or severely disabled.
• Lifetime of monthly disability benefit if unable to perform 2 or more ADLs.
• Premium waiver during period of disability upon the inability to perform one ADL.
• Choose a monthly disability benefit between $200 to $5,000 in multiples of $10.

Suitable for: Ideal for individuals seeking longer monthly disability coverage before 75, or those without children who could also benefit from Income’s dependant benefit.

🌟 Promotion: Receive 25% off perpetual premium discount on your Care Secure Pro. Promotion ends 8 September 2026.

Click here to find out more

➜ If you have an old Care Secure plan,

Income will introduce an “adjusted benefit” starting from 1 January 2026. This adjusted benefit will maintain the Care Secure monthly payout for severe disability by continuing to assume a growth rate of 2% for CareShield Life payouts even when CareShield Life growth rate is subsequently increased to 4% from 1 January 2026. This enhanced Care Secure disability benefit will be automatically applied to Care Secure policies from 1 January 2026 and seeks to help the insured to maintain their monthly payout receivable and receive a higher total monthly payout from the enhanced CareShield Life scheme from January 2026.

2.      CareShield Plus by Singlife

Singlife offers two CareShield supplement plans, namely Singlife CareShield Plus and Singlife CareShield Standard. In this article, we focus on Singlife CareShield Plus, a plan that offers monthly payouts from the inability to perform one ADL and thus provides a more comprehensive long-term care coverage. The key benefits of Singlife CareShield Plus are:

• No 90-day waiting period.
• Choice of level or escalating monthly disability benefit.
• Receive your chosen monthly disability benefit from one ADL for up to 12 months.
• Lump sum support benefit of three times monthly disability benefit when you are severely disabled.
• Lifetime of monthly severe disability benefit if unable to perform 2 or more ADLs.
• Premium waiver during period of disability upon the inability to perform at least one of the 6 ADL.
• Choose a monthly disability benefit between $200 to $5,000 in increments of $100.

Suitable for: Those who wish to manage inflation with an escalating monthly disability benefit or those concerned about the waiting period required for CareShield Life supplements.

🌟 Promotion: Get up to 35% lifetime premium discount on your Singlife CareShield plan. Promotion ends 31 December 2025.

Click here to get a quote for Singlife CareShield Plus

How much will my CareShield Life supplement cost?

A 30-year-old non-smoker male may purchase a CareShield Life supplement that provides a $1,000 monthly disability benefit with minimal cash outlay required.  For a 30-year-old non-smoker female, a CareShield Life supplement with $700 monthly disability benefit offers a similar $0 cash outlay option.

It is also important to note that while Income’s annual premiums are higher, the difference in total lifetime premiums between the two plans are not significant. This is because clients pay one year less of annual premiums for Income’s CareShield Life supplements.

Choose to get your CareShield Life supplement with FSMOne today and get up to 45% commission rebate on the cash portion of your premiums paid.

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Read also,

• Your IncomeShield plan is changing in October 2025. This is what you should know.
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• MediShield Life is not for private hospital bills. Here’s why.
• Critical Illness definitions are changing. This is what you should know.
• Debunking ILP Myths – Here’s the truth about ILPs

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Information obtained from:
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/careshield-life-not-meant-to-cover-entire-cost-of-long-term-care-experts

https://www.careshieldlife.gov.sg/careshield-life/careshield-life-claims.html

https://www.moh.gov.sg/newsroom/government-accepts-careshield-life-council-s-recommendations-to-enhance-careshield-life--provides-additional--570-million-to-subsidise-premiums

https://singlife.com/en/disability-insurance/careshield

https://www.income.com.sg/health-insurance/care-secure-pro

https://isomer-user-content.by.gov.sg/3/73a14efb-f80f-4e16-bd1a-d08753f2cecc/CareShield-Life-2025-Council-Review-Report.pdf

https://www.cpf.gov.sg/member/healthcare-financing/careshield-life/careshield-premiums-and-subsidies

Information retrieved on 21 October 2025.

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