Assess your Singlife Shield plan with this one guide

A brief recap on MediShield Life and the Integrated Shield (IP) plans offered by Singlife,

MediShield Life (MSHL) – A government-mandated health insurance plan for all Singapore citizens and Permanent Residents (PR). This is administered by the CPF Board.

Integrated Shield (IP) plans – To receive treatment at higher tiered wards or for more comprehensive hospitalisation coverage, consider IP plans. IP plans are offered by seven private insurers.

(Read: Is private hospital insurance really necessary?)

In this article, we study the benefit and premium differences between Singlife Shield Plan 1 and Plan 2 to determine if it is worth paying for the higher-tier Plan 1, or if you should downgrade to a Class A ward plan.

What the different hospital ward classes mean:

Class A ward – Single bed, air-conditioned room with attached bathroom and television.

Class B1 ward – 4 to 5 bedder air-conditioned room with shared attached bathroom and television.

Class B2 ward – 6 bedder room with shared bathroom (bathroom may not be attached to room). Ward may be air-conditioned or fan ventilated.

#1 Difference in benefits between Singlife Shield Plan 1 and Plan 2

Wondering which Singlife Shield plan is right for you? Here are the notable differences between the plans to help you determine if the higher-tier plan is worth the difference in premiums.

Annual policy limit and ward entitlement – The main difference between Singlife Shield Plan 1 and Plan 2 plans lies in their annual policy limits and ward entitlements. Singlife Shield Plan 1 offers individuals a $2,000,000 annual policy limit and ward entitlement for private hospitals. Plan 2 on the other hard has an annual policy limit of $1,000,000 and ward entitlement at Class A wards at public hospitals.

Living donor organ transplant where the insured is the organ donor – Shield Plan 1 provides a benefit of $50,000 per lifetime, as compared to Plan 2’s $30,000 per lifetime.

[💡 In the event that the insured is the recipient of an organ, this cost of acquiring the organ from a living donor will be covered under the major organ transplant benefit.]

Extra inpatient benefit for 5 Critical Illnesses – Plan 1 offers a benefit of up to $150,000 per policy year, as compared to Plan 2’s $100,000 per policy year.

Inpatient psychiatric treatment – For inpatient psychiatric treatment after 10 months of continuous cover, Plan 1 provides as charged coverage of up to 60 days per policy year as compared to Plan 2’s as charged coverage of up to 45 days per policy year. There is no difference in benefit if inpatient psychiatric treatment is within 10 months of continuous cover, where both plans offer $500 per day up to 35 days per policy year.

^{List of differences and similarities are for illustration purposes only. Please refer to your policy wording for more information. Information retrieved on 4 November 2024.}

Premiums for Singlife Shield Plan 1 vs Plan 2

Premiums between Shield Plan 1 and Plan 2 will also vary with this difference going up to as much as over 3 times.

#2 Do the riders matter?

The addition of an IP rider is intended to (1) Reduce annual deductible needed (2) Lower or cap the co-insurance payable, and (3) Increase cancer treatment limits.

Here are the notable differences in the various riders:

Private Prime vs Public Prime – Coverage for both riders are generally the same with the only difference between the two being the additional critical illness benefit for kidney failure if kidney dialysis is received at public hospital or subsidised dialysis centre.

Private Lite vs Private Prime – The main difference between these two riders is the annual deductible required. Private Prime has $0 annual deductible for A&E or preferred providers whereas the Singlife Shield annual deductible applies for Private Lite plans.

[💡 Lite plans have a ward downgrade benefit where 50% of your Singlife Shield annual deductible is covered if the insured chooses to stay at a ward class lower than his chosen plan]

Premiums will also differ when the riders are added to Plan 1 vs Plan 2

In addition to the premium differences between IP plans, premiums for Health Plus Prime rider will also vary according to the IP plan that it is attached to. For example, when attached to Singlife Shield Plan 1, the prime rider has premiums of 2 to 4 times higher than when attached to Singlife Shield Plan 2.

Are the benefits worth the premiums payable? This is what we think:

If you are comfortable with the current premiums -

We recommend that you continue with your current plan until the premiums become unaffordable as it is generally easier to downgrade or remove a rider than to upgrade your coverage in future. At that point, review your needs to assess whether there have been any significant changes to your hospital plan requirements.

If you would like to relook your hospital coverage and lower your premiums payable,

1. To seek treatment at Class A wards: Downgrade to Singlife Shield Plan 2 but keep your Prime rider

One way to reduce your payable premium is to downgrade your IP plan but keep your rider. By doing so you will experience:

Reduced co-insurance and annual deductible

Your co-insurance is reduced from 10% to 5% with the addition of a Prime or Lite rider. The maximum co-insurance needed per policy year is also capped at a lower amount. Without a rider, Singlife Shield Plan 1, 2, and 3 caps the 10% co-insurance at $25,500 per policy year for treatment at A&E or preferred medical providers. With the addition of a Prime rider, the co-insurance needed is capped at $3,000 per policy year for A&E or preferred medical providers.

Additionally, Prime rider removes the annual deductible which significantly lowers out of pocket expenses required.

^{Illustration assumes individual sought treatment at a preferred provider. Information generated on 4 November 2024, for illustration purposes only.}

Higher cancer treatment limits

With MediShield Life (MSHL), your cancer coverage is limited to just $200 - $9,600 per month for drugs on the Cancer Drug List (CDL) and Cancer drug services claims are limited to $3600 per annum. No coverage is given for non-CDL treatments. To receive higher cancer coverage, opt for a Prime rider that will provide both CDL and non-CDL coverage.

With the addition of a prime rider, you can receive up to 20 times the MSHL benefit limit per month for treatments on the CDL. You will also receive up to $15,000 per month for non-CDL treatments.

Lower premiums

Moreover, switching to Singlife Shield Plan 2 and adding a Public Prime rider can still be cheaper than a Plan 1 alone. This difference in premiums can be seen in the table below.

2. If you still want private hospital coverage and do not mind paying the annual deductible: Switch your Private Prime rider to a Private Lite rider

Alternatively, to reduce your premiums payable while maintaining private hospital coverage, consider switching your IP rider from Private Prime to Private Lite. Here are the factors to consider for this option.

Annual deductible payable

While the Private Prime rider reduces your annual deductible for A&E or preferred providers to $0, you will have to pay this annual deductible with a Private Lite rider. However, for an insured under the age of 80, the current annual deductible amount for Singlife is just $3,500 for treatment at a private hospital. This annual deductible needed goes up to $5,250 for an individual age 81 and above.

[💡 The current difference in premiums is $3,264 between Singlife Shield Plan 1 + Prime Rider and Singlife Shield Plan 1 + Private Lite rider for an age 80 individual.]

Moreover, if you require treatment and would like to reduce the annual deductible payable, you may also downgrade your ward stay. This will reduce your annual deductible payable by 50%.

Lower premiums

Switching to Private Lite rider will reduce your premiums by between 29 and 44 per cent as shown in the table below.

Premiums for Singlife Shield Plan 1 with Private Prime vs Private Lite rider

Reduced co-insurance

While you will have to pay the deductible with a Private Lite rider, this rider still reduces your co-insurance needed to 5%. Co-insurance is also capped at $3,000 thus making your total out of pocket expenses needed still much lower than if you were to only have an IP plan.

Have a question? Speak to us about your shield plans here:

Click the button below if you would like to review or downgrade your Singlife Shield plan, or seek a second opinion on your hospitalisation coverage.

If you have existing shield plans with Income, Raffles or Singlife, you may also be interested in:

A Guide to assessing your Enhanced IncomeShield plan

Should I downgrade my Raffles Shield plan coverage? This is what we think

Assess your Singlife Shield plan with this one guide

Read also,

Is private hospital insurance really necessary?

Can my Integrated Shield Plan and travel insurance cover the same medical expenses while traveling?

MediShield Life coverage is increasing. Do you still need a Shield plan?

A Guide to assessing your Enhanced IncomeShield plan

1 in 5 Singaporeans lack life insurance coverage. Are you the 1 in 5?

What is hospital cash benefit, and why will I need this?

^{Information obtained from:}

^{https://www.moh.gov.sg/managing-expenses/schemes-and-subsidies/medishield-life/medishield-life-benefits#Cancer-Drug-List}

^{https://singlife.com/content/dam/public/sg/documents/medical-insurance/singlife-health-plus/premium-rates.pdf}

^{https://singlife.com/content/dam/public/sg/documents/promotion/H44%20Singlife%20Shield%20TCs%20Sept%202024.pdf}

^{https://singlife.com/content/dam/public/sg/documents/promotion/H46%20Singlife%20Health%20Plus%20TCs%20Sept%202024.pdf}

^{Information retrieved on 4 November 2024.}

^Disclaimer:

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