Recently at The Expat Fairs’ Thriving in Singapore morning tea for expats, many expats expanded their knowledge of Singapore, as presenters discussed finances, healthcare, dining, kid’s entertainment and more. One of the event’s sponsors, insurance brokerage Pacific Prime Singapore, reached out to all attendees of the event to offer their insurance advisory services to all free of charge. What’s more, Pacific Prime has recently released an infographic with helpful tips that new expats in Singapore can use with regards to finding their ideal health insurance plan. Here, we delve a bit more into some of the more important points in the infographic.
Price
When it comes to any purchase people have a tendency to focus on one factor: the bottom line. However, with health insurance, a short-sighted emphasis on price could leave you with a policy that really doesn’t meet your needs and only leads to headaches down the line. This is especially true in Singapore, where new expats to the city are likely to find themselves unable to access the city’s public healthcare system, which is reserved only for citizens and permanent residents.
For this reason, there are a few factors that determine the cost of health insurance premiums that you should look at closely when you are comparing plans:
- Deductibles: This is the amount you must pay to the insurer beyond your premiums before they will pay out any benefits on claims you make. The higher your deductible, the lower your premiums will generally be.
- Annual Limits: This is the maximum amount of benefits that a policy will pay annually. The higher the limit, the higher the premiums will generally be.
Coverage
Other aspects of your health insurance to consider when shopping are exactly what specific conditions and treatments will be covered by it. This can apply more broadly to the basic types of plans that are offered, as well as the conditions in the fine print that you may have to dig a little deeper for. The basic individual health insurance plans typically offered by health insurance companies are:
- Inpatient: Inpatient coverage is generally seen to be the most important, as it covers serious and emergency conditions that would likely leave a person hospitalized for a significant amount of time.
- Inpatient + Outpatient: Adding outpatient coverage affords you with insurance coverage for trips to the doctor’s office and less serious conditions, including small surgeries that would have you home same-day.
- Inpatient + Outpatient + Maternity: Finally, adding maternity benefits to a plan creates what is commonly called a Full Coverage plan. Maternity benefits usually come with a lengthy waiting period, so having it early can be important for those that may expand their family.
- Dental and Vision: Dental and vision coverage are normally not included with the other types of basic plans listed above. Having them added to your health insurance policy will lead to higher premiums.
Other features
- Pre-existing conditions: If you have a pre-existing or chronic condition, most insurance policies will exclude it from coverage. However, some insurers will allow for coverage of these conditions with a higher premium or loading. They may also cover them at no additional cost if a specified period of time has gone by without any incidence of the condition.
- Direct billing and online claims: You will no doubt want an easy and convenient plan that will allow for quick payment of claims. For this reason, be sure to ask about direct billing at your local hospitals for the quick payment of your medical bills, as well as if the insurer has proper online support.
If you have any questions that come to mind after reading the above, you can feel free to contact the knowledgeable insurance advisers at Pacific Prime Singapore.
About Pacific Prime Singapore
Pacific Prime Singapore is a fully licensed insurance broker based in Singapore who specializes in providing expats with health insurance solutions that fit their lifestyles. Our team of industry professionals work together to ensure that every client has the best insurance available and back it up with industry-leading support.
