Cover The Critical Gap

I never really felt the need to purchase a Critical Illness plan; simply because I was young, strong and healthy. Plus, I already had all the basic hospitalisation coverage in place – that would be more than enough right? Why would I want to pay a sum of money for something that I had no immediate use for?

Well, all that changed in an instant when I found out I had lung cancer – and I wasn’t even a smoker.

The reality hit me like a truck, along with the sky-high medical bills from the costs of the treatments that couldn’t be covered by my MediSave and MediShield Life. To make matters worse, I had just gotten married and was paying for my house, with a baby on the way.” Joe, age 37.

This is a narrative that could easily happen to anyone around you, or even upon yourself. Yet, many people may still remain ambivalent about the need for comprehensive Critical Illness (CI) protection.

First, let’s look at what Hospitalisation Plans are: They mainly cover your hospital and surgical expenses. MediShield Life is a universal basic hospitalisation plan; you also have the opportunity to extend your protection scope by purchasing additional Integrated Shield Plans.

Next up, Critical Illness Plans: It is an insurance that provides cash payouts if you are diagnosed with a critical illness covered by your policy. The lump sum payout can offer much-needed monetary support and minimise the financial burden resulting from your outpatient treatments, loss of income due to inability to work or your family’s living expenses during your recovery journey.

Not protecting yourself with Critical Illness insurance just because you already have a hospitalisation plan, can leave you vulnerable to critical protection gaps. Still not fully convinced? Here are some hard facts of life, which may hopefully awaken you to the pertinent case for CI coverage.

Fact:

Cancer accounted for 28.6% of deaths and is the principal cause of death in Singapore.¹

This also means that cancer caused about 1 in every 3 deaths.

Fact:

Medical costs in Singapore are rising.

External sources estimated that Singapore’s medical inflation rate for 2019 and 2020 was 10% per year.²

Fact:

Many Singaporeans are, on average, covered for only 20% of their CI needs.³

In the same study where this finding was derived, it was also suggested that one would need an estimated 3.9 times of annual income to be adequately covered for CI protection. So if your annual income is $100,000, you will need $390,000 to tide you through.

Sources:

¹https://www.moh.gov.sg/resources-statistics/singapore-health-facts/principal-causes-of-death-
²https://smartwealth.sg/healthcare-cost-statistics-singapore/#:~:text=External%20sources%20estimated%20that%20Singapore’s,healthcare%20inflation%20rate%20was%202.21%25
³https://www.lia.org.sg/media/1332/protection-gap-study-report-2017.pdf