5% co-payment to address over consumption of medical services

Patients must bear a minimum 5 per cent co-payment for new Integrated Shield Plan riders, Senior Minister of State for Health Chee Hong Tat announced on Wednesday (Mar 7).

The changes in requirements will affect those who will pay for what is known as “full riders”, on top of Integrated Shield Plans. Such riders cover the entire co-payment amount, so the policyholder ends up paying nothing regardless of the bill size. 

Currently, about 29 per cent of Singapore residents have these full riders.

In spite of the changes announced, insurers in Singapore must continue to honour commercial contracts that they already have with existing policyholders. The new changes only affect new riders, and not existing ones.

If you have been approached by an overly enthusiastic insurance agent hoping to capitalise on the announcement to generate sales lead for themself, do take note of this. The changes do not affect your existing policies in any way. Also, nothing in the announcement requires you to act immediately.

To give insurers time to design the new co-payment rider, IP plans that offer full riders will be available for now.

However, policyholders who buy an IP plan with full rider will eventually have to switch (by 1 April 2021) to the new rider with co-payment.

This only applies to new IP plans with full rider that were bought after the announcement has been made. If you already have an existing IP plan with full rider, this does not apply to you.

Things to note:

 If you already have an integrated shield plan with full rider, you will continue to enjoy this coverage. You will not be forced to switch to any new plans. Do note however that you should expect your premiums to continue increasing in the future, since the policyholders who are most likely to claim on their hospital plans will also be the ones least likely to switch.

 If you have an integrated shield plan that includes a co-payment rider, you will not be affected.

If for any reasons you are switching your plan, be careful to ensure that you do not lose any coverage due to pre-existing conditions.