moh - unprofessional sales & marketing of medisave approved insurance plans

we have received an email notification from insurers that the ministry of health has been receiving complaints on the unprofessional sales and marketing of medisave-approved insurance products.

the latter is not confined to all of the 5 shield providers namely aia, aviva, great eastern life, ntuc-income and prudential but also includes all eldershield and eldershield supplementary plans offered by aviva, great eastern life and ntuc-income.

for ease of reference and knowledge, the following appendix should serve as a guide:

What are the Medisave-approved Insurance plans?

one example is IncomeShield which is a hospital and surgical plan that helps the insured to reduce financial burden if the insured is hospitalised.

ElderShield, a severe disability insurance, is available for subscription by Singaporeans to risk pool against the financial risks of suffering a severe disability.

Similarly, “ElderShield Supplements”, available from either aviva, great eastern life and ntuc-income allow policyholders to enhance the disability benefits coverage offered by the
basic ElderShield product.

You may wish to go Ministry of Health website (www.moh.gov.sg) to find out more on the
various Medisave-approved plans under the Health Care Financing section.

What you should know about private Integrated Shield Plans?

1) Each insured person can only have one private Integrated Shield Plan at any one time. Once
a new plan has been accepted by a new insurer, the existing plan will be automatically
terminated.
2) Pre-existing conditions will not be covered under the new plan. You should advise your
clients to remain with their current insurer for any upgrade of their private Integrated Shield Plans, so that any pre-existing condition will still be covered under the existing plan, subject to underwriting of the insurer.

3) You need to clearly explain to your clients that rider is a separate plan and not MOH approved or CPF-approved product. The premium for the rider is payable by Cash.

What you should know about ElderShield?

1) Each insured person can only have one ElderShield at any one time. The insured person
needs to terminate the existing ElderShield before taking up a new plan with a new insurer.
2) You need to advise your clients to remain with their current insurer for their ElderShield if their ElderShield coverage has commenced because:

• Clients are subjected to underwriting when they apply for a “replacement”
ElderShield. This implies that they may end up without any ElderShield coverage if they
are medically uninsurable.

• Clients have to pay a higher premium because an older entry age.

3) You need to inform your clients that ElderShield Supplements, available from either aviva, great eastern life and ntuc-income are seperate plans and not MOH-approved or CPF-approved product. Clients may take up multiple ElderShield Supplements from different insurers.

my comments:

i've always advocated that no one should be without a comprehensive H&S plan and one effective cost-effective solution can be found in an Integrated Shield Plan and rider (optional).

and for those who are 40 years of age and older, there is always an ElderShield and ElderShield Supplementary plan.

but surprising or not, the ministry of health has shared with all insurers that they have been receiving complaints on the unprofessional sales and marketing of medisave approved insurance plans.

my position is this, if u already have an integrated shield plan and or a eldershield and eldershield supplementary plan, then it may not be in your interests to switch to another provider.

but i'll also concede there may be reasons to switch, provided this is entirely justified and must always be in your interests to do so.

i suspect the moh's disclosure to our insurers are not just sharing for the sake of sharing and there may be many cases where the sale and marketing of medisave approved insurance products are:

a. not in the consumers' interests and
b. done without full discolsure.

therefore, do be warned that the principle of caveat emptor still applies here.