Insurance
MediShield Life Subsidies and Questions
By Derek  •  May 17, 2015
My parents received a letter from the Ministry of Health on MediShield Life subsidies. It looks like an ordinary information leaflet and if I have not informed them to pass me all insurance related mail, they would probably have thrown it away. I do not have the envelope but MOH could have done better in the letter to inform us that this mail is important and we have to act by 19 June 2015 in order to receive the subsidies. After going through their mail and website, I dropped them a email on some of my queries (I have not received their reply yet). However, after going through a second time, more questions pop up and I decided to compile all the questions first before I drop them another email.
  1. My parents and I have an Integrated Shield Plan and I have been paying premiums directly to our private insurer. I never know that part of our premiums are actually paid to MediShield which is managed by CPF. Can you break down in terms of percentage, how much of my annual premium currently goes to the private insurer and how much to CPF?
  2. With the introduction of MediShield Life, will we continue to pay directly to our private insurer? If so, please again break down the percentage of the premiums paid to the private insurer and CPF.
  3. I know that MediShield Life is sized for Class B2 and C wards. However, it is also stated that there is also a small amount of coverage for B1, A and private hospitals. Please explain exactly how much coverage is provided for each ward. If MediShield Life is able to cover 70-80% of a B1 ward, I may plan to drop the Integrated Shield Plan for my parents and use the additional cost savings for their retirement spending.
  4. Is there a dateline from MOH that all private insurers will have to state down clearly to their policy owners the new premiums, break down and differences?
  5. I have a pre-existing condition that is not covered under my Integrated Shield Plan:
    • How does MediShield Life knows what my per-existing condition is?
    • Am I right to assume that since the Integrated Shield Plan excludes that condition, I should be paying less to my private insurer and more to CPF? If so what is the premium in dollar and cents that I will be paying to each party?
    • What if I successfully appealed to have my pre-existing condition be included into the Integrated Shield Plan, how will this affect my current arrangements?
  6. Subsidies
    • If there is a change in the annual value of my home e.g. move to a new place or a change in the members of my household e.g. someone moving out in the next four years, who and how do I inform of this change?
    • Is this subsides deducted directly from my premiums or do I have to pay the premiums first and the subsides is reimbursed later.
The questions are based on my personal circumstances. If you have other questions, feel free to leave a comment or contact me, and I will compile them with my email to MediShield Life.
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By Derek
Derek is an investor who follows Peter Lynch style of investing. He prefers to use simple and straight forward information for stock analysis. He started TheFinance.sg with the intention to bring together all bloggers and professionals who are interested or already in the area of Finance and Investing, and to create a community where everyone is free to write and to share their articles, experience and opinions.
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3 Comments

3 responses to “MediShield Life Subsidies and Questions”

  1. Hi Derek,

    As I am involved in some part of the Medishield Life project and hence just like to share my 2-cents worth of understanding of your questions :

    1.. You should be able to obtain the breakdown (Medishield [by CPF Board] and Integrated Plan [by insurer[) from your insurer. Usually, the breakdown will be displayed in the Product Summary when you purchase the plan, Also, some insurer do provide the breakdowns in their website. Do take note that Integrated Shield Plan premium is age-banded (i.e. the premium varies according to age)

    2.. If you choose to continue to renew your Integrated Shield Plan, your insurer will continue to arrange for the collection of the premium (from your Medisave as well as cash, if any)

    3. Basically, what it meant is that if you were to choose to admit to the Private or Higher Class Ward, the reimbursement will be pegged at the corresponding B2/C Class Ward’s charges. Hence, it might not be substantiately covered, unless you have Integrated Plan. Recently, I’ve written a post on Medishield Life and stated some reason why Integrated Plan is still important, if you are interested, check it out here : http://www.investopenly.com/2015/02/medishield-life-important-tips-gathered.html

    4. Basically, all insurers are committed NOT to increase their portion of premium (i.e. the Integrated Shield portion) for one-year. But because the Medishield Life portion’s premiums will be increased, the overall premium will be increased as well.

    5. a. Once Medishield Life is launched, all pre-existing conditions will be covered by the Medishield Life portion but the Integrated Shield portion can still exclude your condition, as per current..
    b. Excluded condition in your Integrated Shield portion has no effect to the overall premium i,e. normal premium breakdowns applied.
    c. Don’t think it will have any impact to the arrangement if you successfully appealed for the insurer to cover you as standard live. Do take note that certain insurers might review and cover your pre-existing conditions with additional premiums (we usually call it loading). It means that you need to pay extra premiums to get the conditions covered.

    6a. No answer for this one ;-)
    b. The subsidies will be directed offset from your Medishield Life premium i.e. the amount to be deducted from your Medisave is be less off all the eligible subsidies.

    Hope this provides some enlightenment to you, feel free to email me if you need further clarification.

    Cheers!

    .

  2. LP says:

    Hi Derek,

    Good questions there. Richard might be able to help regarding some of the questions. I rmb that he said the pte insurers will not adjust the premium for a year when the medishield life starts. This is to allow them to adjust. I think until then, we might not be able to see more details regarding those.

    I’m also thinking whether to cut out the pte shield plan, but the only thing I’m worried about is the ‘as charged’ status. I think there are still some limits to how much you can spend using medishield life. And more imptly, I want to know what am I paying the extra premiums for the pte shield plans for. Is it substantially more expensive for whatever extra benefits?

    Will look forward to your post when you have the answers :)

  3. moneyiq says:

    As a business owner and an investor I am concerned by the muddled nature of these new subsidies. As Mr. Lim pointed out, the notification that his parents received did not make the importance of the information in it clear. The questions he raised are ones that are common to many individuals, families and business owners. As a business owner and business investor I have to be concerned with figuring out the required payroll deductions to make in order to keep within the regulations. As an investor I have to be concerned with how these payroll deductions affect a business’ bottom line and how it affects the actions of consumers. More clarity is needed.

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