# Health insurance?



## Bsingapore (Mar 19, 2015)

Hi Everyone,

Can anyone suggest any good health insurance companies and dental insurance for Singapore? I lived their previously for a year and never took anything out, but now paranoid about it and think I would be wise to take something out.

Can anyone give any suggestions?

B


----------



## BBCWatcher (Dec 28, 2012)

The most common medical insurers in Singapore are NTUC Income, AIA, Great Eastern, Prudential, and Aviva. They all describe their medical insurance products on their Web sites so that you can compare.

These are domestic-oriented insurers, though some policies offer some degree of coverage outside Singapore (though likely inadequate coverage in the U.S., in particular).

I think NTUC Income's Enhanced IncomeShield with Assist Rider looks pretty good, but shop around.


----------



## Bsingapore (Mar 19, 2015)

BBCWatcher said:


> The most common medical insurers in Singapore are NTUC Income, AIA, Great Eastern, Prudential, and Aviva. They all describe their medical insurance products on their Web sites so that you can compare.
> 
> These are domestic-oriented insurers, though some policies offer some degree of coverage outside Singapore (though likely inadequate coverage in the U.S., in particular).
> 
> I think NTUC Income's Enhanced IncomeShield with Assist Rider looks pretty good, but shop around.




Thank you for the reply. You say they are domestic-orientated. Do you mean that you have to be a SIngapore citizen to get them? Or do you mean the cover will only last whilst living in Singapore (which is the only thing I need it for to be honest).


----------



## BBCWatcher (Dec 28, 2012)

Coverage is geared toward the needs of residents of Singapore who infrequently (or never) venture outside Singapore. Sometimes the coverage assumes CPF participation (i.e. government backstop), but that's not true of foreigners resident in Singapore unless they are permanent residents. For example, any policy that mentions "Medisave" is not referring to you -- that you can pay premiums from Medisave, for example. (No, you'll be paying premiums directly, not with CPF support.)

Notably these policies are not "expat" or "global" policies with more substantial international coverage.

In particular, you'll need to make sure that you can seamlessly transition to adequate medical insurance coverage in the _next_ country, after Singapore, if you have to leave Singapore (or are forced to leave). Said another way, with or without coverage (and hopefully with), the Singapore government is not required to provide continued stay permission to a sick foreigner who cannot work. Once you're stable to travel you could be headed out, even if you don't want to, with some cancer (or other serious medical condition) to deal with -- that sort of catastrophic scenario is possible.

As I alluded to, if you travel to the United States you'll at least need something to supplement any of these Singapore policies. Even the policies providing some measure of international coverage are not adequate for the U.S. (and perhaps not for certain other countries as well). Generally if your destination has more expensive medical treatment than Singapore does, you don't have adequate coverage with a Singapore policy that covers emergency treatment overseas.

Anyway, read the fine print carefully and shop around.


----------

