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Top-up Health Insurance Guide updated by Pacific Prime Singapore for 2017-2018
Pacific Prime Singapore is proud to announce the release of a newly updated Top-Up Health Insurance guide for people in Singapore, or who will be moving to Singapore soon! This new edition of the report for 2017-2018 is designed for those people who currently have private medical insurance policies in the Lion City that may not meet the realities of their healthcare and insurance needs. Here, we take a look at what’s inside of the guide, as well as where you can find it.
Who is top-up health insurance for?
Most people in Singapore will fall into one of two camps. The first is local Singaporeans or individuals with Permanent Resident (PR) status that have access to the city-state’s public healthcare system. These individuals, in many cases, do not have any private health insurance, but they also don’t necessarily need it; they can always depend on public hospitals for treatment. Of course, the public system has its drawbacks, but that’s a different topic entirely.
The second group of people possess private health insurance they have received through their employer’s group medical insurance policy. In some cases, these are expatriates that have come to Singapore from abroad to work. This second group of private insurance policy holders is who top-up insurance is for but, more specifically, it’s for people in this group that feel their current coverage could use some improvement.
In Singapore, top-up insurance will be especially important for people that do not have access to the public healthcare system; that being expats without PR status. This is because people that fall into this category do not have access to the publicly subsidized healthcare facilities or Medisave program that local Singaporeans enjoy.
What is top-up health insurance?
Top-up health insurance is a unique insurance solution in that it is not for people who do not have health insurance. This is because top-up health insurance is designed to fill in the gaps in coverage that are found in an existing health insurance policy. Wherever you are able to identify shortfalls within your current private health insurance policy, top-up health insurance can either add benefits that are not currently present in the policy, or extend coverage beyond your plans current levels.
For instance, a person who is at high risk of someday developing diabetes digs into their company-sponsored health insurance documentation only to find that there is no coverage for diabetes testing or medication included in the coverage. Not wanting to have diabetes become a pre-existing condition that cannot be covered later on in life, the person wants to obtain a top-up health insurance plan to add coverage for diabetes.
Another example would be if a person finds that the benefits on their current insurance plan have an annual maximum benefit of SGD 150,000. This means that after covering SGD 150,000 of medical treatments in a year, the policy will stop providing any benefits, leaving the policyholder on the hook to pay any additional costs out of pocket. The person decides that they won’t feel comfortable unless they have at least SGD 250,000 in coverage each year. To get that extra SGD 100,000 in benefits per year, a top-up insurance plan can be obtained.
A top-up health insurance plan is not part of the established policy, and acts as a complementary, but separate, policy. For this reason, a top-up plan does not even need to come from the same insurance provider as the existing policy. Whether it’s pregnancy coverage, dental coverage, outpatient care coverage, or virtually any other type of coverage that you would like to add to your plan, our professional staff can bring your health insurance plans in line with your medical needs.
What’s inside the guide?
Alright, so what’s in the guide? Here’s an overview of the sections of the guide and what they’re all about:
- Singapore hospitals – The Singapore Top-Up Insurance Guide has a brief overview of both public and private hospitals in the city, and some of the differences that can be found between them.
- Commons gaps in insurance – When it comes to figuring out whether or not you need top-up health insurance, it can be hard to know what to watch out for; especially if you haven’t had much experience with health insurance or medical costs. For this reason, we provide a list of the most common gaps found in employer-provided health insurance policies. As Pacific Prime Singapore has been operating in the country for more than a decade, we know exactly which benefits commonly come up short.
- Cost of treatments and surgeries (with examples) – When you’re deciding whether or not the limits of a particular benefit are too low, it is beneficial to have some idea of how much you should expect to pay for treatment in a Singapore hospital. In this section, we provide examples of how much treatment can cost in both public and private hospitals.
- Available solutions for inadequate plans – Once you’ve decided that your current coverage is inadequate, do you know what type of solution you will need to make up for it? In this section, we list the major options available to you to meet your medical insurance needs, and lay out the advantages of each.
Read the guide!
So now that you know a bit about the top-up health insurance and what you can find in the guide, it’s time check it out. Follow this link to find the page that will grant you access to the report. Just fill out a few details and you can download it for free!
Once you have read through the guide, if you decide that picking up a top-up plan is right for you, or if you have any other questions about top-up insurance, or any other kind of insurance, please reach out to us. Our experienced insurance advisers are on hand to advise you on which plan will be right for you, and answer all of your questions. Contact us today for a free quote and plan comparison!
Serena earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from the University of British Columbia, Canada. As such, she is an avid advocate of mental health and is fascinated by all things psychology (especially if it’s cognitive psychology!).
Her previous work experience includes teaching toddlers to read, writing for a travel/wellness online magazine, and then a business news blog. These combined experiences give her the skills and insights she needs to explain complex ideas in a succinct way. Being the daughter of an immigrant and a traveler herself, she is passionate about educating expats and digital nomads on travel and international health insurance.
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