What can I do to reduce my health insurance premiums?

While Singapore is among the top cities with the best healthcare systems in the world, the cost of treatment here is also one of the highest in the world. And the cost of healthcare is one of the major factors influencing health insurance premiums. For expats seeking private healthcare in Singapore, the cost of international health insurance is often a surprise. With this in mind, today Pacific Prime Singapore will discuss certain options and strategies you can use to reduce your health insurance premiums this year.

How you can reduce health insurance premiums

There are a couple of ways to reduce health insurance premiums in Singapore. But first, be sure to check our 2018 edition of the Cost of Health Insurance Report to see if your premiums are indeed too high. Nevertheless, even if your health insurance premiums are in line with the market standard, there are still several ways to reduce health insurance premiums by using one, or combining some of the below tactics.

Increase your excess/deductible

Increasing your deductible, or excess, is a classic way to reduce health insurance premiums. What it means is that before you can use any (or any particular) benefits included in your health plan, you need to first cover some healthcare costs out of pocket (this is your deductible).

For example, if you enrolled in a new plan with a pre-existing condition, such as hypertension, you may reduce your premiums by agreeing to pay the first, let’s say SGD 500, for any doctor’s visit and medication fees related to hypertension. After you spend that amount of money, every subsequent treatment will be fully covered, up to the end of the policy year and limit.

Top-up

Another very popular way for expats in Singapore to reduce their health insurance premiums is to top up their company-sponsored medical plans. Rather than securing a completely new medical plan for yourself or the whole family, Pacific Prime Singapore recommends adding benefits on top of your existing plan to make your overall health insurance premiums cheaper.

Suppose you have inpatient-only cover from your company, and now, you also want to get insurance for outpatient benefits. If you decide to purchase a completely new plan, you’d pay twice for the same benefits (as inpatient coverage is covered under all plans by default). Topping up, in this situation, allows you to save money on the repetitive coverage.

Plan for the long term

If possible, try to obtain a plan with the long term in mind. The presence of pre-existing conditions is usually the most significant factor for higher health insurance premiums, and the single best solution is to avoid switching plans often. Each time you switch insurance providers, you get underwritten – the insurer wants to know if you have any pre-existing conditions that they may exclude from your coverage. Another popular “trap” is to buy the cheapest policy on the market, which might drastically increase in price during renewal time. Learn more about the most cost-effective health insurance plans, and how to obtain them here.

Get professional advice

Partnering with a reputable health insurance broker, such as Pacific Prime Singapore, enables you to enjoy many advantages when it comes to securing the best value health insurance plan, with plan premiums you can afford now and in the future.

The major benefit of using an experienced insurance broker is that he or she will present you with multiple plan options, and explain all the details such as policy benefits, exclusions, payment options, healthcare provider networks, and anything else that you might want to know about. On top of that, you get free quotes, further claims support, and year-round assistance from the broker.

If that sounds like a service you’d like to receive and expect, give us a call at +65 6346 3781 or contact us today!

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Suphanida Thakral

Senior Content Creator at Pacific Prime Singapore

Suphanida is a Senior Content Creator at Pacific Prime, an award-winning global health insurance and employee benefits specialist.

With over 5 years of experience in the field, Suphanida spends the majority of her day synthesizing complex pieces of insurance-related information and translating this into easy-to-understand, engaging, and effective content across a variety of media such as articles, infographics, whitepapers, videos, and more.

Suphanida is also responsible for planning and publishing three whitepapers released annually by Pacific Prime: The State of Health Insurance Report, The Cost of Health Insurance Report, and The Global Employee Benefits Trends Report. Additionally, she handles the LinkedIn profiles of Pacific Prime’s Founder and CEO, as well as Global HR Lead.

Suphanida’s strengths lie in her strong research and analytical skills, which she has gained from her BA in Politics from the University of Warwick and Erasmus Mundus Joint MA in Journalism from Aarhus University and City, University of London.

Being of Thai-Indian origin and having lived, studied, and worked in Thailand, the UK, and Denmark, Suphanida also has a unique, multicultural perspective that helps her understand the struggles of expats and globetrotters.

Outside of work, she enjoys traveling to new places and immersing herself in different cultures.

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