In the past, a number of insurers have allowed for cover for every dollar of the bill to be claimed. This unfortunately led to a trend of overconsumption of medical facilities and bills in Singapore.

Patients will walk into a clinic and if they can claim everything, there were hardly any questions to the doctor about whether the procedure is necessary. After all, the whole bill is paid for by the insurance company.

The claims experience for hospital bills was increasing over time. Premiums were skyrocketing over a number of years so the government has decided to step in about 3 years ago, before it gets worse.

For those who used to get full cover, the contracts have been amended over time due to the introduction of new laws, which means that it is no longer full cover as it used to be.

As such, here are some pointers to note before being hospitalized or getting a surgery.

1. Check if the doctors are in the panel of the insurance company.
2. Get a pre-approval from your insurance company before you proceed with any surgery.
3. Take note of the deductibles that will be levied before you get to make any claim due to non panel doctors and non pre-approval.
4. Due to the recent changes by the government, there will be co-insurance as well.
5. Be aware that your premiums may jump in future if you had made any claim before.

It will continue to change on a year to year basis so these are some notes to be aware of.

While hospitalization and surgery cover is important, another thing to cover for is critical illness! When a patient is discharged, he goes home for recovery and costs incurred at home will be born by the patient himself.  The loss of income will impact his ability to service his household expenses and banks may come in to request for top ups of loan facilities given out before the illness.

Spend some time to relook at what you have and whether it is up to date based on your needs at the moment.