As everyone knows, psychological sickness is closely stigmatised in Singapore. It takes plenty of braveness to hunt medical assist, and medical assist could be hellishly costly, particularly for those who go the personal route. And lord assist your profession if phrase of your situation ever will get out to your boss.
So after I heard about this new AIA insurance coverage plan that covers psychological diseases like despair, schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive dysfunction, I used to be legit excited. And that’s not one thing I really feel about any insurance coverage coverage, ever.
Naturally, I wished to know if it’s truly a viable resolution for these with psychological diseases… or if it’s only a massive ol’ advertising and marketing gimmick.
First, a quick introduction to the brand new AIA insurance coverage plan
AIA’s new coverage known as “AIA Past Essential Care”, and it primarily focuses on offering protection for essential diseases comparable to most cancers, stroke and coronary heart illness.
Tacked onto that’s further protection for five psychological diseases:
- Main depressive dysfunction (MDD)
- Schizophrenia
- Bipolar dysfunction
- Obsessive compulsive dysfunction (OCD)
- Tourette syndrome
Notice that the AIA insurance coverage coverage isn’t a medical health insurance plan precisely, but it surely’s meant to cowl the gaps present in typical medical health insurance.
For instance, all Singaporeans are insured by MediShield Life and/or an Built-in Protect plan. This might cowl hospitalisation and medical prices which can be incurred when you endure therapy for an sickness. You’re usually coated just for medical payments, however you don’t get any compensation for, say, your lack of revenue when you’re unable to work.
Essential sickness insurance coverage, alternatively, merely pays out a lump sum when you get identified. What you wish to do with that wad of money is as much as you. Whether or not you utilize it to hunt therapy or to journey the world, the insurer doesn’t care.
The distinction between AIA’s insurance coverage plan and different essential sickness plans in the marketplace is that it additionally pays you a lump sum if you’re identified with one of many 5 psychological situations. This quantity is smaller than what you’d get for those who received most cancers, but it surely’s important nonetheless.
Extra Particulars
Key Options
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Pre-Hospitalisation: Remedy payments coated absolutely aka “As Charged” inside 100 to 180 days previous to hospitalisation keep
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Hospitalisation: Each day room, ICU, neighborhood hospital coated absolutely
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Submit-Hospitalisation: Therapies coated absolutely inside 100 to 180 days, or as much as 13 months after hospitalisation for plan A holders looking for remedies with AIA panel medical doctors
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Essential Sicknesses: Protection for 30 essential diseases inside 100 days post-hospitalisation, payments coated absolutely
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Surgical procedure: Covers all MediSave-listed surgical procedures, together with organ and stem cell transplant, and surgical implants
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Being pregnant Issues: Totally covers 26 being pregnant issues, together with ectopic being pregnant, eclampsia, miscarriage, haemorrhage, nonetheless delivery, gestational diabetes, and extra.
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New child Congenital Abnormalities: Covers S$3,000 to S$5,000 per baby for feminine insured’s organic baby
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Organ Transplant: From S$20,000 to S$60,000 protection per transplant if you’re the donor or recipient
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Psychiatric Remedy: From S$1,000 to S$5,000 protection for in- and post-hospital psychiatric remedies per coverage 12 months
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Contains further protection for COVID-19 free of charge
Phrases and Circumstances
| Age Restrict | 74 12 months previous |
|---|---|
| Coverage 12 months Restrict | S$150,000 – S$2,000,000 |
| Lifetime Restrict | No restrict |
Hospital Ward Entitlement
| Public | As much as Class A |
|---|---|
| Non-public | As much as Normal Room |
Extra Advantages
| Coronavirus (COVID-19) Protection | |
|---|---|
| Submit-Hospitalisation Remedy | |
| Unintentional Inpatient Dental Remedy Profit | |
| Emergency Abroad Medical Remedy Profit | |
| Pre-Hospitalisation Remedy |
See all card particulars
Does this imply you will get insured if in case you have a psychological sickness analysis?
Unhealthy information for these already identified with a pre-existing situation. No, you possibly can’t.
Though technically AIA does cowl psychological diseases, a much less deceptive option to put it’s: AIA supplies protection for future psychological diseases that you just develop later in life. As with all different essential sickness insurance policies, the purpose is to get insured when you nonetheless have a clear invoice of psychological and bodily well being.
For those who’ve been identified with any of the coated diseases earlier than – be it MDD or most cancers – you’ll both be flat-out rejected, or your coverage can be amended to exclude that individual sickness.
However for those who’re nonetheless within the pink of well being, simply fearful about falling sick sooner or later, then yeah, you might be completely the suitable particular person to get this.
How a lot does this AIA insurance coverage coverage price?
AIA gave us a pattern insurance coverage premium citation of $2,141.82 a 12 months (after low cost, normal worth $2,379.80) for an “splendid” coverage purchaser: male, age 35, non-smoker, works as an accountant.
Notice the low-risk profile, proper right down to the conservative job. You’d in all probability get quoted far more for those who’re, say, a 53-year-old employee in a cigarette manufacturing unit…
Anyway, paying this premium yearly will get Mr Accountant an insured quantity of $100,000 and a coverage time period of fifty years.
Which means if he will get a analysis for one of many coated essential diseases earlier than he turns 85, he will get $100,000 as a lump sum payout. If he will get identified with one of many 5 psychological diseases, he will get 20% of that, which is $20,000.
However what if nothing occurs? What for those who pay hundreds of {dollars} a 12 months however survive until previous age unscathed by illness? Rattling lugi, proper?
Effectively, AIA has a “a refund assure” which makes it extra palatable. After your coverage expires, you get again the entire premiums you paid, minus no matter you’ve claimed. You don’t earn any curiosity on this quantity, so it should undoubtedly have been eroded by inflation, but it surely’s higher than nothing.
Extra Particulars
Key Options
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In case you are a Everlasting Resident (PR) of Singapore and are contemplating the AIA HealthShield Gold Max Built-in Protect Plan (IP), you might be eligible for the locals’ model of the plan and never this model which is supposed for non-Singaporeans and non-PRs
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Eligible Foreigners: Contains dependants and non-dependants of Singaporeans and PRs with a Legitimate Cross to reside in Singapore, comparable to spouses, mother and father, grandparents, and kids
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Pre-Hospitalisation remedies coated “As Charged” for those who sought therapy at AIA panel clinics, medical doctors, and hospitals inside 100 to 180 days previous to your hospitalisation keep
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Hospitalisation keep’s each day room, board, ICU, together with neighborhood hospital expenses coated “As Charged”
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Submit-Hospitalisation remedies sought as much as 13 months after hospitalisation at AIA panel hospitals, clinics, and medical doctors can be coated “As Charged”
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Submit-hospitalisation protection of 30 essential diseases inside 100 days out of your date of discharge “As Charged”
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Covers all MediSave-listed surgical procedures together with organ, stem cell transplants, and surgical implants “As Charged”
-
Covers 26 being pregnant issues, together with ectopic being pregnant, eclampsia, miscarriage, haemorrhage, nonetheless delivery, gestational diabetes, and extra “As Charged”
-
Covers S$5,000 per baby for any new child congenital abnormalities. Must be a feminine insured’s organic baby
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Affords S$60,000 protection per organ transplant within the occasion you’re the donor or recipient
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Affords S$1,000 to S$5,000 protection for in- and post-hospital psychiatric remedies per coverage 12 months
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Contains further protection for COVID-19 free of charge
Phrases and Circumstances
| Age Restrict | 74 12 months previous |
|---|---|
| Coverage 12 months Restrict | N/A |
| Lifetime Restrict | No restrict |
Hospital Ward Entitlement
| Non-public | As much as Normal Room |
|---|
Extra Advantages
| Coronavirus (COVID-19) Protection | |
|---|---|
| Submit-Hospitalisation Remedy | |
| Unintentional Inpatient Dental Remedy Profit | |
| Emergency Abroad Medical Remedy Profit | |
| Pre-Hospitalisation Remedy |
See all card particulars
A better take a look at AIA’s protection for essential sickness vs. psychological sickness
Now that we’ve received the preliminaries out of the way in which, I’m going to take a better take a look at the psychological sickness profit, which is the distinctive promoting level of the insurance coverage coverage.
| Essential sickness protection | Psychological sickness protection | |
| No. of diseases coated | 43 | 5 (MDD, OCD, BPD, schizophrenia, Tourette syndrome) |
| Ready interval between claims | 1 12 months (for one more sickness) / 2 years (for re-diagnosis) | 3 years (for one more sickness) |
| Declare restrict per sickness | 100% of the insured quantity | 20% of the insured quantity (as much as most $50,000) |
| Max. claims per sickness | 1 (aside from most cancers, coronary heart assault, stroke, coronary heart valve surgical procedure, organ / bone marrow transplant) | 1 |
| Age restrict for claims | 85 years previous | 75 years previous |
| Lifetime whole declare restrict | 200% of the insured quantity | $150,000 |
First, let’s evaluate the variety of diseases. AIA covers the complete 37 industry-recognised essential diseases after which some. For psychological diseases, nonetheless, solely 5 situations are coated, regardless that there are numerous different financially damaging psychological diseases, comparable to extreme anxiousness problems and alcoholism.
If AIA can insure you in opposition to each bodily sickness below the solar, then why not do the identical for psychological sickness too?
Moreover, the payout for a psychological sickness analysis is barely ⅕ of what you’d get with a bodily sickness. Which may make enterprise sense, but it surely doesn’t make sense to me. I imply, the monetary price of schizophrenia, for instance, isn’t trivial.
One other disadvantage is that you may solely get 1 payout in your lifetime for every psychological sickness. Once more, not splendid to me, since sure psychological well being situations could be liable to relapses even after full restoration. For those who can declare greater than as soon as for a stroke, why can’t you do the identical for psychological sickness?
And though you possibly can declare for greater than 1 psychological sickness – , like for those who suay suay kena each despair and schizophrenia – AIA imposes a interval of three years earlier than you will get a payout for the 2nd sickness. Provided that the interval is only one 12 months for bodily diseases, I don’t see why there’s a double customary right here.
Earlier than you flame me for not understanding how insurance coverage works…
Look, I recognise that these measures are in all probability completely justified from a enterprise/risk-pooling standpoint. AIA isn’t a charity. It must be worthwhile.
However from a shopper viewpoint, I don’t see why we needs to be content material with this double customary between protecting bodily vs. psychological diseases. We’ve all learn the information. Psychological sickness is extraordinarily commonplace in Singapore. So why is getting handled and insured for it nonetheless so exhausting?
Don’t get me flawed, I believe that AIA is unquestionably a pioneer on this house. Previous to this, you’d be hard-pressed to search out ANY insurance coverage payouts for psychological diseases in any respect.
However we’re an extended, great distance from really normalizing psychological sickness. Within the US, there’s a regulation for insurers to make it possible for their psychological healthcare protection is the same as that of their bodily healthcare protection. I’m positive the precise implementation is way from splendid, however I believe that’s one thing we should always aspire in the direction of.
Additionally, the US parity regulation hasn’t brought about a mass shutdown of insurance coverage firms. So equal protection have to be economically attainable (if not sustainable), proper?
To their credit score, even AIA recognises that their coverage is barely the “first step” and that “extra could be accomplished” (quote from their press launch).
That’s gotta be higher than that NTUC Earnings spokesman who defended the shortage of enough insurance coverage protection for psychological sickness with the equal of a shrug. (That was in 2013; hopefully issues have modified over there by now!)
Nearly as an apology for not offering higher protection, AIA additionally features a few fringe advantages for policyholders, comparable to their way of life rewards programme AIA Vitality and AIA Essential Help hotline free of charge well being recommendation and suggestions.
Recognize the gesture and all, however that’s no substitute for, , precise insurance coverage.
However what? I hope that AIA’s insurance coverage coverage is successful, if solely in order that different insurers would sit up and take discover – and begin providing higher insurance coverage protection for psychological diseases.
What else do you assume could be accomplished about psychological healthcare in Singapore? Inform us within the feedback.
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