Incomeshield claims will be processed more quickly

NTUC Income has 800,000 people insured under Incomeshield.

We receive an average of 300 claims each day from the hospitals in respect of these insured persons.

We have to process the hospital bills to check on the items that are allowed to be claimed, and to apply the deductible and co-insurance. For example, for certain treatments, the insurance plan covers up to certain limits and the excess has to be paid by the insured person.

In the past, the processing of each bill takes an average of 10 minutes. But the large volume requires 8 officers to process the claim. On average, it takes 14 days to approve the claim.

We have recently introduced an automated processing of the bills. Phase 1 of the automation process will be implemented by mid Aug 06. We expect that 40% of the bills can be approved within 2 days of receipt.

Phase 2 of the automation process, which is expected to be ready by Oct 06, will allow an additional 40% of the claims to be approved by the system within 2 days.

The remaining claims are more complicated and will continue to take about 14 days to approve.

I wish to thank our policyholders for your patience during this initial period. I hope that the quality of service will improve significantly by the end of this year.