Thursday, January 31, 2013

Medical Insurance for a child

Someone asked, "What type of medical insurance should I take for my child?"

The answer is - CPF Medishield. The premium for a child is only $33 a year. If you want to take a private Shield for treatment in non-subsidised wards, do not pay more than $70 a year.

You do not need to buy any rider to cover the deductible. You can pay the deductible from your Medisave account. It may cost up to $1,500 per year, but you only need to incur in once in many years.

The premium that you pay for the rider over the years is likely to be more than the amount claim - this is how the insurance company and the agent make their profit and commission.

You do not need to take critical illness insurance for your child, as the cost of treatment is covered by the Shield plan. Do not have duplicated coverage - it is not worth spending the money.

Here is the Medishield premium for various ages:

http://www.moh.gov.sg/content/moh_web/home/costs_and_financing/schemes_subsidies/Medishield/Premiums.html

1 comment:

AQ said...

for a parent, what you should do is:
1) buy death/disability insurance for YOU (i.e. the parent) for coverage equalling (expected expense per year * number of years for child to start working). This ensures that if something happens to you (i.e the parent), the child is taken care of. Once the child starts working, he/she can take care of themselves.
2) CPF medishield is good enough for your child.
3) I also recommend that you purchase a private enhancedshield for your child simply because as the child gets older, he/she might develop some disease which then renders them ineligible for coverage as they get older. If you can afford it, it is a very good to have, though not necessary.
4) Save a sum of money every month, and every 6mths, purchase one unit of the STI ETF. Let the curse of inflation and the blessing of compounded returns work in your favor and you will be surprised how much the account accumulates after 25 years when your child is an adult.

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