Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Be prepared for higher premiums under Integrated Plans

I encourage the older people to opt for Medishield Life, rather than an Integrated Plan.

Here are my reasons.

When they go for treatment in a private hospital, they charges are about three times of the average charge in a public hospital. For complicated cases, the charges can be much higher.

The private hospitals are operated for profit. When they see that the patient is insured, they are likely to increase the charges to the amount that is covered by insurance.

Remember. You are not the only person that is covered by private insurance. Other people are also covered by private insurance.

If they go to private hospital and pay a large medical bill, who really pays the bill? Sure, it is the insurance company. But the insurance company does not run a charity, right?

The insurance company is run for profit. If they pay a large bill, they will hike their premium to cover the past losses and to prepare for future claims.

So, the premium for Integrated Plan is likely to increase by a lot. And the increase is to cover the expensive bills. If you do not incur them, you will still have to pay for the expensive bills incurred by other insured persons.

The only way to keep medical cost at a reasonable level is for the government to control the charges. But our government is not doing this. They prefer to leave the charges to the "free market".

The free market is likely to mean that the medical bills will keep increasing, without control.

You will find your premiums for the Integrated Plans incease sharply. Even if you do not go to hospital, you are paying for the medical bills of other patients. It can be very costly for older people.

If you wish to keep the cost at an affordable level, you can downgrade to Medishield Life.

However, if you find that the premium is still affordable, you can continue to be insured under the Integrated Plan. But remember to expect the premium to keep incrteasing at a high rate.

Tan Kin Lian

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