Everything you need to know about Medishield Life
What is Medishield Life?
Medishield Life is a low cost medical insurance initiative administered by Central Provident Fund (CPF) to provide lifelong protection for all Singaporean citizens and Permanent Residents against large hospitalisation bills. It is designed to help Singaporeans pay for larger B2/C class wards hospitalisation bills.
Patients who choose to stay in other class wards (ie. A/B1), or in private hospitals can still use Medishield Life, just that the payout benefits are pegged based on the costs calculated by B2/C class wards.
What is the difference between Medishield Life and Medishield?
Medishield Life pays more, patient pays less
Medishield Life replaced Medishield in end 2015 to provide lifelong medical insurance coverage for all Singapore Citizens and PRs including those who already has a pre-existing condition.
Medishield-Life has enhanced benefits as compared to Medishield with 1) increased maximum claim limit, as well as 2) reduced co-insurance. MediShield Life’s co-insurance rates are reduced to 3-10% as compared to 10-20% of Medishield.
With higher claim limit and reduced co-insurance, Medishield can now pay for a larger portion of the hospital bills, and patients can use less Medisave/ cash to pay for their hospital bills.
To understand more about the differences between Medishield-Life and Medisave, read more about it here.
MediShield Life Premiums and Subsidies
An insurance premium is the amount of money that an individual must pay for an insurance policy. According to the Ministry of Health, MediShield Life premiums are risk-pooled to support the payouts and benefits under MediShield-Life. Patients with serious pre-existing conditions like cancer will have to pay additional premiums for 10 years to reflect their higher risks.
However, the government provides extensive support to help keep premiums affordable.
- For patients with serious pre-existing conditions, they only need to pay 30% of their additional premiums for 10 years, after which they will be paying the standard premium costs.
- Premium Subsidies for the lower- to middle-income;
- Pioneer Generation Subsidies for Pioneers;
- Transitional Subsidies to ease the shift to MediShield-Life for Singapore Citizens; and
- Additional Premium Support for those who are unable to afford their premiums even after premium subsidies.
Medishield-Life premiums are payable by Medisave.
Read related article: Essential Medisave facts every Singaporean should know.
Read related article: What is the difference between Medisave and Medishield Life?
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