28 Mar 2025
SOURCE: CPF Board
Do you know how much your health insurance costs now? And more importantly, what it will cost in the future?
Healthcare is often overlooked in financial planning, with many taking a reactive, rather than proactive, approach. But caring for yourself and even your loved ones require planning ahead. While savings help with unexpected costs, major expenses like hospitalisation need extra support.
The right health insurance provides this protection, making it essential to choose a plan that fits your needs. Here are some key questions to consider, along with a tool to help guide your decision: the Health Insurance Planner (HIP).
Determining your needs and preferences
What are the areas of coverage you need, and to what extent?
All Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents are covered under MediShield Life, a national health insurance scheme that provides universal lifelong protection against large healthcare bills.
But if you prefer supplementary coverage – for example Class A and B1 wards in public hospitals or your choice of doctor, you can consider an Integrated Shield Plan (IP). IPs are provided by private insurers offering additional medical insurance coverage on top of what MediShield Life offers. Before getting an IP, you will need to evaluate factors such as long-term cost and affordability, and your preferred level of care.
Once you’ve figured out your care preference, your next step is to consider plans and providers that best meet your healthcare needs and financial situation. Here are some key considerations:
1. Understand what you're buying
It’s vital that you know exactly what the coverage and benefits in the health insurance plan are, especially as a first-time buyer. A plan with higher premiums or higher claim limits may not offer the most cost-effective solution for your situation. For example, if the coverage exceeds your actual healthcare needs, you might be paying higher premiums for benefits you may never use. Some plans with higher claim limits might still have significant deductibles, co-payments, or exclusions that could result in higher out-of-pocket expenses.
Personal factors to consider are your family medical history, lifestyle and occupation risks, as well as your financial situation when choosing a plan.
2. Planning for retirement costs
Consider how your insurance plan fits into your retirement plan. While you may be able to afford private insurance comfortably during your working years, do take into account your ability to continue paying the insurance premiums and out-of-pocket expenses which will increase with age. It’s essential to plan how you’ll finance your healthcare insurance over the long-term without compromising your desired retirement lifestyle.
3. Review coverage regularly
Life circumstances can change, and the coverage you require a few years down the road may differ from what you first purchased. Review your coverage regularly to ensure that your protection is adequate – not too much or too little.
However, it can be difficult to assess your health insurance coverage or compare IPs due to the complexity and volume of information. With so many factors to balance and consider, the CPF Board and the Ministry of Health have launched the Health Insurance Planner (HIP), an interactive and personalised tool to help you make informed decisions for your health insurance planning.
The Health Insurance Planner (HIP)
The HIP helps determine if your insurance coverage is optimal for you. The key features allow you to:
- Make long-term, personalised projections of your MediSave savings and health insurance premiums
- Compare key benefits, features and premiums across IPs for your preferred ward type
- Project the long-term premiums for your selected IP and its corresponding rider
Here’s how you can complete the HIP in just four simple steps:
Step 1: Input your details
To start, you’ll need to input the following information:
- The name of your IP and rider(s), if any
- The number of years left for you to pay for your CareShield Life and ElderShield Supplements
- The number of years you intend to pay for dependant’s health insurance premium
- Your monthly income and additional income (such as bonus) before CPF deduction
Step 2: Review your current plan projections
Projection 1: With MediShield Life only
Next, you’ll be able to project ahead to see what your savings and expenses will be like in the future. The planner is able to project up to 3 decades ahead from your current age, capped at age 90, whichever is earlier. As shown above, the green bar depicts your projected cumulative MediSave savings, whereas the orange bar projects your cumulative MediSave expenses*. It lets you see what your future expenses and savings are with your current plan.
*Includes the following:
- Medical expenses, such as average hospital bills and treatment costs incurred at every age
- MediShield Life premiums paid using MediSave
- IP premiums capped at MediSave Additional Withdrawal Limits (AWLs)
- CareShield Life/ElderShield premiums and supplements capped at AWL
- Dependants’ health insurance premiums, if any
Projection 2: With IP only
The next projection is with the IP, including MediShield Life.
The pink bar represents projected cash expenses, giving you a clear idea of where your savings and expenses are at.
When comparing projections 1 and 2, the main difference is projection 2 shows the additional premiums you pay under IP (without riders), whereas projection 1 only accounts for MediShield Life.
Projection 3: With IP and rider
For the third projection, the pink bar now shows projected cash expenses, including IP and rider premiums. Visualising the impact of the out-of-pocket costs, which can be substantial for riders, allows you to better evaluate your care preferences and consider their affordability.
Step 3: Compare coverage
This helps you make a direct comparison between your current IP to other IPs in the market. You can use it to compare key features, premiums and out-of-pocket costs, and evaluate if your current plan best suits your healthcare needs. If you have not purchased an IP yet and wish to do so, you can also compare the different IPs before making your decision.
Step 4: Compare premiums
At this point, you can compare the projected cumulative premiums across your various options. The projections use the most expensive rider for the selected IP to take into account the most costly possible payments that can be incurred.
Before proceeding to switch insurers, you may want to check with your financial advisor if you will lose coverage for pre-existing conditions or pay higher premiums for these conditions.
The projected annual premiums over the next three decades will also be shown. This helps you better visualise how much the premiums grow as you age, and decide if you are able to continue funding your current insurance plan, especially if you are near or during retirement.
Bonus: Get your personalised report
You have the option of downloading your personalised report so that you can refer to it without filling in the form again.
It’s important to note that the HIP does not seek to make any decisions for you. This tool empowers you to make informed decisions by helping you better visualise your long-term MediSave savings, project future health insurance premiums, and compare key benefits and features across IPs. Combined with your health, lifestyle and financial situation, you can now pick a plan that best suits your personal needs and care preferences.
Information in this article is accurate as at the date of publication.
