Agree with you guys on this one.
Medishield from what i know is tied to class B2/C wards. I am not sure how many of us are comfortable visiting B2/C wards. Secondly the annual limit for Medisave is about 50k and lifetime limit 200k.
In B2/C wards generally you get trainee doctors operating on you. They can make a hash of the whole process as well since they do not have the experience.
You will be extremely lucky to get a Senior Consultant/Consultant to operate on you at these charges.
The other disastrous issue is whereby the premiums are capped at S$ 800 for CPF usage. The anamoly with this is if you have an elderly person at home then this entire amount is sometimes insufficient to cover the elderly person. Which means then, to cover yourself and your family including your kids you gotta do a cash top up.
Since Medishield is really insufficient, many years back i read up on all the service providers out there in the market and figured that the one offered by Income is still the cheapest with wide coverage.
So i got my kids onto the
Preferred plan of
Enhanced Incomeshield.
http://www.income.com.sg/insurance/EnhancedShield/coverage.asp
Remember one ailment is all it takes before the insurance guys make that an exclusion.
1) Eg if you are taking amlodipine you will have all conditions related to heart and circulation excluded.
Hence its best to subscribe to insurance when you are fully fit. Children do not realise the importance of insurance in their prime 20-35 and so when problems arise later on the insurance providers begin to make exclusions making your policy virtually useless.
So get on it as soon as possible.
Now i dun work for INCOME/nor am i a sales agent for Income.
From my limited knowledge and understanding this is possibly the best in terms of coverage and price.
OFcourse its good for most of us out here though some may still argue that annual limit/lifetime limits are not sufficient.
In such cases judicious use of ward/class will help extend your annual limit/lifetime limit.
If anyone has information of better service providers in terms of coverage/premiums i would love to make a comparison.
But I guess we can continue the enhanced medishield products from private insurrers though its premiums are escalated with increasing age bands.
The other issue is payments from medisave capped at 800 per policy per yr so need cash top up..