Around June 2007 after reading an article in The Edge’s magazine on health insurance, I decided to change my NTUC INCOME Medishield insurance from basic to enhanced scheme. That proved to be a wise decision when I found out I have ovarian cancer in Oct 2008.
This policy enabled me to foot bulk of my medical bills throughout my cancer treatments & surgery/hospitalization in a government restructured hospital. Initially, there are a lot of questions been asked by the insurance company to ascertain that this is not a case of pre-existence illness. So I had to use my own monies to settle the medical bills first until claims are approved by NTUC INCOME. The reimbursements come in almost 3 months later, thereafter, the hospital/medical centre just have to sent the bills direct electronically to NTUC INCOME for settlements,and I only have to pay my own share through my medisave.
The amount that I can claim per policy is capped at $150k. My deduction is $2k, the balance will be shared at a ratio of 90%:10%. For my chemo treatments, the size of the bill for each cycle (consists of 3 consecutive treatments) is from $1700 to $4500. When Avastin drugs were administered, the chemo treatment cost went up by around $3200 as it is a very expensive drug.
With escalating medical cost, my advice is that since all working adults have comfortable level of medisave, one should have in place a medical insurance policy (when one is fit) with coverage at least equivalent to NTUC INCOME’s Enhanced Medishield policy. This coverage is sufficient for anyone who chooses to have medical treatments in a government restructured hospital with B1 ward.
This policy enabled me to foot bulk of my medical bills throughout my cancer treatments & surgery/hospitalization in a government restructured hospital. Initially, there are a lot of questions been asked by the insurance company to ascertain that this is not a case of pre-existence illness. So I had to use my own monies to settle the medical bills first until claims are approved by NTUC INCOME. The reimbursements come in almost 3 months later, thereafter, the hospital/medical centre just have to sent the bills direct electronically to NTUC INCOME for settlements,and I only have to pay my own share through my medisave.
The amount that I can claim per policy is capped at $150k. My deduction is $2k, the balance will be shared at a ratio of 90%:10%. For my chemo treatments, the size of the bill for each cycle (consists of 3 consecutive treatments) is from $1700 to $4500. When Avastin drugs were administered, the chemo treatment cost went up by around $3200 as it is a very expensive drug.
With escalating medical cost, my advice is that since all working adults have comfortable level of medisave, one should have in place a medical insurance policy (when one is fit) with coverage at least equivalent to NTUC INCOME’s Enhanced Medishield policy. This coverage is sufficient for anyone who chooses to have medical treatments in a government restructured hospital with B1 ward.
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