If you're a Singaporean born in 1980 or later, expect to be automatically enrolled into Careshield Life when you turn 30.
And just like that, 1992 was 30 years ago. Happy 30th Birthday to me
CareShield Life at a glance
CareShield Life is a long-term care insurance scheme that provides basic financial support should Singaporeans become severely disabled.
Severe disability refers you're assessed by a MOH-accredited severe disability assessor to be unable to perform at least three out of the six Activities of Daily Living (ADLs).
Key features:
Lifetime coverage after premium term of 67 years old, or at least 10 years
Lifetime cash payouts as long as severely impaired
Monthly Payouts start at $600/month in 2020 and increase over time
Subsidised premiums paid by Medisave
Click here for the official website by MOH.
Should I upgrade my CareShield Life?
The benefits of CareShield Life is extremely basic. In reality, a monthly benefit of $600 won't go far for someone with severe disabilities, needs a caregiver, and in all likelihood unable to work.
Even if you can withdraw $200 per month from your Medisave account to supplement your long-term needs, it's barely sufficient. A severely disabled person will need a lot more support to maintain their quality of life, regardless of whether their families are willing to care for them full-time.
According to dollars and sense, hiring a helper could easily cost $24,600 ($1,025 per month) at a low end estimate for 2 years. Whereas AIC asserted that the average cost of senior Day Care and Dementia Day Care is respectively estimated to be around $1,188 and $1,418 per month. Not forgetting about nursing services, rehabilitation services etc.
Unless your family is super wealthy, chances are - you will need to start planning while you're young and healthy. The only solution is to get a supplementary plan from a private insurance so that you can live on your payouts. But of course, there's no free lunch in this world.
Which careshield supplement is best?
CareShield Life supplements from private insurers can increase your monthly payouts, and there are currently 3 providers: NTUC Income, Aviva and Great Eastern. Supplement premiums can be paid using MediSave, up to a limit of $600 per calendar year per person insured.
Have you ever wondered which insurer is most cost effective?
NTUC: Care Secure (payout when ≥2 ADL affected)
AVIVA: MyLongTermCare (payout when ≥3 ADL affected) / MyLongTermCare Plus (payout when ≥2 ADL affected)
Great Eastern: GREAT Careshied (payout when ≥1 ADL affected)
Many people have asked me this question:
What are the odds of having 1 ADL impairment? With most medical conditions, it happens as a pair.
Yes and no.
In my years of experience as a community nurse, I have found that 1 ADL loss is not as uncommon as what many people thought. The only problem is, we can't predict the future.
Below are some examples, which are non-exhaustive.
Conditions that may affect at least 1 ADL loss:
Accidents
Digital amputation (Index/ Thumb)
2. Medical
Cancer (Eyes, nose, throat)
Inflammatory bowel disease, diverticulitis, obstructive bowel/ bladder
Conditions that may affect at least 2 ADL losses:
Ageing
Stroke
Conditions that may affect at least 3 ADL losses:
Severe dementia
Severe Parkinson
According to a research by Thompson et al. (2014), Singaporeans aged 60 years or older with ADL limitations, 47% are estimated to have ≥1 ADL limitation and 53% are estimated to have ≥ 3 ADL limitations by 2030.
It is worthy to note that all careshield claims have a deferment period of 90 days, and would automatically terminate when a person recovers or pass on. Especially when a person is terminally ill, there is a chance that payout could not be issued in time.
In my opinion, private supplementary coverage for Careshield is worth the investment. Unlike CareShield Life, which only allows you to claim upon 3 ADL losses, supplementary plans with ≥ 1 or 2 ADL coverage makes more sense to me. However, comparing the latter - I'd rather pay a little more for a peace of mind, to be comprehensively insured from 1 ADL loss. Anyways, the difference in premium is not significant.
Just my 2 cents worth from a nursing POV.
Not a financial advice as this article does not take your finances into consideration.
Reference:
Care services. Agency for Integrated Care. (n.d.). Retrieved August 2, 2022, from https://www.aic.sg/care-services
Careshield Life: About careshield life. Home. (n.d.). Retrieved August 2, 2022, from https://www.careshieldlife.gov.sg/careshield-life/about-careshield-life.html
Ho, T. (2022, May 20). [2022 edition] how much does it cost to hire a maid in Singapore? DollarsAndSense.sg. Retrieved August 2, 2022, from https://dollarsandsense.sg/much-cost-hire-maid-singapore/
Thompson J, Malhotra R, Love S, Ostbye T, Chan A, Matchar D. Projecting the number of older singaporeans with activity of daily living limitations requiring human assistance through 2030. Ann Acad Med Singap. 2014 Jan;43(1):51-6. PMID: 24557466.
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