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The renewal certificate for my hospital and surgical insurance just arrived. So, what is the cost?
Total: $904.00.
$665.00 will be deducted from my CPF Medisave Account and $239.00 will be deducted from my designated savings account.
The importance of having good hospital and surgical insurance cannot be over-emphasized. We are not being frugal if we save money by not having such insurance. There is another word that starts with the letter "F" to describe those who do.
The insurance premium will increase as we age. My mother's yearly H&S premium is in excess of $2,000 now. Yes, we pay more as we age but don't let this scare you. What should scare you is the size of hospital bills which will surely come one day (although we could continue to hope that they don't).
My mom told me that my uncle who is almost 60 was thinking of cancelling his H&S insurance due to financial difficulties. I told her to dissuade him from doing so. We could help with the premium. It is only a few hundred dollars a year in his case as he opted for the least expensive plan available. If he should be hospitalised, we could help pay the deductible and co-insurance but without the H&S insurance, it would be a much heftier burden.
I remember when an uncle was hospitalised for cancer a few years ago, my dad had to help to pay his bills. It amounted to a rather hefty 5 figure sum. My dad's bank account took a long time to recover but my uncle never did.
Suggested checklist:
If you don't yet have H&S insurance, go get it.
If you have basic H&S insurance but can afford a better one, consider upgrading.
If people you care about don't have H&S insurance, make them get it.
H&S insurance might just be the best investment we could ever make in life. How so? I am sure you have the answer to this one.
Related post:
Enhanced Incomeshield (H&S) for my mom.
"...I only have to pay 10% of my total medical bills if I were to be hospitalised and this 10% has an annual cap of $3,000 in my case. So, if my hospitalisation and related bills were to total more than $30,000 in any year, I would still pay a maximum of only $3,000."
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