Pages

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Review the underwriting requirements for Medishield

NOT PUBLISHED BY TODAY PAPER

14 November 2012

Editor, Voices
Today Paper

I support that approach by the Ministry of Health in 
encouraging the uninsured people, especially the elderly, to apply
for coverage under Medishield (Today, 14 November).

The main obstacles faced by these uninsured people is passing the
underwriting requirements for acceptance under the Medishield scheme.

Many of the elderly people do have some chronic conditions or
other ailments that bar them from getting the cover. We cannot expect them 
to be in the same state of good health as young people.

I suggest that the Ministry of Health should have a moratorium on 
their current underwriting requirements for a period of six months 
to allow the uninsured to join the scheme. During this moratorium, they 
can be accepted without any medical examination or health
declaration.

It would be acceptable to exclude any claims for a period of three or six months 
from the date of joining. After the "waiting period", they should be allowed
to get the full benefit of the insurance.

As the elderly people are already paying a higher premium, compared to 
young people, the higher incidence of claims should not have any 
significant adverse impact on the insurance pool. 

I hope that the Ministry of Health can consult the insurance practitioners, 
especially those that do not have any vested interest, to find out the right 
approach to this challenge.

Tan Kin Lian


0 comments:

Post a Comment