New IP riders attract heightened interest but sales remain muted for some insurers
Those without riders likely made up the majority of buyers of the new riders.
Despite heightened interest, new optional private health insurance products, known as Integrated Shield Plan (IP) riders, launched since April have not seen widespread uptake. Out of the seven insurers, three reported strong or healthy uptake of the new riders, indicating that the initial interest translated into actual sales. The Ministry of Health (MOH) required insurers to introduce new riders from April due to rapidly rising private hospital bills and health insurance claims, which led to premium increases.
The new riders could no longer cover the minimum IP deductibles, and the co-payment was doubled to $6,000, making the products less costly. Three of the seven IP insurers reported favorable market responses to the new riders, with Prudential Singapore's chief health officer noting a month-on-month increase in sales, and AIA Singapore and Great Eastern reporting strong uptake and healthy take-up rates, respectively.
However, Great Eastern's uptake remained stable rather than spiking due to no-deductible cover riders. Raffles Health Insurance saw an increase in inquiries but not in rider take-up, while Income Insurance and HSBC Life did not observe heightened interest. Public health specialists and actuaries suggest that inertia, default bias, and time needed for policyholders to understand the new products are factors hindering the uptake of the new riders.
Written by urgent.news from Straits Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — it may contain errors, so check the original before relying on it.
