Low income people and Medishield

A Shin Min journalist asked me to comment on a survey finding that many low income and elderly people do not have adequate health insurance, and that they distrust insurance agents.

My comments are:
1. The low income and elderly persons should be insured under Medishield, which is low cost and can be paid from Medisave.
2. They should be treated in subsidised B2 or C wards to avoid large medical bills.
3. They do not need to buy additional medical insurance or to have unnecessary, duplicate cover
4. The government should open a window period for the uninsured persons to be accepted into Medishield now, without the need for health declaration.

For those who distrust insurance agents due to bad personal experience, they should read my book, Practical Guide on Financial Planning to be educated about health and life insurance, or should attend the educational talk organised by FISCA.

I suggested to the Shin Ming journalist to translate topics from my book into Chinese and print it in a series in their newspaper.

Tan Kin Lian