Careshield Life Supplement

Lifetime Membership According to data from MOH, 1 in 2 healthy Singaporeans aged 65 today may suffer from severe disability in their lifetime and need long-term care. This is indeed a very scary figure. Enough to nudge me and my wife to enhance our Careshield Life plans.

In this article, I will share my insights on Careshield Life and what actions that my family undertakes to strengthen our financial safety net. Specifically, I will share my motivations for buying Singlife Careshield Plus. Note that this article is not sponsored by Singlife nor am I giving any form of financial advice. I am just sharing my personal experiences. Readers should engage financial consultants if in doubt because everyone’s financial situation and needs are different.

The last time I wrote about Eldershield, Singapore national long-term insurance for people suffering from severe disability, was in 2017. In that article, I have pointed out that the Eldershield scheme should be enhanced to that of lifetime payouts instead of lifetime coverage of up to 6 years. Perhaps, the authority may have read the article as Careshield Life – the upgraded version of Eldershield – was subsequently rolled out in 2020.

For Singaporeans who are born in 1980 or after, they are automatically covered under CareShield Life from 1 October 2020. On the other hand, for Singaporeans who are born in 1979 or earlier, participation is optional.  As both my spouse and I are born in 1980 and after, we were automatically enrolled into the CareShield Life scheme since 2020. However, we had procrastinated on upgrading our Careshield Life plans as we had wanted to adopt a wait-and-see approach.

One thing to note is that there is a deferment period of 90 days from the claim date. This means that you can only claim the benefits if you are still suffering from severe disability, which refers to the inability to perform the six Activities of Daily Living (ADL). It is important to differentiate between severe disability and total permanent disability.

Total permanent disability versus severe disability

Most whole life and term insurance policies provide coverage for total permanent disability (TPD). For Singlife MINDEF and MHA Group Term Life Insurance, TPD refers to the total and irrecoverable of the following:

1. loss of the sight of both eyes; or
2. loss by severance of or total and permanent loss of use of both hands at or above the wrists; or

• loss by severance of or total and permanent loss of use of both feet at or above the ankles; or

1. loss by severance of or total and permanent loss of use of one hand at or above the wrist and one foot at or above the ankle; or
2. loss of sight of one eye and loss by severance of or total and permanent loss of use of one hand at or above the wrist or one foot at or above the ankle.

As you can see from the above, the policyholder would need to literally lose an arm or leg in order to qualify for the TPD pay out. Taking this into consideration, I felt that there is a coverage gap after reviewing my portfolio of insurance policies. Henceforth, the impetus in enhancing my life insurance coverage by upgrading my Careshield Life insurance to include a supplement plan.Careshield Life Premiums

Careshield Life shares similar mechanism with Medishield Life in the sense that the premium is risk-pooled to cover your generation’s current and future claims. As such, premiums are paid from the age you join until age 67, but you remain covered for life. Premiums are waived once you make a successful claim. Those who join CareShield Life at age 59 or older will pay premiums over 10 years.

For my Singlife Careshield Plus, I had opted for a fixed structure – same pay out, same premium every year. In doing so, the premium is effectively locked in. Currently, the premium term for my Careshield Life supplement is 55 years and the annual amount is [This is a premium article. The rest of the content is blocked and can be accessible by SG Wealth Builder Members only. To read the full content, please sign up as member.]

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