Shield Plan - Do it !

I have always been very passionate about the importance of a proper Shield plan ( hospital & surgical plan).

When I wrote private shield plan, I am referring to Healthshield ( AIA ), PruShield ( Prudential ), SupremeShield ( Great Eastern ) ,MyShield ( Aviva ) and Incomeshield ( NTUC Income ).

At any one time, there can be only one Shield inforce, and it will replace each other out if one Shield is taken.

Not many know that by taking another private Shield, it will replace the existing Shield plan that you have.

So be careful when you decide to switch, be careful to declare any existing illness but my advice is if one has any chronic illness, stay put, like diabetes, hypertension etc, as exclusion on switching is to the disadvantage of policyholder, unless the insurer covers it, which is HIGHLY unlikely unless one has supporting medical report that is positive.

It is not wise to swing here and there, because any existing illness not declared, will fall under exclusion, so be very careful if you switch from one Shield to another Shield. Many ethical agents will advise you on this except rookie agents who do not know what they are doing and only keen to do a case, I am sorry that I have to comment on this. But such agents are now few in the market.

I will advise upgrading from CPF Basic Medishield to any Shield Plan as medical cost will be high forward.

If you noticed, I always write "take any Shield Plan that you are comfortable with". Check the benefits and get one that suits your needs and go with an insurer you are comfortable with. Bear in mind agent is not important as we will one day retire or have to leave industry because we cannot meet the target. We are as useful as we are around. So choose an insurer you are comfortable with.

To me, as a beneficiary of the plan because my mum is currently claiming for dialysis, I am very thankful for Incomeshield.

It is very tedious to contrast and compare, as most may have almost same benefits.

Do not compare and contrast until cow come home, at least take on a plan for safety first and do whatever comparison later and switch, if you have no time now. Like my muslim client wrote "Just do it ! Mati pun mahal"

So take one Shield Plan that you are comfortable with, though I want to say Incomeshield is the best. But it depend on which insurer you want to trust.

Incomeshield has been the first such plan since 1994 and we are there for a social purpose, and with it, competition for the plan came after year 2001. Shield plan was supposedly a plan insurers are not keen to offer and Income was the only insurer carrying this burden from 1994 and for commercial reason, competitors start to join in, which is good that Incomeshield is much improved and to me is the most comprehensive plan.

My parting word is, be kind to agents selling Shield Plan, it is really for service only.