Hi, I am 30 and worried about my parents as they have 0 insurance coverage. What should I get with a very limited budget? Hospitalization, Critical Illness or Term Life Insurance for them?

Prioritise the hospitalizations one. Generally the ailments start to show up past 60, and any coverage is better than no coverage, because once they have to receive some form of medical treatment, you may get a shock at the bills.

I went through this about 5-6 years back, and last Yr, my mum received treatment for cancer. If I didn't have the hospital policy, I probably would have to fork about a lot more to pay (I think shld be 5 or 6 digit) for the entire treatment (than if she wasn't covered under the hospital policy).

A number of hospitalizations policies can be partially paid with medisave, so that should address the budget question.

For the other two, I am no expert, but given they are nearing the Retirement age, I would think that the cost would be very high and not worth it.

The principle of advising 10 years income for term / life was generally to cover debt and provide 10 yrs of income if he/she was a major breadwinner. Does that apply to your parents?

The principle of 5 years income for Ci was to get 5 yrs income should the person need to stop working in order to receive treatment / (I read between the lines as enjoy the last 5 years of life).

I kind of don't really agree with these principles from the insurance industry, but that's my view.

For your dad, consider a personal accident (PA) plan since he's a cab driver. Due to his medical condition, he is likely to be excluded/declined for many insurance especially Hospitalisation plan (Shield).

For your mum, please get her a Shield plan ASAP while she is still healthy. And perhaps a Personal Accident plan too to deal with the medical expenses resulted from accidents/dengue fever etc which may not result in in-patient treatment.

CI coverage are meant to protect loss of income in the event the insured is diagnosed for any of the covered CIs where they might need to put down their job and focus on recovery. Premiums would be very high for them solely due to the age factor alone. Unless you family earns a high enough income to pay for the premiums, you might want to skip that.

In-patient treatment expenses would be taken care by Shield.

Life coverage may not serve significant purpose since I believe you (and you siblings?) are old enough to be independant rather than to rely on the payout.

Generally it seems to me the priority is to get your mum a Shield.

For Personal accident (recommended), do check out Sompo PA Star for comprehensive and cost-effective coverage.