Planning strategy for a Type 2 diabetic, in her 50s.

Hi anon,

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Type 2 diabetes does make the subject of getting coverage a little tricky.

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Without knowing the full picture, I can only advise generally. Things to consider (in order of importance, and considering coverage into old age)

1. Hospitalization coverage will be challenging. Medishield life still covers you regardless of preexisting illness. Still, you'll need this to protect against hospitalization bills.
2. Long Term Care - decline, period. Careshield Life would still cover so at least upgrade to that from Eldershield (if it hasn't been done already). Long Term Care costs can be significant in old age.
3. Critical Illness - Challenging but possible. Some plans do allow coverage even if one has type 2 diabetes, depending on HbA1c values and a range of other factors. If the cost is too high, consider self insuring.
4. Death/TPD - only if you have liabilities, it's possible also and some loading may occur.

Hope that helps!

Depending on her finances at this stage, one of the most important types of insurance coverage to consider would be healthcare insurance.

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If she is a Singaporean or a Permanent Resident, then she would be covered by MediShield Life. For the most part, there isn't any exclusion under MediShield Life. With this in mind, this would be a basic healthcare insurance policy that she can fall back onto.

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More about MediShield Life: Is MediShield Life enough in Singapore

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Next, if her priority is to enhance her healthcare insurance coverage (after MediShield Life), then she may wish to look into a private integrated shield plan.

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More about Integrated Shield Plan: Integrated Shield Plan Singapore: A Starter's Guide

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For this purpose, we would need to know her latest health status (through a medical report) to determine whether the insurer would cover her. To point out, just because she has Type 2 Diabetes doesn't mean that all the insurers will not insure her. With this in mind, it would be great if she is open to speaking to multiple insurance companies, or through an advisor that is able to work with multiple insurers to assist her to this end.

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After exploring healthcare related coverage as the foundation, it would depend on her risk profile to determine whether additional form of insurance coverage is required. Generally, life insurance coverage would be pretty expensive at her age. With this in mind, I would plan slightly differently from the norm and look into alternate ways to hedge against the risk of a huge financial loss.