Recently found out that my parents have canceled all their insurance plans for a few years now. Should I insist they buy insurance again and if so, what should they buy, in order of priority? TIA!

Hi Deedee,

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Oh dear. Definitely some level of insurance coverage is a must no matter what stage we are at in our lives.

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They'll need at least a hospitalization plan (regardless of private or government level coverage, anything will be better than only having Medishield Life), as well as critical illness coverage to protect their income (I presume both are working). Also, to cover your brother and any outstanding mortgage, they'll need a term plan.

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The way I see it, the bigger challenge you face now is not even bringing across the importance of insurance, but whether your parents can get covered in the first place, especially for hospitalization coverage, where the underwriting is stricter.

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Your mom may be required to investigate further on her vision issues before any insurer may consider her for hospitalization cover, and your dad may have exclusions due to the 3 highs (BMI/Cholesterol and BP, unless you go with Raffles and their Care Management Programme).

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Now, about getting them to see the importance of coverage

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Just ask them to think about this:

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Can they guarantee that they will stay healthy forever?

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If the day comes that they become unhealthy (your dad is already not in the peak of health, and mom is starting to see signs of aging) and unable to work while still having a mortgage or when your brother is still schooling, who pays the bills?

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Who keeps the house going?

Who comes up with the cash to pay the bills?

Who continues their cash flow?

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Either they work, or someone else must 'work' for them (i.e. the policy)

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Who will relief them of all the uncertainties?

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Will they be happy with the knowledge that the burden will be passed to you and your brother? Or will they be happier that the burden is passed to a company that will take care of things for them?

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Hopefully, that will get them thinking about things. Good luck!

I think your parents should at least have an Integrated shield plan. By default all singaporeans will have medishield life already, but you can increase the coverage and benefits through a integrated shield plan.

Besides this, it depends on their available assets. If they have enough money/assets to
1) cover the dependent's expenses to working age.
2) cover themselves up till the retirement age
3) Cover their outstanding liabilities

Then they might not need to get any more insurance because they can self-insure.

Otherwise, they can get a term plan to covers the identified shortfall, but do note that it could be costly due to their age.

I think for starters you can check their shortfall and then discuss with them why you think they require insurance.