Was choosing between private and class a hospital for my integrated shield plan. Can someone advise under what circumstances would private hospitals be preferred over class A hospitals?

I suppose public hospitals are quite top notch, esp in Singapore. Heard that I could took up private and downgrade to class a later on, can anyone give an insight on this process and how the premium would be affected?

Discussion (3)

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Deedee

22 Sep 2020

One wouldn't feel the difference between private and public hospitals till the day one needs a check/ treatment and time is really key as we want seek early treatment so we may recover and continue working to support our family.
I am currently on private plan but seeking to downgrade to perhaps class A hospital when I turn around 60-65 year old as by then my commitments would have lessened but ISP premiums may have increased significantly then.
Not sure if I reach 70 ish year old I downgrade further as I think think think.. What are the odds of surviving long if I face anything at that age? Lol but I never know.. Staying alive in sickness can really hurt finances a lot and that is why it is wise to plan ahead from as young as possible :)

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Sam Wai Git

20 Sep 2020

Business Development Manager at Raffles Health Insurance

Main difference between a Private hospital treatement and a public hosp. treatment would be the level of comfort and, most importantly, the waiting time to schedule treatment for you, especially for non-life threatening cases.

Say compare 3 weeks to schedule treatment in Private compared to 3 months in public hosp.

To downgrade from higher tier coverage to any lower tier coverage, the process is risk-free as no underwriting is required. However should you take up a lower tier coverage and few years down the road decides that you can't deal with the longer waiting time for treatments, upgrading of coverage would than subject you to underwriting.

Quite often, people only realize their current tier of coverage isn't up to their expectations after they have experienced the treatment for a particular condition. This new condition could be excluded from, or even result in a decline to the application if you wish to upgrade your plan now.

Quite often, clients take up full Private tier coverage eventhough they don't foresee themselves choosing public over private hospitals eventually. They just needed that flexibility should they decide to change their mind later.

Raffles Shield has came out with a hybrid coverage of Raffles Shield A + Raffles Hospital option to cater for this group of clients. Premiums are roughly 25% cheaper than the full private coverage tier.

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