My parents (~50 years old) stopped buying insurance a few years ago. Recently, they want to repurchase it again. Will it be very expensive now given their ages? Is it worth for them to buy it again?

The usual underwriting process will apply, health questionnaires and declaration of medical reports if your dad is on HBP medication. This would usually lead to conditions related to HBP conditions like stroke etc being considered for the conditional offering.

It is not as expensive as most would think. The insurance price to insurable ratio is relatively reasonable with any given budget, and it can work largely because, at age 50, the dependent's needs have gone down considerably. The main hurdle is medical, and I suggest that you stay within the medical underwriting limits set out by the insurer unless you have very significant risks you would like to cover.

Hospitalization insurance as the others have mentioned would still be strict and you would have to apply to find out the results.​​​

Hi anon,

Your parents will need to undergo medical underwriting prior to getting any new insurance coverage of any sort. The outcome depends on factors such as: Is your dad's HBP well controlled? Is he on medication? etc, as well as his current BP readings.

For hospitalization, you may want to try Raffles Shield for your dad. Hospitalization plans will cost more with age, but I would still recommend it, as it will cover any large hospitalization bills that may occur. At a minimum they should have a decent hospitalization plan covering government hospitals with a rider to limit their out of pocket costs.

On top of that, consider long term care coverage such as Eldershield as well as supplements to improve the payout. This can be paid via Medisave so there will be less strain on cashflow.

Lastly, they may consider critical illness cover to provide for loss of income should anything occur, but it may be expensive considering their age.

I am not an underwriter, but just to share with you: shield plans have the strictest underwriting requirements.