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Aviva Health Insurance Singapore – Review for Expats

Aviva Health Insurance Singapore – Review for Expats – that will be the topic of today’s article.

Before introducing this article, if you are interested in our core services which are expat financial, insurance and mortgages, you can contact me here

The best time to consider your financial situation is when you are moving to a new country.

Introduction

Singaporean men might just remember the insurer Aviva from their NS days because it provides insurance coverage during National Service. But did you know there are more types of insurance policies to choose from? Apart from giving preferential rates to expats or policyholders, Aviva is widely known today.

Besides, health insurance is designed to pay your private healthcare costs if you have acute, injuries, or short-term illnesses while living in Singapore as an expat. Would you love to consider private insurance in the country? Of course, you should be thinking of it as a way to supplement the excellent NHS care you’re already entitled to.

Meanwhile, there are several types of health insurance available for expat in this country. Provided by Aviva, the one you choose will depend on your circumstances. In a bid to help you understand the types of insurance, we have compiled an overview of the four main choices and how affordable they are.

Private Health Insurance (Singapore)

Private health insurance allows expats have quick access to medical treatments. Choosing private health insurance will certainly give you access to a large network of private consultants and hospitals to treat short-term illness or injury. Moreover, your benefits can also include faster access to treatment and a comfortable room. Below are some of the things generally covered by private health insurance.

  • Hospital charges and many specialist fees, including nursing fees and meals, charges for surgery, and many others, to mention a few
  • Cancer treatment includes diagnosis, treatment, and aftercare, and sometimes drugs not available on the NHS
  • Outpatient consultations and treatments. Moreover, if you don’t want to stay overnight in the hospital, many comprehensive plans will pay for diagnostic tests, consultations, and treatment
  • Opportunity to get mental health care, depending on the level of cover

Some of the things private health insurance will not cover include the following;

  • Incurable and long-lasting chronic conditions
  • Pre-existing conditions. For example, if you had a disease, injury, or illness before you applied for coverage. A health insurance policy won’t generally cover such a problem
  • Pregnancy and childbirth as an expat. This may not be covered, but treatment is required if there are complications
  • Drug abuse or non-essential and cosmetic procedures are not covered
  • Organ transplants may not be covered under the standard insurance policy

Affordability

Private health insurances are one of the most comprehensive types of health insurance, and this is because they’re expensive. With this private health insurance, you can control the features you have, which can later increase or decrease your monthly premiums. In this case, no matter what features you choose, you’ll get cover for cancer diagnosis, treatment, and aftercare as standard.

Diagnostic Insurance (Singapore)

The diagnosis insurance gives expats access to consultants and diagnostic tests to help find the initial cause of medical problems in Singapore. Moreover, it is different from private health insurance because it doesn’t pay for any treatment.

Not only that, but it covers the costs associated with the diagnosis. Meanwhile, it offers peace of mind at a time when you need to find out what’s wrong, letting you bypass an NHS waiting list. When you have this cover with any insurance company, there’s no limit to the number of tests you can have so that your specialist can make a diagnosis and no maximum annual amount for eligible consultations or tests.

Affordability

Diagnostics insurance is generally cheaper than full private insurance. However, it only covers the costs of diagnosis, and if you need treatment or further tests after diagnosis, you’ll need to use the NHS or pay for it yourself in any place you choose to have it.

Cash Plans Policy (Singapore)

The cash plans policies are a scheme that allows you to pay a low monthly fee to have routine medical and dental expenses covered, up to a limit. We can tell you that this insurance policy is quite different from private health insurance. And this is because; you can use a cash plan to pay for ongoing and routine treatments. Therefore, it might be right for you if you’re trying to manage the costs of everyday treatments like visiting the physiotherapist, dentist, optician, and many more.

Affordability

The monthly premiums plan here tends to be below, and you’ll choose a healthcare practitioner. You may also get access to benefits like medical helplines and other necessary help you may need in the long run. Also, pre-existing conditions aren’t usually excluded, but cash plans won’t generally cover cosmetic treatments.

Additionally, you can choose a plan that suits your needs. In this case, you might want a plan that offers more dental cover. Also, if you go for dental check-ups regularly, you might want one that offers more cover for physiotherapy if you have musculoskeletal problems.

Condition-specific Insurance

If you’re largely happy to stick with NHS treatment, but you have a specific condition you’d like a little help with, it would be better to get a low-cost private plan targeting that specific condition to complement your NHS care. Some of this cover include; personalized programmes, virtual physiotherapy, exclusive online information, telephone clinical assessments, and many others

Affordability

This condition-specific insurance is affordable, and it’s available from £14.50 a month. Aside from this fact, this insurance plan excludes assessments within the first 30 days, in-home treatment, exercise equipment, and many others, to mention a few.

Aviva’s Health Insurance Overview

Aviva health insurance is a London-based British multinational insurance company formed in 2000 by the merger of Norwich Union and CGU with a palindrome name. With history, we know that this company dates back to the London-based Hand in Hand Fire and Life Insurance Society from 1969.

As of today, Aviva is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is part of the FTSE 100 Index. Nonetheless, we have compiled this article to explain the benefits of using Aviva health insurance, Singapore. Not only that, but we will walk you through the coverage it offers in this section. Read further to know more.

Two reasons to Choose Aviva include the following;

Aviva MyShield (Singapore)

The Aviva MyShield coverage is quite different from the AIA insurance shied mentioned in our previous post. This plan is meant to supplement Singaporeans and expat (Permanent Residents) government-provided MediShield Life health insurance plan. While the MediShield life covers you for basic ward classes in public hospitals up to a certain cash limit, IPs typically allow you to be warded into a wider range of ward classes up to higher cash limits.

Aviva Panel Clinic (Singapore)

If you hold the Aviva MyShield plan that grants expat or locals access to private hospitals’ wards and treatments, you can browse through Aviva’s list of over 200 preferred panel clinics and doctors to ensure that your treatment, surgical, or hospitalization costs can be pre-approved for claims, or can be claimed.

Understanding Aviva MyShield Insurance Plan

Aviva MyShield is known to be an integrated Shield Plan meant to supplement your MediShield Life health insurance plan, provided by the Ministry of Health in Singapore. As an expat, always know that there are three tiers to the Aviva MyShield IP.

These programs include; Plan 1, which offers hospitalization and medical treatment coverage in any standard ward in private hospitals, Plan 2 for standard wards in restructured hospitals, while Plan 3 is for 4-bedded B1 wards in restructured hospitals. The three tiers include the following.

Coverage MyShield Insurance Plan

Aviva MyShield offers coverage of your daily room, treatment, board, meals, fees like doctor’s fees, major organ transplant, outpatient kidney dialysis, inpatient psychiatric treatments, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and many others, to mention a few.

Pre and Post Hospitalisation Plan

Aviva MyShield also includes pre-hospitalization treatment such as accident and emergency (A&E) treatments within 90 days prior to admission or 180 days prior with Aviva panel doctors, and post-hospitalization treatments which are up to 180 days after individual discharge. Also, this could happen only if you sought treatment with Aviva panel doctors.

Restructured Hospitals in Singapore

Research made it known that as of January 2020, there are about 16 public hospitals in the country, set to increase to 19 or more by 2021. Restructured hospitals, however, only include Alexandra hospitals, Tan Tock Seng hospitals, Seng Kang General Hospitals, and many others, to mention a few.

Who is Aviva MyShield Best For in Singapore?

Families (Locals or Expats)

This package is an ideal choice for families, given some of the unique benefits it provides. If you have toddlers and children, the add-on Aviva MyHealthPlus riders is another thing to consider. This is because; it offers discounts on your children’s insurance premiums.

And if you’re a female insured, you’ll also enjoy coverage for pregnancy benefits, newborn congenital abnormalities, and other benefits, including overseas emergency treatments.

Cost-Friendly Riders in Singapore

This is another set of individuals that have access to the Aviva MyShield plan. Although the company’s annual premium plan veer on the costly end of the spectrum (S$232 for 21 to 30-years-old, S$409 for 31 to 40-year-olds, and many others but the Plus riders sits on the affordable end with premium ranging from S$84 annual for ages 1 to 20, S$136 for ages 21 to 30, and many more.

Types of Insurance Aviva Offers Today

Just like the AIA, there are many types of insurance that Aviva offers its customers as of the time of writing this article. With a total of 13 types of insurance for expatriates, the benefits of using this health insurance cannot be overemphasized.

They have three types for governmental groups and plans for SMEs, MNCs, ranging from personal health, savings, retirement to insurance for commercial vehicles and business travel. In this section, we will walk you through the types of insurance that Aviva offers. Without further ado, take a look at it below.

1.    Aviva Life Insurance

This Aviva life insurance, in no doubt, carries 4 types of life insurance plans, namely the My Protector series, which allows you to customise your plan to your needs, and offers you and your family a lump-sum pay-out in the event you’re diagnosed with a terminal illness or death. Other insurance plans you can enrol in include MyMaternity Plan, MyholeLife Plan, and many others.

2.    Personal Accident Insurance

Aviva’s personal accident insurance offers individual daily cash pay-outs of at least S$200 to S$500 for a year in the event of transport accidents and fires at home or in public, including a 2X coverage for accidental deaths and dismemberment. This personal insurance plan covers accidental death, medical, free child coverage, and even 10 percent off for married couples.

3.    Savings and Retirement Plan

You’ll find three types of savings plans under Aviva, namely the Aviva MyRetirementChoice II. This package offers you to customize your plan, guarantee capital return at the end of your accumulation period, and monthly payouts in the event of disability. Other plans here include; Aviva MyRetirement and MyIncomePlus.

4.    Disability Plan

If your profession involves manual work, machinery operations, or if you’re a sole breadwinner, you might want to consider getting a disability insurance plan. More so, there are three types of disability insurance plans with Aviva and including MyCareplus, MyLongTermCare, and the Aviva Ideallncome.

5.    Critical Illness Plan

Aviva also offers three types of critical illness plans, including the My Early Critical Illness Plan II. This plan covers about 132 conditions, lump-sum payment in the event of diagnosis, and additional benefits such as benign and malignant tumors and ICU coverage. Other critical illness plans include the My MultiPay Critical Illness Plan Iv and MyCoreCI Plan II.

6.    Home Insurance Plan

Home insurance plan is another insurance package that Aviva offers. If you’re a landlord, tenant, or homeowner in the country, you may want to consider if you should cover your property and belongings against situations such as thefts, fires, accidents, burglary, and loss of any important documents. Meanwhile, we can tell you that Aviva offers three home insurance plans with incremental coverage.

7.    Investment Plan or Coverage

Instead of conventional investment insurance plans, Aviva offers the dollarDEX – a no commission fee online trading platform for unit trusts and mutual funds in Singapore. That being said, there’s the Aviva Navigator – an online investment portal for you to invest via cash in SGD or USD, CPF Ordinary or Special accounts, Supplementary Retirement Scheme (SRS), and Regular Savings Plan.

8.    Travel Insurance Plan

Travel insurance is part of the insurance Aviva covers in 2021. If you’re traveling, you should know that Aviva offers individual, group, and family coverage in single trip plans and annual unlimited trip plans spanning medical coverage, trip interruption, cancellation, medical expenses, and any unauthorized use of your credit card. Not only is that, but plans come in 3 types with incremental coverage, including Travel plus, Travel Lite, and Travel Prestige.

9.    Car Insurance Policy

In not much talk, Aviva offers car insurance plans, namely the Lite, Standard, and Prestige, which offers you coverage for repairs, brand new car replacement, medical expenses, damage to third party’s property, and immediate emergency eCall services. In the event your car was damaged by others’ faults, Aviva plans will retain your No Claims Discount (NCD) at no excess cost.

10. Business Insurance

If you’re a small to medium enterprise (SME) business owner or the human resource officer of a multinational corporation (MNC) looking to increase the welfare and well-being of your employee and business.

Aviva offers a business insurance plan covering individual health and accidents, your business property, public liability, workplace injury, commercial vehicle insurance, injury, business travel insurance, surgeries, and hospitalization.

11. Governmental insurance

Aviva insurance offers three groups in this category. MINDEF and MHA Group insurance is provided by both MINDEF and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), including term life, personal accident, disability, outpatient medical coverage, critical illness, and many others, to mention a few.

The Public Officers Group Insurance Scheme was designed for public servants and their families. Also, this coverage covers life terms, including the lump-sum pay-outs and free coverage for your children.

Choosing the Right International Health Insurance Plan

You’ll see that we’ve been emphasizing how to choose the right international insurance company, right? That’s absolutely a YES! We need you to understand how it works and knows the benefits well enough as an expat before catching a flight. Below are the arrays of mind-boggling things to consider.

●        Annual Claim Limits

While all international health insurance plans will let you make claims for outpatient treatment, the limitations vary greatly. In that case, you should know that the most bare-bones plans may give you only up to 250,000 SGD of annual coverage, while the most generous ones offer unlimited coverage. Also, you’ll want to choose limits that are appropriate to healthcare costs in your country of residence.

●        Inpatient Benefits

You can check on the limit imposed on inpatient claims and exclusion before you choose any insurance plan. Some international health insurance plans will exclude claims for treatment of pre-existing conditions today. But those that let you include them will charge higher premiums. This ensures that the treatment covered includes doctors’ professional fees, intensive care services, and medical prescriptions.

●        Outpatient Benefits

Well, many international health insurance companies offer only inpatient benefits and limited outpatient benefits that must be linked to an individual bout of hospitalization. Not only that, but you’ll examine these benefits to see if there are any limits imposed on outpatient treatment that’s linked to a condition for which you’re hospitalized.

●        Travel and Emergency Coverage

Travel and emergency coverage is another thing to put into consideration. Some plans will offer coverage if you find yourself in a remote area and need evacuation, which can be very costly. A good example is when you frequently go skiing or hiking in your country of residence, you’ll want to ensure that your plan offers evacuation coverage, especially if you do not have travel insurance.

Furthermore, despite all the advantages or benefits of international health insurance, it is an expensive option compared to just getting an integrated Shield Plan, even as an expat. So, to know the best solution, it would be better to compare the kinds of international insurance companies you have around.

Frequently Asked Questions about Aviva Insurance

How can I prove my no claims after 2 years?

As research disclosed, there are three main ways to get proof of your no claims bonus. The first one is from the cancelation letter you receive when you switch to a new provider. The second one is through the letter you receive when your policy is due for renewal.

How do I cancel my Aviva insurance policy?

Well, we see no reason to cancel the Aviva international health insurance in Singapore. However, if you want to proceed to cancel your plan, the process is quite easy. To cancel the policy, you must submit a completed cancellation form along with the original Certificate of insurance to Aviva’s customer service center. On the flip side, you will not be entitled to a refund if you have already made a claim.

What is my Aviva policy number?

You don’t need to worry about checking your Aviva policy number. This is because; you can find your policy number on the policy documents, email or letter, or even the statement. Also, if you enroll for life insurance, annuities, pension, investment bonds, and income drawdown, the policy number should contain letters and numbers in the document.

What is the net surrender value in insurance?

From our research, the Net Surrender Value, or NSV, is the specific sum of money a life insurance company will award to a policyholder if there is a voluntary termination of a life insurance policy before it reaches maturity or death of the policyholder happens.

How can I surrender a policy?

The paid-up value is calculated as the original sum of money assured multiplied by the quotient of the number of paid premiums and number of payable premiums. On discounting a policy, you can get a special surrender value, which is calculated as the sum of paid-up value and total bonus multiplied by the surrender value factor.

Conclusion

Aviva International Health insurance offers different insurance plans to meet expats requirements. If you’ve lived in Singapore for at least 183 days, you have the edge over other people. Should you have another thing you’d love to know about this insurance company in Singapore, follow the updates here.

Adam Fayed

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