What you didn't know about your company's health coverage

Dec 24, 2006 Straits Times

What you didn't know about your company's health coverage

read on.....

It is important to note gaps in your corporate plan and ensure your personal policies cover those needs

By Lorna Tan, Finance Correspondent

MOST Singaporeans have their medical insurance paid for by their employers.

However, many of them are unsure precisely what their coverage includes.

They may have a general idea of the type of ward to which they will be allocated if they get hospitalised, but most are clueless about the finer details of their medical plans.

Take the example of Mr Harry Wee, who was hospitalised for a brain tumour in May and again the following month when complications arose.

Only then did he realise that if both hospital stays stem from the same or a similar illness, his company's hospitalisation and surgical (H&S) plan requires a 90-day waiting period between each admission for claims against the disability benefit entitlement.

In Mr Wee's case, part of the expenses from the second admission were lumped with those from the first against the 'disability' benefit entitlement - $2,000 in this case.

However, both bills came to $11,000, so he could claim only $2,000 for that entitlement.

He would have been able to claim the full $4,000 of that entitlement for the two hospital visits if his second admission had been for a different illness or if the admission for the same illness had occurred after 90 days.

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Beware of Group Hospital and Surgical Plans!

Corporate or Group Hospital and Surgical insurance are a benefit to the employees, in most cases these plans are inadequate for any major or catastrophic illness that strike suddenly. Group H & S plans are usually lower in cost and benefits, so that cost to the employer is minimal.

As such if an employee is down with any major illness, it could wipe out the group H & S limits for that employee. Leaving that employee exposed with without a personal medical insurance plan to back up, and a hefty bill to pay.

Most often, people don’t plan to fail, they just fail to plan! Don’t just bang on your company’s medical benefits alone! When the crunch comes, will you be caught exposed, large bills to pay and un-insurable?

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NUH explains handling of patient admission

Dec 25, 2006 Straits Times Forum

NUH explains handling of patient admission

WE REFER to the letter, 'This is no way to treat a subsidised patient' by Ms Goh Huimei (ST, Dec 18).

We have contacted Ms Goh to thank her for her feedback and apologise for the inconvenience and anxiety she and her father experienced. We can understand her concerns and would like to assure her and your readers that we are committed to provide appropriate medical care and services to all patients, regardless of their payment status.

The bed situation in hospitals can be unpredictable due to emergency admissions and inpatients whose condition has turned for the worse. For scheduled operations where a patient needs to be monitored in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) after surgery (as in Mr Goh's case), we also need to ensure an ICU bed is available. This is for the patient's safety.

When there is no bed available, we will call patients to advise rescheduling their procedure. This is a planned activity aimed to reduce the patient's waiting time for surgery upon admission, and is done for all patients (except those who are clinically assessed to need urgent medical treatment).

Our staff called Ms Goh on Dec 12 to reschedule her father's admission. She asked to proceed with admission. Mr Goh was admitted with his operation scheduled the following day, subject to availability of an ICU bed.

Following admission, we had to prepare Mr Goh for surgery. Typically, patients need to fast a minimum of six hours before surgery. As Mr Goh's operation was second on the schedule, he was advised to fast from midnight on Dec 12. When it was near his operation time, there was still no ICU bed available. To ensure appropriate post-surgery care, a decision was made to proceed with the surgery when an ICU bed was available.

When we received Ms Goh's feedback on Dec 13, our Quality Service staff met her to address her concerns. As Ms Goh said she would like to discharge her father for admission to another hospital, our staff contacted the other hospital to find out about its bed situation and updated Ms Goh. A discharge summary was also provided to facilitate continuation of care.

We will continue to manage .........................

We will be happy to assist Ms Goh if she has other feedback. She can contact Mrs Deborah Ee (senior manager, Quality Improvement Unit) on 6772-2297.

Chua Song Khim
Chief Executive Officer
National University Hospital

Dec 18, 2006

This is no way to treat a subsidised patient

MY FATHER was scheduled for bypass surgery at National University Hospital (NUH). The day before admission, NUH called to change the operation date.

On the day of admission, the time was changed three times. After admission, my father was left in bed with no doctors, no nurses and no instructions. Although he was due for an operation the next day, no one gave any pre-operation instructions.

On the day of the operation, the doctors told us the operation was not confirmed. My poor father was left 'fasting' the whole day even though the operation was not confirmed.

So we asked for a discharge, .............................

We are disappointed with the service NUH provided. Should patients in the subsidised class be treated this way?

Goh Huimei (Ms)

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A contrasting tale of two hospitals

Dec 22, 2006 Straits Times Forum

Patient cared for, kin updated by doctors

I REFER to the letter by Mdm Cheryl Lai Oi Lee, 'A contrasting tale of two hospitals' (ST, Dec 21).

We extend our condolences to Mdm Lai on the death of her mother, Mdm Chew Foo Yong.

We received a letter of complaint from Mdm Lai on Nov 29 regarding similar nursing issues that she raised in the Forum letter.

Our senior nurse manager had apologised for the slight delay in tube feeding and administering medications because the nurse was attending to another patient. She also apologised for the incident of linen shortage. Mdm Lai accepted our apology.

Our records show that Mdm Chew was turned every two hours and bathed daily during her stay at Changi General Hospital. On Nov 11, she developed a blister on her left heel which did not require any treatment. When the blister broke on Nov 26, she was treated with polymer dressing. Our nurses explained to her husband that the special dressing needed to be changed only once every three days.

Mdm Chew was readmitted on Dec 9. The next day, Mdm Lai's sister requested the attending doctor to speak to Mdm Lai about withholding resuscitation in the event of cardiopulmonary collapse.

Our doctor spoke to Mdm Lai on the telephone for about 45 minutes, .................. Withholding resuscitation is a difficult topic to discuss but it was appropriate to bring it up in view of Mdm Chew's dangerously ill condition. I apologise if the interaction was perceived as nonchalant.

During Mdm Chew's first admission our doctors updated her next-of-kin every other day, and, during her second admission, they were updated daily on at least six occasions.

On Dec 12, Mdm Chew's next-of-kin requested to speak to a doctor. Our doctor spoke to the relatives at 10.20am to discuss her medical management, and again at 10.30am to discuss the risks of discharging her and transporting her to another hospital.

We assure Mdm Lai that the medical management of Mdm Chew's condition was appropriate.

If Mdm Lai requires further clarification, she could contact Mrs Grace Segran at Corporate Affairs on 6850-2734.

T. K. Udairam
Chief Executive Officer
Changi General Hospital

This seems to be the standard damage control procedure? If the hospital had made an earlier effort to address Mdm Lai's issues, would this have surfaced? Click here to find out how you can get better medical protection.

A contrasting tale of two hospitals

Dec 21, 2006 Straits Times Forum

A contrasting tale of two hospitals

MY FAMILY and I would like to share our experience with Changi General Hospital (CGH) when my mother was warded as a subsidised C-class patient for a critical illness.

She was not given proper care during the one month she was there. When bedsores developed, the nurses failed to detect them and no dressings were applied. Neither was medicine administered for her fever until we reminded them.

My mother was seldom changed or cleaned. She did not get to wear pants on certain days because 'the hospital has run out of pants'.

Are there enough nurses/medical staff in C class to look after patients properly?

One day, a doctor called and informed us nonchalantly that her team of doctors had recommended not prolonging my mother's life because of her grave condition.

We trusted the judgment of the doctors. However, as we did not understand the severity of the illness and its implications, we tried to meet up with the attending doctor to learn more about my mother's condition. Unfortunately, none of the senior doctors would speak to us. We waited from 8.30am till 11.30am on Dec 12. That was our first and also our last request to meet the doctors but it was not granted.

We later transferred my mother to Singapore General Hospital (SGH) .......................

My family and I are also very grateful to the team of doctors who made the effort to explain my mother's condition to us. They were patient and understanding. The senior attending doctor even took the trouble to meet us in a room at an appointed time to break the news of my mother's death.

The hospital staff was kind to us. We appreciate the human touch at SGH.

Cheryl Lai Oi Lee (Mdm)

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HUMAN TOUCH

At SGH, the nurses turned my mother over every two hours, and the doctors explained her condition to us.

We appreciate the human touch at SGH.

Insurance professionals sell policies on basis of client's needs

Nov 27, 2006 Straits Times Forum

Insurance professionals sell policies on basis of client's needs

We refer to the articles "Many Singaporeans don't have the right insurance cover" (ST, Nov 11) and "More turning to term insurance plans" (Sunday Times, Nov 12).

The statements in the articles - "there is a high chance that whatever product is sold depends on the commissions derived" and "agents did not push such (term insurance) plans aggressively given the lower commissions" implied that all insurance advisors sell products that give the highest commissions and not based on the customer's needs.

The Insurance and Financial Practitioners Association of Singapore (IFPAS) feels that such an implication is highly unfair to the many professionals in the insurance industry who sell products based on clients' needs.

Each type of coverage, be it participating whole life and endowment, investment-linked plans or term insurance, has its own product attributes that cater to specific needs.

For example, ........... On the other hand, the cover for term insurance will cease once premium payment is not made.

Though one can argue about the merits of "buy term and invest the rest", the purpose of this letter is to rebut the highly biased statements in the articles.

IFPAS represents over 4,500 insurance and financial practitioners in the industry and we are proud that our members have to adhere to its Code of Ethics, which IFPAS enforces strictly to ensure a high standard of professionalism and to protect the public's interests.

The Code of Ethics is appended below:

An IFPAS member shall:

- Always place the best interest of his clients before his own.

- Hold in the strictest confidence, and consider as privileged, all business and personal information pertaining to the client's affair.

- Make full and adequate disclosure of all facts necessary to enable the client to make a intelligent decision.

- Not conduct his profession to cause the public to lose confidence in the Association or the insurance and financial services industry.

- Not indulge in unethical practices which may be detrimental to the client or the insurance and financial services industry.

- Abide by and conform to all rules and regulations of the Association.

The mark of the IFPAS membership signifies professionalism and ethical practices. Consumers can rest assured that our members will sell products based on client's needs.

Ting Chee Kheong
Council Member (Chairman, PR Committee)
2006/2007 Executive Council
Insurance and Financial Practitioners Association of Singapore

MediShield paid $1,438 of $50,000 hospital bill

STI Home > ST Forum > Story

Nov 28, 2006

MediShield paid $1,438 of $50,000 hospital bill

ALL citizens who have contributed to Medisave qualify for health insurance, in the form of MediShield.

This is so that, with rising health-care costs, ......................

However, what happened to my mother-in-law recently proved unsettling.

My mother-in-law was admitted to Gleneagles Hospital following a heart attack and the specialist there recommended that she undergo a bypass immediately. Unfortunately, she died without regaining consciousness.

Now we are laden with medical bills of more than $50,000.

As my mother-in-law was covered under MediShield, we expected at least a small portion of the bills to be taken care of by the insurance.

However, after a long wait, the Central Provident Fund Board has granted us a payout of only $1,438, less than 3 per cent of the total bill. How is the payout determined?

By subscribing to MediShield, we expect that it would help us to cover some of our medical costs but it is not of much help when the payout is so little.

I hope the authorities will look into this issue.

We are not asking for welfare - just a reasonable payout from MediShield.

Chew Kai Hwa (Ms)

Dec 2, 2006

Why MediShield paid only $1,438 of huge bill

IN 'MEDISHIELD paid $1,438 of $50,000 hospital bill' (ST, Nov 28), Ms Chew Kai Hwa asked why MediShield could not pay a larger portion of her mother-in-law's hospital bill at Gleneagles Hospital.

MediShield Basic is meant to help members pay for hospital bills incurred in subsidised Class B2/C wards. As Ms Chew's mother-in-law was covered under the MediShield Basic plan, it would not fully cover the bill for her stay at a private hospital.

For those who want additional protection to cover stays in private wards or hospitals, there are rider products that can be purchased to complement the MediShield Basic plan. These enhanced Medisave-approved insurance plans are offered by five private insurers and a listing of such plans is available on the Ministry of Health website at www.moh.gov.sg.

As there are many ..........., the type of coverage desired and the affordability of premiums.

Karen Tan (Ms)
Director
Corporate Communications
Ministry of Health

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