According to the Singapore Cancer Society, 41 people are diagnosed with cancer every day, 15 people die of cancer every day, and 1 in 4 people may develop cancer during their lifetime.

 

In 2019, the Ministry of Health (MOH) reported that cancer was the leading principal cause of death in Singapore, with 28.4% of deaths attributed to it in 2019. Chances are, you would also personally know of at least one or more people whose lives have been impacted by cancer.

 

These statistics are sobering, and hopefully will get people to be more attentive to their health and the need for protection against cancer and other critical illnesses.

 

That's not all either. Being diagnosed with cancer can mean you lose your ability to work and earn an income. At the same time, treatment and medication for cancer can be costly. This can have a drastic impact on your family's standard of living. 

 

Being treated for cancer can also be mentally, physically and financially exhausting – requiring you to spend more money on transport, and a domestic helper to care for you and alleviate the need to do housework.

Critical illness policies provide a lump sum payout in the event you are diagnosed with a disease covered under the plan. However, buying a large coverage or early-stage critical illness plan can be quite costly for some.

 

One way around this is to get targeted coverage for cancer, which is the leading principal cause of death in Singapore and may also be hereditary. A standalone cancer plan, such as the AIA MultiStage Cancer Cover, can enhance your cancer coverage at an affordable insurance premium.

 

As its name suggests, AIA MultiStage Cancer Cover provides you with a 100% lump sum payout regardless of early, intermediate or major stage cancer diagnosed.

 

While you and your family's lives will be severely disrupted, this payout can cushion the financial impact on your family. It can also provide peace of mind for you to focus entirely on your treatment and recovery rather than having to worry about additional financial stress.

 

Another good thing about the AIA MultiStage Cancer Cover is that your premiums will not increase over time. This gives you more visibility of the cost of your insurance premium in the long run. Premiums for a non-smoker 35-year-old male who wants $100,000 coverage is $30 a month. A non-smoker 35-year-old female with the same coverage needs will pay $56 a month. Again, these premiums do not increase over the entire policy term.

 

You can choose from three coverage amounts - $100,000, $150,000 $250,000 – for a 20-year term, during your crucial income earning years.

Buying a standalone cancer plan does not mean you can skip critical illness insurance entirely. Ultimately, you still need coverage against other kind of critical illnesses as well. That said, standalone cancer cover gives you the flexibility to buy basic critical illness insurance coverage, while enhancing your coverage specifically for cancer.

 

A critical illness policy offers a much broader coverage for standard list of 37 critical illnesses defined by the Life Insurance Association of Singapore (LIA). This includes important coverage for diseases like heart attack, stroke, deafness, major burns, Alzheimer's disease, blindness and others. While these may be less common than cancer, you don't want to be left without any coverage against them.

 

Some critical illness insurance policies, like AIA Absolute Critical Cover (ASCC) can go beyond the standard list of 37 critical illnesses and covers you extensively for numerous conditions, as well as further extends your coverage for multiple critical illness and relapse^[1].

 

For a simple and affordable supplement, AIA MultiStage Critical Protector offers protection against 6 common critical illnesses.

 

Critical illness and standalone cancer policies should be viewed as complementary rather than substitute for each other. At the end of the day, a comprehensive standalone cancer plan such as AIA MultiStage Cancer Cover gives us more choice, and should not translate to having critical illness coverage gaps in other areas.