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  • 4 things about critical illness definitions in Singapore


    4 things about the changes to critical illness definitions in Singapore

    Critical illness insurance plays an important role in providing a financial safeguard for you and your loved ones. In the event you are diagnosed with a critical illness, you will receive a lump sum payout from the policy.

    This payout is typically meant to tide you through daily living expenses during your recovery, at a time when you may not be able to work and earn a salary, as well as give you additional options to seek medical treatments or complementary therapy.

    Such lump sum payouts enable you to protect your and your loved ones’ way of life without eating into savings and investments earmarked for other important expenses.

    For those purchasing critical illness insurance from 26 August 2020 onwards, you will be looking at an updated set of definitions for the standard list of 37 critical illnesses. This was announced by the Life Insurance Association (LIA) on 29 August 2019, under its Critical Illness Framework 2019.

    Here are four things you should understand about the changes contained within LIA’s Critical Illness Framework 2019.

    1. Changes effective from 26 August 2020

    While all critical illness insurance sold in Singapore will have to comply with the new set of definitions from 26 August 2020, this is the cut-off date, rather than a starting date.

    This means that insurers cannot sell critical illness policies with the old definitions after 26 August 2020, which were last defined in 2014. However, some insurers may have already started providing critical illness insurance adhering to the new definitions before 26 August 2020.

    You should look at your policy documents and/or speak to your financial services consultant to understand which definitions are used in your critical illness insurance plan.

    2. What are the changes made to critical illness definitions?

    Under the new Critical Illness Framework 2019, definitions of 21 critical illnesses were revised, while the names of 14 critical illnesses were enhanced to better reflect the intent of the coverage.

    Here’s the list of changes to the standard list of 37 critical illness under the Critical Illness Framework 2019:

    No. Critical Illnesses Name changed? Definitions changed?
    1 Major Cancer Yes Yes
    2 Heart Attacks of Specified Severity No change Yes
    3 Stroke with Permanent Neurological Deficit Yes Yes
    4 Coronary Artery By-pass Surgery No change No change
    5 End Stage Kidney Failure Yes No change
    6 Irreversible Aplastic Anaemia Yes Yes
    7 End Stage Lung Disease No change No change
    8 End Stage Liver Disease No change No change
    9 Coma No change Yes
    10 Deafness (Irreversible Loss of Hearing) Yes Yes
    11 Open Chest Heart Valve Surgery Yes No change
    12 Irreversible Loss of Speech Yes Yes
    13 Major Burns No change No change
    14 Major Organ/Bone Marrow Transplantation No change No change
    15 Multiple Sclerosis No change Yes
    16 Muscular Dystrophy No change Yes
    17 Idiopathic Parkinson's Disease Yes Yes
    18 Open Chest Surgery to Aorta Yes No change
    19 Alzheimer's Disease / Severe Dementia No change Yes
    20 Fulminant Hepatitis No change No change
    21 Motor Neurone Disease No change Yes
    22 Primary Pulmonary Hypertension No change No change
    23 HIV Due to Blood Transfusion and Occupationally Acquired HIV No change Yes
    24 Benign Brain Tumor No change Yes
    25 Severe Encephalitis Yes Yes
    26 Severe Bacterial Meningitis Yes No change
    27 Angioplasty & Other Invasive Treatment for Coronary Artery No change No change
    28 Blindness (Irreversible Loss of Sight) Yes Yes
    29 Major Head Trauma No change Yes
    30 Paralysis (Irreversible Loss of Use of Limbs) Yes No change
    31 Terminal Illness No change No change
    32 Progressive Scleroderma No change Yes
    33 Persistent Vegetative State (Apallic Syndrome) Yes No change
    34 Systemic Lupus Erythematosus with Lupus Nephritis No change  Yes
    35 Other Serious Coronary Artery Diesease No change Yes
    36 Poliomyelitis No change Yes
    37 Loss of Independent Existence Yes No change
    No. 1
    Critical Illnesses Major Cancer
    Name changed? Yes
    Definitions changed?
    Yes
    No. 2
    Critical Illnesses Heart Attacks of Specified Severity
    Name changed? No change
    Definitions changed?
    Yes
    No. 3
    Critical Illnesses Stroke with Permanent Neurological Deficit
    Name changed? Yes
    Definitions changed?
    Yes
    No. 4
    Critical Illnesses Coronary Artery By-pass Surgery
    Name changed? No change
    Definitions changed?
    No change
    No. 5
    Critical Illnesses End Stage Kidney Failure
    Name changed? Yes
    Definitions changed?
    No change
    No. 6
    Critical Illnesses Irreversible Aplastic Anaemia
    Name changed? Yes
    Definitions changed?
    Yes
    No. 7
    Critical Illnesses End Stage Lung Disease
    Name changed? No change
    Definitions changed?
    No change
    No. 8
    Critical Illnesses End Stage Liver Disease
    Name changed? No change
    Definitions changed?
    No change
    No. 9
    Critical Illnesses Coma
    Name changed? No change
    Definitions changed?
    Yes
    No. 10
    Critical Illnesses Deafness (Irreversible Loss of Hearing)
    Name changed? Yes
    Definitions changed?
    Yes
    No. 11
    Critical Illnesses Open Chest Heart Valve Surgery
    Name changed? Yes
    Definitions changed?
    No change
    No. 12
    Critical Illnesses Irreversible Loss of Speech
    Name changed? Yes
    Definitions changed?
    Yes
    No. 13
    Critical Illnesses Major Burns
    Name changed? No change
    Definitions changed?
    No change
    No. 14
    Critical Illnesses Major Organ/Bone Marrow Transplantation
    Name changed? No change
    Definitions changed?
    No change
    No. 15
    Critical Illnesses Multiple Sclerosis
    Name changed? No change
    Definitions changed?
    Yes
    No. 16
    Critical Illnesses Muscular Dystrophy
    Name changed? No change
    Definitions changed?
    Yes
    No. 17
    Critical Illnesses Idiopathic Parkinson's Disease
    Name changed? Yes
    Definitions changed?
    Yes
    No. 18
    Critical Illnesses Open Chest Surgery to Aorta
    Name changed? Yes
    Definitions changed?
    No change
    No. 19
    Critical Illnesses Alzheimer's Disease / Severe Dementia
    Name changed? No change
    Definitions changed?
    Yes
    No. 20
    Critical Illnesses Fulminant Hepatitis
    Name changed? No change
    Definitions changed?
    No change
    No. 23
    Critical Illnesses HIV Due to Blood Transfusion and Occupationally Acquired HIV
    Name changed? No change
    Definitions changed?
    Yes
    No. 24
    Critical Illnesses Benign Brain Tumor
    Name changed? No change
    Definitions changed?
    Yes
    No. 25
    Critical Illnesses Severe Encephalitis
    Name changed? Yes
    Definitions changed?
    Yes
    No. 26
    Critical Illnesses Severe Bacterial Meningitis
    Name changed? Yes
    Definitions changed?
    No change
    No. 27
    Critical Illnesses Angioplasty & Other Invasive Treatment for Coronary Artery
    Name changed? No change
    Definitions changed?
    No change
    No. 28
    Critical Illnesses Blindness (Irreversible Loss of Sight)
    Name changed? Yes
    Definitions changed?
    Yes
    No. 29
    Critical Illnesses Major Head Trauma
    Name changed? No change
    Definitions changed?
    Yes
    No. 30
    Critical Illnesses Paralysis (Irreversible Loss of Use of Limbs)
    Name changed? Yes
    Definitions changed?
    No change
    No. 31
    Critical Illnesses Terminal Illness
    Name changed? No change
    Definitions changed?
    No change
    No. 32
    Critical Illnesses Progressive Scleroderma
    Name changed? No change
    Definitions changed?
    Yes
    No. 33
    Critical Illnesses Persistent Vegetative State (Apallic Syndrome)
    Name changed? Yes
    Definitions changed?
    No change
    No. 34
    Critical Illnesses Systemic Lupus Erythematosus with Lupus Nephritis
    Name changed? No change
    Definitions changed?
    Yes
    No. 35
    Critical Illnesses Other Serious Coronary Artery Disease
    Name changed? No change
    Definitions changed?
    Yes
    No. 36
    Critical Illnesses Poliomyelitis
    Name changed? No change
    Definitions changed?
    Yes
    No. 37
    Critical Illnesses Loss of Independent Existence
    Name changed? Yes
    Definitions changed?
    No change

    You can examine the details of each of the 37 critical illnesses on the Critical Illness Framework 2019, comparing to the 2014 version, on LIA’s website.

    3. Updating of definitions under LIA’s Critical Illness Framework 2019 can lead to better industry outcomes

    Standardised Critical Illness definitions provides greater transparency for consumers to assess and compare different insurance plans.

    It also reduces discrepancies in claim assessments, where one insurer may provide a payout while another rejects a payout. This way, consumers can rest assured that claims assessment will be similar regardless of their chosen insurer.

    Nevertheless, insurers can continue to set their products apart by extending coverage for more medical conditions and stages of illness progression, beyond the standard list of 37 critical illnesses, so you still need to fully understand the full benefits of any critical illness insurance you are purchasing.

    For example, plans such as AIA Absolute Critical Cover (ASCC) offers wide coverage for 187 conditions that go beyond critical illnesses, including 150 multi-stage critical illnesses.

    4. New definitions under the Critical Illness Framework 2019 can benefit policyholders

    While the majority of changes made was to provide clarity to the definitions of coverage to severe stages, some changes led to expanded benefits for the insured. This includes:

    • Allowing claims under “HIV Due to Blood Transfusion and Occupationally Acquired HIV” for those who suffer from Thalassaemia or Haemophillia to be fair to the group, as these groups were previously denied claim.
    • Adjusting the “Blindness (Irreversible Lost of Sight)” condition to the legal definition of blindness of 6/60, from previously 3/60

    Review your critical illness coverage requirements – and don’t rush to buy

    The latest critical illness definitions offer both pros and cons for policyholders. Check with your insurer on coverage options available to you.

    Before purchasing critical illness insurance, you should also understand how much coverage you need. You can look to LIA’s 2017 Protection Gap Study – Singapore as a guide, which recommends having enough coverage to last for an assumed critical illness recovery period of five years. You can also use our critical illness calculator to find out how much critical illness coverage you need today.

    Related Articles

    • HOW AIA CLOSES YOUR CRITICAL ILLNESS PROTECTION GAP
    • 5 THINGS TO KNOW BEFORE GETTING A CRITICAL ILLNESS PLAN
    • AIA POWER CRITICAL COVER PROVIDES COMPREHENSIVE CRITICAL ILLNESS COVERAGE

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    Critical Illness Protection

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    Critical Illness Protection

    AIA Beyond Critical Care offers premium refund and holistic critical illnesses (CI) protection, with option to add more coverage for multistage CI and for waiver of future premiums.

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    AIA Diabetes Care insurance plan covers pre-diabetics and Type 2 diabetes related conditions, ensuring you with financial support from the unexpected. 

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