ENHANCING PUBLIC EDUCATION ON RIGHT-SIZING INTEGRATED SHIELD PLAN COVERAGE

NOTICE PAPER NO. 583

NOTICE OF QUESTION FOR WRITTEN ANSWER

FOR THE SITTING OF PARLIAMENT ON 4 MARCH 2026

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament

Mr Yip Hon Weng

MP for Yio Chu Kang

Question No. 1177

To ask the Coordinating Minister for Social Policies and Minister for Health (a) what steps will the Ministry take to enhance public education on right-sizing Integrated Shield plan coverage; and (b) whether it will consider transparently publishing comparative data on insurer profitability on their private hospital insurance portfolio and premium changes to help consumers make more informed decisions.

Answer

1.               In 2025, MOH ran a public education campaign to educate the public on the Integrated Shield Plans (IPs) and riders, to understand the distortive effects of IP riders, and encourage policyholders to size their health insurance coverage appropriately.

2.               In addition, MOH publishes comparisons of benefits, features, and indicative lifetime premiums across IPs, as well as service indicators for the insurers. In 2025, MOH and CPF Board also launched the Health Insurance Planner (HIP), an interactive tool that helps Singaporeans to make informed decisions about their health insurance coverage.

3.               On insurers’ profits, aggregate numbers on gross premiums collected and claims settled across insurers are publicly available.  As explained in response to Parliamentary Questions 1 to 4 on 24 September 2025, the gross premiums collected and claims settled for IPs reveal that most insurers are barely breaking even or making losses on their health portfolios. The distortion caused by IP riders is benefitting no one.