Best Critical Illness Insurance Plans in Singapore (2023)

I used to feel slightly iffy towards insurance, but ever since I started to get my personal finance sh*t together, I realised the importance of having adequate coverage.

“One can die but can’t fall sick in Singapore.”

This is a phrase I’ve heard since I was young.

In an age where people live longer, the chances of falling ill also increase.

In fact, almost 1 in 4 people may develop cancer in their lifetime.

In an unfortunate event where such news had to be dealt with, the least we would want to worry about is the medical treatment costs.

This is why a critical illness plan is one some would get as one of their key insurance policies.

With the changes to the definition of critical illnesses (CI), I (along with many others) have been trying to better understand the various CI plans available.

The plethora of plans available today has allowed us to get critical illness coverage in different ways: standalone critical illness policies, as a rider along life policies (be it term or whole).

For the purpose of this article, we will be focusing on standalone CI policies.

With this, we are looking into plans offering either a single or multiple payout.

As with all insurance plans, please do not chiong (read: rush) to get the cheapest plan available. It is important to assess your insurance needs and purchase the ones that suit them best.

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TL;DR Best Critical Illness Insurance Plans in Singapore (2023)

Note:

• The recommended CI coverage is 3.9 times your annual salary or about $316,000, according to the Life Insurance Association of Singapore (LIA). However, a common number that is recommended (if you can afford it) would be 5x your annual pay.
• Singlife covers the most number of critical conditions and illnesses
• FWD Big 3 Critical Illness offers the cheapest premium per month
• Insurance premiums quoted are based on an individual’s profile (except Manulife & PruEarlyStage) based on the following assumptions: 28-year-old female, non-smoker, looking for coverage of $100,000 for a period of 85 years.

Click here to jump:

• Difference between CI and CI conditions
• AIA Singapore
• FWD Singapore
• Great Eastern Singapore
• Manulife Singapore
• Prudential Singapore
• Singlife
• Starr Insurance
• Tiq
• Tokio Marine

Disclaimer: The Information provided by Seedly does not constitute an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any insurance product(s). It does not take into account the specific objectives or particular needs of any person. We strongly advise you to seek advice from a licensed insurance professional before purchasing any insurance products and/or services.

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Best Critical Illness Plans in Singapore (2023)

Before we dive into the specific plans, you need to know the difference between Critical Illness and Critical Illness Conditions.

While both terms are often used interchangeably, they can have slightly different meanings depending on the context. Here’s a general explanation:

• Critical Illness: This term refers to a category of severe and life-threatening illnesses or medical conditions that can have a significant impact on a person’s health and well-being. Examples of critical illnesses include cancer, heart attack, stroke, organ failure, and certain types of advanced-stage diseases. Critical illness is a broad term encompassing various severe health conditions.
• Critical Illness Conditions: This term typically refers to specific medical conditions that are considered critical illnesses. It highlights the individual diseases or health conditions that fall under the category of critical illness. In this context, critical illness conditions could be specific illnesses such as cancer, heart disease, or any other severe condition mentioned earlier.

Even in insurance terms, the distinction between “critical illness” and “critical illness conditions” can vary depending on the specific insurance policy and provider.

Insurance policies typically outline a specific set of critical illness conditions that qualify for coverage, and these conditions may include but are not limited to cancer, heart attack, stroke, organ transplantation, major organ failure, paralysis, and certain advanced-stage diseases. The CI plan you choose will specify the exact conditions covered, the severity criteria, and any additional terms and conditions that apply.

Do carefully review the insurance plans to understand the specific critical illness conditions covered and any exclusions or limitations that may apply.

AIA Beyond Critical Care

The AIA Beyond Critical Care Plan provides extensive coverage of 43 Major Stage Critical Illnesses (CI) and 5 rediagnosed or recurred CI.

This plan allows you to make up to two claims and up to 200% of the sum insured.

One unique benefit of this plan is that you will get a 100% refund of your base plan’s total annual premium at the end of the policy term if you remain in the pink of health throughout, even after an early CI payout with an optional rider.

This is also the first plan that covers mental illnesses where the insured can get an additional 20% of coverage amount up to $50,000 per claim until age 75 for five prominent mental illnesses.

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FWD Critical Illness Plans

FWD Big 3 Critical Illness

Promo code: Quote ‘DAD2023‘ to get 60% off the premiums. You will also get a free gift when you spend a minimum annual premium across eligible life plans.

One product that FWD offers is the Big 3 Critical Illness plan, which covers cancer, heart attack & stroke – three of Singapore’s most common critical illnesses.

In the unfortunate event of death, your family will be covered 100% of the sum insured by the death benefit.

The affordability of this plan makes it attractive as it offers coverage of some of the crucial critical illnesses at a low price:

FWD Critical Illness Plus

Promo code: Quote ‘CIP50‘ to get 50% off the premiums.

The FWD Critical Plus covers quite a wide range of illnesses from early to intermediate and late stages.

As this plan covers extensively, you will be able to make up to two claims (one for the early/intermediate stage, one for the late stage) during the coverage period.

There is also an auto-reload which allows you to continue to be covered against late-stage critical illnesses under the Late-stage CI benefit at 100% of the original sum insured.

In a typical scenario, when you have successfully made a claim under the Early Cancer, Heart Attack and Stroke Benefit, the sum insured under this policy will be reduced to zero for a period of 12 months from the date of diagnosis of the claim. These 12 months are called the “auto-reload period”, and you will not be able to make any claims on this policy during this auto-reload period (apart from claims for the Death Benefit).

However, this policy will remain active until the cover ends, and premiums payable during the auto-reload period will be waived.

FWD Flex Insurance

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Great Eastern

GREAT Critical Cover: Complete

The GREAT Critical Cover: Complete covers all stages of critical illnesses, including early, intermediate, and critical.

The plan provides comprehensive coverage against 53 critical illnesses and 121 critical conditions.

Given that this plan has wide coverage, the death benefit is $25,000. There is also an additional 10% of the sum assured for angioplasty and other invasive treatment for coronary artery (capped at $25,000 per life assured).

GREAT Critical Cover: Top 3 CIs

If you prefer something more scaled down, the GREAT Critical Cover: Top 3 CIs provides coverage for nine critical illness conditions and all stages of cancer, heart attack, and stroke.

The simple plan covers you up to $350,000. Do note that the coverage amount differs if you apply online or through an agent/banker.

At a coverage of up to $100,000, the premium sets you back at $27.60 per month or $321.20 per year.

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Manulife

Critical SelectCare

The Critical SelectCare Plan is a plan which is available for all, including people with existing health conditions – such as high blood pressure, high blood sugar, high cholesterol, or diabetes.

Individuals will be covered for selected critical illnesses and special conditions of up to $25,000 for each condition mentioned below.

If no claims were made throughout the policy term, policyholders could receive a payout of 25% of the total premiums at the end of the term.

This is also the only plan that targets middle-aged persons where applicants must be 40 – 70 years old.

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Prudential

PruActive Protect

The PruActive Protect plan covers the intermediate stages of 37 critical illnesses.

The difference between this plan and the others on this list is that it covers the insured up to age 100.

It also has special features such as Child Cover Benefit, which is a complimentary coverage for your children against critical illnesses and juvenile conditions.

On top of that, there are Crisis Care Accelerator Benefit, which allows you to receive a payout on serious illnesses or accidents that affect major organs, resulting in admission to ICU, and a Spouse Waiver Benefit, a 1-year premium waiver for your spouse.

PRUEarly Stage Crisis Cover

As the name says, this plan covers the early stages of 70 medical conditions, and it seems to be a well-rounded plan.

This is probably one of the cheapest plans on this list. At a coverage of $50,000 and a policy term of 45 years, the premium costs $1.34 per day (~$40.20 per month).

PRUEarly Stage Crisis Cover is the first policy in Singapore to make payouts even for diabetic complications, where you can be reassured with a payout of 20% of the sum assured. This payout can also be used to supplement expenses incurred on medical treatment or from the change in lifestyle.

Not to forget, once a claim is made on one of the medical conditions listed under “50% Severity Payout”, all your premiums under this place will be waived, and in the unfortunate event that your condition deteriorates or a different medical condition arises, this plan will pay the balance of the benefits immediately after the first claim.

Why did I say this plan is pretty well-rounded?

That’s because there is a one-time payout of 10% of the sum assured for Angioplasty and other Invasive Treatments for Coronary Artery.

And on top of that, there is coverage for juveniles where those under the age of 18 are covered for an additional eight medical conditions and can receive a payout of 25% of the sum assured, up to four claims for different medical conditions.

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Singlife

Singlife’s CI plans are slightly different as they can be a rider to a term plan or as a standalone plan.

For the uninitiated, term plans are life insurance that covers death and terminal illness, and for Singlife, you can add critical illness coverage to the term plan to enhance your protection.

Singlife Comprehensive Critical Illness

This is literally the most comprehensive plan, as it covers 132 conditions across various stages of critical illness, at early, intermediate or late stages, with a coverage amount ranging from $30,000 to $250,000.

It pays out 100% of the sum assured upon any of the 132 covered critical illnesses. It also covers other benefits such as Intensive Care Benefit, Benign and Borderline Malignant Tumour Benefit and Special Benefit.

For an average female who’s 28 years old and does not smoke, you would have to fork out $53.25/month ($639/year).

Singlife Multipay Critical Illness

This plan also covers 132 conditions across various stages of critical illness, at early, intermediate or late stages, plus specified recurrent critical illnesses, with a coverage amount of $30,000 to $250,000.

You may enjoy a total payout of up to 600% of your sum assured for critical illnesses under Critical Illness Benefit, in multiple payouts, and stop paying premiums once you’ve got at least 300% of your sum assured.

Also, there will be up to two payouts if one is diagnosed with a specified severe stage critical illness, or recurrent critical illness, at a payout amount of 150% of the sum assured.

It’s good to know that there is no waiting period from an Early and Intermediate claim to a Severe Stage claim, but there is a one-year waiting period between:

• Two Early and Intermediate Stage claims
• Two Severe Stage claims
• From a Severe Stage claim to an Early and Intermediate Stage CI Benefit claim.

Under the Recurrent Critical Illness Benefit, there is a two-year waiting period between two Recurrent Critical Illness Benefit claims.

Singlife Essential Critical Illness

Similarly, this plan covers 14 critical illnesses and four diabetic conditions.
(Fact: 1 in 10 Singaporeans are diabetic)

The special feature of this plan is its 100% payout in cases of death, diagnosis of critical illness, total and permanent Disability and Terminal Illness, and it covers you even if you have certain pre-existing conditions such as Type 2 Diabetes, Pre-diabetes and/or high blood pressure, high cholesterol or high Body Mass Index.

If you are suffering from any of the covered Diabetic Conditions*, you will receive an additional 20% of the sum assured, up to $25,000 per condition per life.

And, for angioplasty and & Other Invasive Treatment For Coronary Artery, you can receive an advanced lump sum payout of 10% of your sum assured, up to $25,000.

*(a) Coma due to Hyperosmolar Hyperglycemic State (HHS): A serious acute complication of diabetes characterised by severe hyperglycemia with no ketoacidosis; (b) Limb Amputation due to Diabetic Complications: The actual undergoing of amputation of a leg/foot at the ankle or above / arm/hand at wrist or above to treat gangrene that has occurred because of a complication of diabetes; (c) Diabetic Nephropathy: A definite diagnosis of diabetic nephropathy by a Specialist and is evident by eGFR less than 30 ml/min/1.73 m2 with ongoing proteinuria greater than 300mg/24 hours; (d) Diabetic Ketoacidosis: A serious acute complication of diabetes characterised by ketoacidosis (high levels of blood acids called ketones) and hyperglycemia.

Singlife Big 3 Critical Illnesses

As with the FWD Big 3 Critical Illness, this plan covers cancer, heart attack and stroke, with a different tiering:

• 100% of the sum insured for 44 severe-stage CIs, or
• 200% of the sum insured for cancer, heart attack, stroke and 13 specific heart and neurological conditions at the early, intermediate or late stage.

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Starr Insurance

The Starr CI Advantage Global Connect — Big 3 Critical Illness is another multi-pay CI plan that covers all stages of cancer, heart attack and stroke.

One special feature of this plan is the ability to access the latest medical treatments and world-renowned specialists outside of Singapore with all expenses covered under its Global Medical Treatment Lifetime Limit, which pays a maximum of 2,000,000 USD.

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Tiq

For the price-sensitive peeps, Tiq 3 Plus Critical Illness Insurance is one of the cheapest CI plans on this list.

The plan covers all stages of cancer, heart attack and stroke and has a death benefit of $20,000.

At $12.25 per month ($140 per year), this is quite a steal:

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Tokio Marine

TM MultiCare

The TM MultiCare plan allows for multiple payouts across early, intermediate, and advanced-stage of 40 critical illnesses.

It offers a total payout of up to 900% of the sum assured in three different layers, up to a total of six claims.

Layer 1 and Layer 2 cover critical illnesses of different stages of severity.

Each group covers different types of critical illness conditions.

Layer 3 provides extra benefits for advanced-stage cancer, even when the cancer has spread, persisted or recurred or if there is a newly diagnosed advanced-stage cancer.

Apart from the multiple payouts, it also allows for two advanced-stage critical illness claims and two additional claims for major cancers.

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Closing Thoughts

As we can see, there are so many different features offered by different insurance policies.

You can even choose to be insured for just cancer coverage, where premiums are way more affordable.

With such a huge variety to choose from, it is easy to get confused too.

When in need of insurance advice, you should always approach any licensed financial advisers that you trust or visit our community platform, which is dedicated to critical illness-related questions!

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