6 out of 7 insurers raised premiums for Integrated Shield Plans, riders in 2025

Citing pressures from rising claims, medical inflation and expanded benefits, all private insurers but one here offering Integrated Shield Plans (IPs) have increased premiums for most of these products or riders in 2025.

- Yap Wei Qiang Correspondent

Out of these seven insurers, six saw their net claims surge by between 9 per cent and 27 per cent in 2024.

The six have changed the coverage of their IPs and riders this year. As a result, all six have confirmed they have increased premiums of their products in 2025, in response to queries from The Straits Times.

The exception is Raffles Health Insurance (RHI), which saw a decline of 18 per cent in net claims in 2024, though it posted underwriting losses.

RHI, which entered the IP market in 2018, does not intend to implement any changes to its IP products, including premium adjustments. This makes it the only insurer that did not raise premiums for two consecutive years, even after the two-year moratorium on IP premium increases ended on Aug 31, 2024.

All Singaporeans are insured under the national MediShield Life scheme, which covers expenses incurred for hospitalisation and certain outpatient treatments such as radiotherapy and kidney dialysis.

An IP is optional health coverage provided by private insurance companies on top of MediShield Life, typically to cover stays in A or Bl-type wards in public hospitals, or private hospitals.

On top of the IP, insurers sell riders, which in general are meant to cover the patient’s share of the bill — the deductible and the remainder of the bill not covered by MediShield Life and IPs.

Ranging from $1,500 to $4,500 depending on age and ward class, the deductible is the fixed amount that a policyholder has to pay out of pocket in each policy year before receiving any payout from MediShield Life.

On the range of premium hikes in 2025, only Income Insurance and Singlife responded with specific figures. The remaining four did not provide figures when asked.

From Oct 1, Income’s average premium increase for IP plans was 4.5 per cent, while the average increase for its IP plans with riders was 10.8 per cent.