📊AT A GLANCE
Every Citizen and PR is already on this plan — no sign-up needed. Zero cash out of pocket: premiums come from your CPF savings (MediSave). $200k annual limit resets every year. This plan alone covered every Singapore hospitalisation before private ISPs existed.
No sign-up, no forms, no cash needed. If you've never purchased insurance, this is the plan already covering you.
First payment (deductible)
$2,000 / yr
Your share (co-pay)
10% → 5% → 3%
Room type
Shared ward, 6–8 beds (Class B2/C)
Annual cash cost
$0 (from MediSave)
Annual claim limit
$200,000
How your share of the bill (co-pay) is calculated on a $50,000 bill
10%
First $5,000 (after the $2,000 first-payment threshold) → you owe $500
5%
Next $5,000 ($5k–$10k) → you owe $250
3%
Above $10,000 → you owe $1,200 (on $40k)
♾️ No lifetime cap
👨👩👧 Family MediSave allowed
🔄 Resets every policy year
🛏️WHAT IT COVERS
Singapore public hospitals deliver the same surgical outcomes as private. The trade-off in a shared ward (6–8 beds) is not medical quality — it’s specialist choice, room privacy, and when you can be admitted.
Singapore public hospitals deliver globally benchmark surgical outcomes. The private hospital difference is service environment, not medical quality.
✓ Covered
· Surgery & inpatient stay (shared ward, Class B2/C)
· ICU stay up to the insurer daily rate cap
· Emergency A&E (accident & emergency) that leads to admission
· Approved cancer drugs (Cancer Drug List, CDL) — capped per drug
· Outpatient dialysis & chemotherapy
✗ Not covered
· Choosing your own specialist (assigned by the hospital)
· Private hospital bills (large gap — see card below)
· Normal childbirth (only listed complications covered)
· Outpatient follow-up appointments after discharge
· Medical treatment received overseas
· Cosmetic procedures, dental, optical
🏥THE PRIVATE HOSPITAL TRAP
At a private hospital without a private-tier add-on, the government plan (MediShield Life) only covers the public-hospital equivalent cost — roughly 16% of the actual bill. The remaining ~84% is your personal cash, and it comes due before the deductible even starts.
Why? MediShield Life reimburses at what the same procedure would cost in a public hospital ward. A private hospital charges 3–5× more. Your insurer pays the public rate; you cover the rest. This gap has a technical name: the pro-ration gap.
~16%
Govt plan pays
of private hosp. bill
~84%
cash gap
before deductible
$60,000 private hospital bill
16%
~$50,400 YOUR CASH GAP
■ Govt plan (MediShield Life): ~$9,600■ Your cash: ~$50,400
This coverage shortfall (called the pro-ration gap) comes before the deductible. Your out-of-pocket deductible and co-pay only start after the $50,400 gap is already paid — by you.
💡WHEN IT IS ENOUGH
Genuinely adequate for public hospital admissions with no specialist preference. Breaks down on multi-admission years, cancer, or any private hospital scenario.
A single routine public-hospital admission with a funded MediSave account: this plan handles it fine. Where it breaks down: bill above $50k, recurring admissions, or any moment you’d choose your own specialist.
✓ Works well
· Single admission, public hospital
· Bill stays below $2,000 (no insurer payout — covered by MediSave)
· No specialist preference
· MediSave account well funded
✗ Breaks down
· Multiple hospital stays in one year (deductible resets each admission)
· Cancer treatment over months (drug list cap applies)
· Any private hospital (only 16% covered)
· You want to choose your own specialist
🏷️PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS
MediShield Life covers all conditions — forever, no exclusions. But the private top-up (ISP) can permanently exclude conditions you already had.
Two completely different rules, two layers of the same policy. When a claim arrives from a pre-existing condition, only MediShield Life pays — the private top-up won't.
🟢 MediShield Life
✓ Universal — no exclusions, ever
✓ All pre-existing conditions covered
✓ Cannot be cancelled by the insurer
✓ No health check needed to stay covered
⚠️ Private insurance top-up (ISP layer)
· Health history checked when you apply (underwriting)
· Past conditions can be excluded permanently
· If excluded, only MediShield Life pays that claim
· Applies even if you had the condition before sign-up