Income launches $6m assistance scheme !
December 4th, 2008 by ALVIN SOONG
NTUC Income has launched a $6 million assistance scheme to help elderly and low-income policyholders cope with premium increases during the current economic downturn. About 77,000 Incomeshield policyholders will benefit from this year-long programme. Most of them hold plans pegged to B and C wards in hospitals.
The firm’s chief executive Tan Suee Chieh said yesterday that the assistance scheme ‘would provide some relief to our policyholders facing hard times’ during this financial crisis.
It is also a ‘ goodwill gesture by NTUC Income to acknowledge our customers’ support over the years’, he added.
Existing Incomeshield policyholders below the age of 61 will have their monthly premium increase capped at $5 or $10, depending on their wards.
Those aged 61 and above will enjoy annual subsidies from $55 to $211 depending on the plans that they hold.
In examples provided, NTUC Income showed that a 79-year-old female holding an Incomeshield standard C plan will enjoy a subsidy of $105, while a 66-year-old male will get $95 and a 51-year-old female will receive $5.
The subsidies are applicable for a year and not applicable to plans pegged to private and A wards.
Financial adviser Providend’s head of risk management and special projects, Mr Eddy Cheong, said NTUC Income is likely to be the first insurer to offer such assistance and would ‘definitely help in making premiums more affordable’ in this economic climate.
He noted that the risk of default on such policies is low as premiums can be paid through a person’s Medisave.
‘NTUC has set a precedent, perhaps other insurance companies will also follow,’ he added.
Retiree Koh Lay Hua, 54, a policyholder who will benefit, said she was happy to learn of the scheme. ‘Every little bit helps in uncertain times like these,’ she said.
NTUC Income’s Mr Tan said yesterday that ‘as a social enterprise, it is important for us to make a difference to people’s lives by helping to ease their cost of living in difficult times’.
Extracted from Straits Times 4 Dec 2008
