What You Do Not Know About Eldershield in Singapore

Being old and elderly was something far away from my mind, when I started in the insurance

business 20 years ago, but lately, seeing more news articles on retirement and ageing with yours truly also slowly approaching the "Silver Generation", my family and I began to have our antennas up whenever the topic of age related matters popped up.

Lately, a close relative of ours started to have difficulty walking and he was 72. The first thing that came to my mind was Eldershield, as he displayed the criterias needed to submit a claim (for those who are not familiar with the workings of Eldershield, here's a link to read up about it and after reading, you will definitely feel it's insufficient).

However, what confused us was that his premium payments had ended when he was 65, so naturally we thought the cover
had also ceased. Thankfully, we made an enquiry with the insurer, and lo and behold; our relative was still able to claim for the benefits for another 60 months, despite the fact that the premium payments for Eldershield had stopped! Reason being, the insurer was still obligated to make the payouts for 60 or 72 months (depending on the plan you are on) the minute the policy was activated! Even though the amount given by the insurer is for only $300/$400 per month (depending on your plan); every dollar helps when you have someone who is close to being disabled and is financially dependent on a caregiver, coupled with the fact that these days, family sizes are decreasing and the financial burden has increased with inflationary expenses.

To sweeten the deal, our relative belongs to the "Pioneer Generation", so he gets another $100 from PioneerDAS (Pioneer Disability Assistance Scheme)! The criterias for PioneerDAS are :
"You must have been born before 1950 and became a Singapore citizen before 1987" and "need permanent help with at least three of six Activities of Daily Living"....since our relative has been approved to receive Eldershield payouts, he automatically qualifies for PioneerDas!

In fact, the Singapore Government has been doing a fair bit to help out the elderly and those with special needs, so the next time before we go around complaining, let's be thankful that at least something is done for the Elderly in Singapore as one day we will be there. Feel free to contact us, if you want to know more about Eldershield or want to increase your Long Term Care coverage.

*NEW*

As at 04 July 2020, there is now a Home Caregiving Grant (HCG) of $200 to be given to the caregiver and I'm sure it can help defray the cost of getting a helper to assist in the caregiving journey.

If you want to know more about HCG and its criteria, here is the link