Moderating demand for private healthcare insurance

A LOT has been said about the recent Health Insurance Task Force's (HITF) recommendations on managing claims escalation, which in turn can help moderate the rise in Integrated Shield Plan (IP) premiums.

The proposal to set medical fee benchmarks or guidelines and the suggestion to encourage insurers to include co-insurance and/ or deductible features in product design, among other things, are worth looking at.

IPs, which are essentially additional insurance coverage, are over and above the government-implemented MediShield Life scheme.

MediShield Life is a basic health insurance plan administered by the…