Insuring seniors: devil's in the details

Singapore

MUCH has been said about rethinking insurance - and why the coverage matters - for Singapore's ageing population. But what stops seniors from getting insurance might just be a pesky little detail: complex health underwriting questionnaires.

Almost three out of four seniors in Singapore find the standard health underwriting questionnaire tedious, "too broad and vague" and requiring an excessive scope of disclosure, going by a Nielsen study commissioned by NTUC Income last year. The study was conducted face-to-face with 150 seniors aged 50 to 65 to understand what puts seniors off when applying for insurance.

In September, Income launched a tailored questionnaire for those aged above 50, that requests only health declarations that are most relevant to them.

"It's our intent to offer seniors a better medical underwriting experience, and in turn, improve their protection gap so that they enjoy better peace of mind in their golden years", said Andrew Yeo, Income's general manager for life and health insurance.

"This is particularly pertinent since the study revealed that 95 per cent of the seniors interviewed regarded insurance as an important safeguard against health issues that come with ageing." For example, unlike the standard health underwriting questionnaire, applicants who use the senior-focused one no longer need to run through the entire list of statements to indicate the medical conditions relevant to them. Instead, applicants are given a health declaration statement related to key medical conditions such as diabetes, heart attack and stroke.

Also, seniors do not have to declare pre-existing conditions that are deemed less prevalent for the age group based on underwriting guidelines and experience. Examples of such conditions include gastritis, piles, gallstones, urinary tract infection, and pregnancy complications.

Recognising the benefits of a less-complex health underwriting questionnaire, Great Eastern also offers tailored underwriting. It uses a reflexive underwriting questionnaire that generates a different set of questions based on a customer's response to the medical questionnaire, their age and their gender.

The insurer's managing director for group operations Patrick Kok added that they "continuously refine underwriting requirements with the use of new technology such as advanced analytics" to offer targeted solutions for customers' different risk profiles and needs.

Loke Wai Chiong, healthcare sector leader at Deloitte South-east Asia, said it's a logical move for health insurers, considering the likely medical conditions and issues - and resulting insurance claims - of seniors.

"As underwriters revamp their approach towards insurance for seniors, they will likely consider how to make insurance policies for seniors 'more open' and 'less strict' than those for their younger customers so that it will resonate with seniors and bring them benefits."