Inflation rate of Singapore worker health insurance in 2018: 10%

Singapore

THE inflation rate of employee medical insurance claims in Singapore, at 10 per cent in 2018, is projected to rise another 0.1 percentage point this year, a study by Mercer Marsh Benefits has predicted.

Also termed "medical trend rate", the inflation rate of worker health insurance claims was slightly lower than the Asian average of 10.4 per cent.

Singapore's figure was the sixth highest out of 11 Asian economies surveyed.

Vietnam was top with a 14.5 per cent increase and neighbouring Malaysia rose 13.4 per cent. At the lowest end of the table was South Korea, where the medical trend rate went up by 6 per cent.

Singapore's 10 per cent medical trend rate stands against the national economy's estimated 2018 inflation rate of 1 per cent. (The economic inflation figure was obtained from the International Monetary Fund's World Economic Outlook Database of January 2019; Singapore's headline inflation officially came in at 0.4 per cent.)

The report by the employee benefits brokerage and HR benefits consultancy came from a survey done between January and March among 204 insurers from 59 economies. (The US was excluded due to different research parameters.)

Survey respondents were asked for 2018 data on the rising cost of medical care, as well as on the types, costs and frequency of medical conditions for which claims were filed by company employees.

In Singapore, the insurance partners surveyed were AIA, Aviva, FWD Singapore and Great Eastern. The responses from these insurers went into Mercer Marsh Benefits' 2019 Medical Trends Around the World report.

Neil Narale, Singapore business leader for Mercer Marsh Benefits, said: "Health and wellness solutions among corporations in Singapore continue to be under-penetrated or poorly designed.

"This highlights the potential value of interventions, especially among high-risk groups, which take the form of health and wellness programmes to reduce the incidence of disease, and screening for earlier detection of disease."

He suggested that employers move towards more proactive integrated healthcare offerings which include preventive wellness measures, condition management and early intervention measures, so that employers can improve the health and productivity of their employees while controlling future increases in medical costs.

Globally, the top three health risk factors influencing medical cost remain metabolic and cardiovascular risk, dietary risk and emotional /mental risk.

In Asia, environmental risks were the second-biggest factor due to the effects of high pollution levels in many of the region's major cities.

Mercer said the number of insurers investing in initiatives to enable quality-focused care that guide members to the right care options more quickly has more than doubled.

Globally, 63 per cent of insurers are helping members make smarter healthcare choices by providing education, tools and incentives to drive positive behaviour.