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.