Lifestyle

Everything You Need To Know About Freelancer Insurance in S’pore

2021-02-19 , 4:47 pm

Last Updated on 2021-02-26 , 3:49 pm

To be your own boss is both a blessing and a curse at the same time.

Although you get to set your working hours and what jobs you want to focus on, there are certain things you are missing out on as compared to your companions that have a full-time job – medical benefits.

That is where insurance for freelancers come in. Here’s everything you need to know about freelancer insurance in Singapore.

What type of Insurance should you get?

There are 4 main types of insurance everyone should look into:

Life – This insurance is more for your love ones for the money will only be claimable after your death. This is important if you are the sole breadwinner of your family or if you have dependents.

Health – If you become critically ill, get injured or become disabled, this insurance will kick in. All Singaporeans are covered under MediShield Life but if you want higher coverage, you can upgrade to an Integrated Shield Plan for higher coverage.

Critical Illness – If you are suddenly diagnosed with cancer or you have a heart attack, you will thank your past self for buying this plan.

Personal Accident – If you are working in manual labour or in a job that requires you to move around a lot, this plan is important for you.

As freelancers, our income is not stable. Sometimes money is tight and we are not able to do our regular payments. That’s why we need more flexible insurance plans.

Here are some flexible insurance plans for you to choose from:

BIT Sized insurance

Remember the piggy bank that you used to keep your spare change? NTUC Income SNACK has the same idea.

SNACK lets you buy term life, personal accident and critical illness insurance without the commitment and lump sum of cash.

Instead of paying for the insurance by signing a plan, SNACK lets you pay for it whenever you perform a transaction.

The app can be linked to your Ez-link card, Fitbit or Burpple where it will automatically purchase any micro-policies when the trigger for that activity is set off.

Their micro-policies start as little as $0.30.

These micro-insurance coverages will be stacked over 360 days. This means every time you purchase coverage through your action, it will cover you for 360 days.

You can also set a weekly cap of up to $50. The amount can be adjusted in the app.

FLIP (Freelancer Income Protection)

Gigacover offers a Freelancer Income Protection that allows you to get paid despite being on MC for over 5 days or hospitalised for more than 3 days.

You can get daily cash benefits between $50 to $200.

The maximum number of days that you will be paid is 3 weeks for normal MCs and 12 weeks for hospitalisation leaves.

Gigacover plans start at $13/month.

Freelancer CashPlus

MSIG offers Freelancer CashPlus. It allows you to claim cash benefits if you are on medical leave for more than 5 days or hospitalised for more than 3 days.

The maximum number of days that you can claim is 21 days per policy year for MCs and 60 days per policy year for hospitalisation.

If you are aged 18-30, working in an office or doing non-manual work, you can claim a daily cash benefit of $80 to $120 a day.

Additionally, there are weekly and monthly policy payment options for you to choose from.

Premium starts at $6.89/week.

CareShield Life

Careshield Life is a compulsory insurance plan for people that is born after 1980.

It will give you a certain amount of money every month if you become severely disabled and require long-term medical care.

The premium for CareShiled Life costs $206/year for men and $253/year for women. The premium will increase by 2% per year for the first five years.

The insurance will be paid via your Medisave account. If there is not enough money there, you can use your spouse or your other family member’s Medisave account. You can also use cash to top up your account.

When it comes to insurance plans, get what you need and don’t anyhow sign all the plans. After all, insurance is the kind of money you wish you would never need to get back.

Feature Image: Jirsak/ Shutterstock.com