This might be a solution to the dearth of such plans for professionals. An insurance brokerage, Cornerstone Planners, believes it has found an answer to the dearth of professional 'portable' medical plans.

The firm's managing director, Michael Lee, has structured hospital and surgical plans for professional associations, such as the Singapore Dental Association and Singapore Computer Society, where members enjoy wholesale premium rates for their health schemes. The plans boil down to individual hospital plans, priced more cheaply than commercially available plans. Members have to be strictly underwritten as individuals. The catch is that the associations' members may not be able to carry the plans with them if they retire, change professions or drop their memberships. Still, members could be covered if they changed employers or were retrenched--as long as they stayed within the profession.

Over the last couple of years, there has been a lot of talk about the need for 'portable' medical plans that workers could take with them through job changes, retrenchment or retirement. It has been difficult for insurers to convert existing group schemes into portable individual schemes as re-insurers sought to charge a loading for portability, making the plans too costly for companies to maintain.

Health Minister Lim Hng Kiang recently hinted in Parliament that MediShield may form the foundation for a portable medical scheme. He said a 'quantum leap in coverage' may be in store for the scheme, as well as a change in its premium structure, and substantially higher premium rates. This is because MediShield coverage is expected to be extended for life, instead of stopping at 80.

The Dental Association's plan, underwritten by Great Eastern Life, started some 11 years ago, and premiums have risen only marginally. The basic plan, for instance, charges a premium of $93. The premium rate some 11 years ago was $89, and was adjusted upwards once after seven years. The rate is comparable to group premiums. The benefits include a daily room and board benefit of $125 for a maximum of 90 days, for instance.

Mr. Lee believes that the arrangement of health schemes through professional associations is a way for small companies to obtain low insurance rates, which they are unable to get on a group basis presently. 'If today I ran a small firm with five people I'd never be able to get such rates. The savings in premiums are much more than the subscription for a membership in the association. There is safety in numbers.'

He adds: 'This is a prelude to portable health insurance. Instead of employers buying a group plan, where they are charged higher premiums if they are a small group, they could get their staff to be association members, and pay through such a scheme.'

When asked if members could maintain their plans if they stopped working, Dr. Tang Kok Weng, the Association's president, said such an instance was 'untested'. 'Our scope as a profession is narrow, we remain dentists for the rest of our lives. If someone stops practising, then there is no reason to be a member. If so, of course, the policy lapses.'

Genevieve Cua
Business Times, Jun 13, 2002, Page: 6