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Claim criteria widened for two CPF insurance schemes

SINGAPORE — Central Provident Fund (CPF) members with terminal illness and total permanent disability but are still able to work will qualify for claims under the Home Protection Scheme (HPS) and Dependants’ Protection Scheme (DPS), after Parliament passed changes to the definition of “incapacity” under the CPF Act on Monday (Feb 29).

SINGAPORE — Central Provident Fund (CPF) members with terminal illness and total permanent disability but are still able to work will qualify for claims under the Home Protection Scheme (HPS) and Dependants’ Protection Scheme (DPS), after Parliament passed changes to the definition of “incapacity” under the CPF Act on Monday (Feb 29).

Currently, those with terminal illnesses or permanent disability, but who are still able to do some form of work, do not fall within the definition of incapacity and do not qualify to make claims. Terminal illness refers to individuals with a remaining lifespan of less than a year while disability refers to the loss of two eyes, two limbs or one eye and one limb.

The changed definition for these insurance schemes, which protect families in the event of death or disability, were aimed at reducing the number of members dropping out, said Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say.

In addition, insured members with insufficient savings in their Ordinary Account (OA) will now also be able to use the OA savings of other co-owners including children, parents or siblings to help pay for their HPS premiums. Previously, this was only extended to spouses who were co-owners of the home.

“By allowing greater households support for the payment of HPS premiums, we can reduce the risk of lapsed insurance coverage due to non-payment of HPS premiums,” said Mr Lim, who revealed that about 4,000 to 5,000 policy-holders drop out of HPS for various reasons.

Mr Lim added that he hopes the changes will help 1,000 to 2,000 of these policy holders overcome constraints they face in paying for their premiums.

The Ministry of Manpower said premiums for these two schemes will not change with the revised claim criteria to include terminal illness or total permanent disability.

Mr Pritam Singh (Aljunied GRC) suggested the schemes be expanded to cover individuals with pre-existing conditions, similar to the approach taken with MediShield Life.
In response, Mr Lim said homeowners with cancer, kidney failure and heart conditions will be excluded from the schemes but the CPF Board will also consider the severity of the illness.

“At the end of the day, we need to strike a balance between taking care as many homeowners as we can, and at the same time, be fair to other homeowners, bearing in mind (that it) is a risk pooling programme,” added Mr Lim.

Other legislative amendments to the CPF Act passed include allowing CPF members aged 55 years and above who have set aside the Basic Retirement Sum to transfer savings from their accounts to their spouses’, in line with the CPF Advisory Panel’s recommendations that kicked in this year. Medical institutions and approved insurers who make wrong or unauthorised claims can also face administrative penalties.

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