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[2020 Edition] Complete Guide To Buying Maid Insurance In Singapore

Getting comprehensive maid insurance coverage protects employers as much as foreign domestic workers.


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Most people who are looking to engage a maid/foreign domestic worker (FDW) in Singapore wouldn’t overthink about the type of maid insurance policy they buy. At the same time, even financial experts or insurance agents rarely get into the details of what we should be looking out for in a maid insurance policy, let alone the average Singapore family who is employing a maid/FDW at home.

Maid Insurance Is Both Compulsory & Important

To start, if you intend to hire an FDW in Singapore, it’s a MOM requirement to get medical insurance and personal accident coverage for her. Minimum requirements are as such.

– At least $15,000 per year for inpatient care and day surgery during her stay in Singapore.

– Sum assured of at least $60,000, which covers sudden, unforeseen and unexpected incidents resulting in permanent disability or death. This is to protect your helper and her family by providing a lump sum compensation if she has permanent disability or passes away due to an accident.

Since it’s the minimum requirement need by MOM, all maid insurance policies in Singapore will automatically cover this.

The coverage period for any maid insurance policy is either 14 months or 26 months. The reason is that most contracts are either for one year or two years, and MOM requires employers to provide insurance to cover for an additional two months.

You pay a single premium at the start of the coverage period.

Compulsory Coverage May Not Be Sufficient For Many Employers

It’s important to note that as the employer, we are responsible for any medical cost incurred by our FDW while they are in Singapore. MOM requirement is to ensure that we, as employers, have basic protection to protect ourselves against the risk of having to pay a large sum of money for our FDW’s medical expenses.

What this means is that buying a comprehensive maid insurance coverage for our FDW is actually to protect ourselves financially, not our FDW. Employers are encouraged to purchase insurance with higher coverage than the basic requirements needed for greater protection and peace of mind.

Besides getting higher insurance coverage than what’s needed, there are also other add-on insurance coverage benefits that you can enjoy.

# 1 Insurance Guaranteed Bond: This is important as you will be required to put a $5,000 security bond with MOM. The insurer whom you bought the policy from should provide this guarantee.

# 2 Maid’s Personal Belonging Claims: Covers theft or damages for your domestic helper’s belonging.

# 3 Replacement Maid Expenses: Covers the cost of replacing your domestic helper due to death, illness or other valid reasons.

# 4 Repatriation Expenses: Covers the expenses for repatriation should your helper pass on in Singapore.

# 5 Wage Compensation: Provides you with a daily cash payout if your helper is unable to work due to hospitalisation.

# 6 Third Party Liability: Covers employer for legal or third-party liability resulting from your helper’s accidental negligence.

# 7 Critical illness: Provides a small insurance payout in the event of a critical illness.

# 8 Theft: Protect your family belongings in the event of theft from your helper.

It’s important to note that these additional benefits are typically paid to employers to compensate them for financial expenses incurred or losses sustaining from unexpected circumstances.

How To Buy Maid Insurance Policy On Your Own

If you are hiring your FDW through a maid agency, the agency will typically offer to help you get the insurance policy as part of its overall package and to provide you with convenience. If you want, you may be able to opt-out from getting the insurance policy through the agency but that would mean additional paperwork that you need to do on your own.

If you are getting a new insurance policy for your helper’s renewal, you can do it easily through a comparison site like SingSaver, which can . You can also which are provided by the insurers when you get a maid insurance policy from them.

Remember, the cheapest policy isn’t going to be the best, but neither would the most expensive. For some, the lower-cost policies that fulfils MOM requirements would be good enough for them. For others, it could whichever policies provide the highest coverage. So choose what you need wisely.

today.

Read Also: [2020 Edition] How Much Does It Cost To Hire A Maid In Singapore?

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