If you've searched Google for health insurance that covers expats in Singapore then you are probably for looking for established UK based health insurance companies that can cover your medical expenses in Singapore.
Living as an expat in Singapore you want to avoid any nasty unexpected medical costs. In some countries these can run into hundreds of thousands of pounds for very serious medical conditions.
Our advice when shopping around for private medical insurance that covers expatriates living in Singapore is to speak to a insurance broker. Health insurance is extremely complicated and if you want complete certainty that Singapore is covered you should talk with a broker who can explain which providers will cover medical costs for expatriates in Singapore and which will not.
There are many advantages to using a broker but the biggest by far is that you're using their expertise at no cost. They are paid by the insurer (Aviva or Bupa etc) rather than you so it costs you no extra to use their services.
- Do you reside in many different postcodes? Some will give you a lower policy premium than offers. A broker will be able to advise whats best.
- Do you have a hobby that may invalidate your insurance claim? A broker will know this critical information.
- If you are a couple and one of you has claimed on your insurance policy this year would it be cheaper to separate you both onto two different insurance policies?
- You've lean't you're at risk of developing a certain condition and want to know which policy provider offers the biggest amount of cover for it. A broker will know this instantly saving you huge amounts of time and effort.
You can call around every medical insurance provider on the market and ask if they provider cover for expats in Singapore, however this will be a very time consuming process. Each insurer will ask for your medical history because its not normally a simple yes or not if a medical condition is covered or not.
Its far far quicker to speak to one health insurance broker which will know which policy providers on the market offer cover for expats in Singapore and under what conditions they do or don't cover it.
Singapore Information
Tourism in Singapore is a major industry and contributor to the Singaporean economy, attracting more than 19.1 million international tourists in 2019, more than three times Singapore's total population. It is also environmentally friendly, and maintains natural and heritage conservation programs. Along with this, it also has one of the world's lowest crime rates. As English is the dominant one of its four official languages, it is generally easier for tourists to understand when speaking to the local population of the country as a lingua franca, for example, when dining and shopping. Transport in Singapore exhaustively covers most, if not all public venues in Singapore, which increases convenience for tourists. This includes the well-known Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system. Singapore is the 5th most visited city in the world, and 2nd in Asia-Pacific.
The Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report in 2017 ranked Singapore 13th out of 136 countries overall in the world, which was the second best country in Asia, only behind Japan. The report ranks Singapore's business environment, international openness, also travel and tourism policy and enabling conditions as the best in the world (ranked 1st).
The Orchard Road district, which is dominated by multi-storey shopping centres and hotels, can be considered the center of tourism in Singapore. Other popular tourist attractions include the Singapore Zoo, River Safari and Night Safari, which allows people to explore Asian, African and American habitats at night without any visible barriers between guests and the wild animals. The Singapore Zoo has embraced the 'open zoo' concept whereby animals are kept in enclosures, separated from visitors by hidden dry or wet moats, instead of caging the animals, while the River Safari, features 10 different ecosystems around the world, including the River Nile, Yangtze River, Mississippi, Amazon as well as the Tundra and has 300 species of animals, including numerous endangered species.
Jurong Bird Park is another zoological garden centred on birds, which is dedicated towards exposing the public to as much species and varieties of birds from around the world as possible, including a flock of one thousand flamingos. The tourist island of Sentosa, which attracted 19 million visitors in 2011, is located in the south of Singapore, consists of about 20–30 landmarks, such as Fort Siloso, which was built as a fortress to defend against the Japanese during World War II.
Guns from the World War II era can be seen at Fort Siloso, from a mini-sized to a 16 pound (7 kg) gun. Moreover, the island also consists of the Sentosa Luge, a small one- or two-person sled on which one sleighs supine and feet-first. Steering is done by shifting the weight or pulling straps attached to the sled's runners. Among the latest tourists attractions built in Singapore includes the two integrated resorts which houses casinos, namely Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa, a Universal Studios theme park, Gardens by the Bay and Jewel Changi Airport.
Singapore attracted approximately 18.5 million visitors in 2018, according to Singapore Tourism Board. This number increased by 6.2 percent from 2017, which likely is due to an increase in arrivals from Asia, USA, and the United Kingdom. Top three markets included visitors from China, Indonesia, and India, due to strong travel demand and increased flight connectivity. Indian travel also escalated due to new cruise offerings from top cruise lines. Overall, 14 out of Singapore's top 15 markets were able to log growth in the 2018 year and are expected to continue doing so through 2019. Speaking monetarily, increase of tourism receipts was largely due to growth in entertainment, gaming and sightseeing.
Singapore attracted 15,095,152 visitors in 2014, according to the Singapore Tourism Board's statistics, but which excludes Malaysian visitors who visited Singapore via the Causeway or the Second Link. This was a 3% decrease from 2013, due to a decline in arrivals from China, Singapore's second largest market.
Total visitor days was a record 56 million days, a growth of 3%, or an average of 3.7 days per visitor. 21% of visitors were day-trippers, while 79% stayed for a day or more. 78% of visitors arrived by air, 10% by sea, and 12% by land. The largest age group of visitors was from 25 to 34 years old at 23% of visitors, followed by 21% for those aged 35–44 and 17% for those from 45 to 54 years old.
The visitors came from the five biggest markets, mainly Indonesia, People's Republic of China, Malaysia, Australia, and India. But in 2016, People's Republic of China tourists number has overlapped Indonesian tourists number.
Tourism receipts was estimated at S$23.6 billion in 2014, compared to S$18.9 billion in 2010, with Sightseeing, Entertainment & Gaming accounting for 24.7% of total expenditure, Accommodation making up 22.5%, Shopping accounting for 17.4% and Food and Beverage another 9.6%. Medical receipts, representing the medical-tourism industry in the country contributed 4.2%.