Insurance Companies' Treatment of Re-employed Elderly Workers

Ms Foo Mee Har asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Manpower what can be done to help re-employed elderly workers who are re-assessed as "new cases" by insurance companies upon their reaching the age of 62 and risk being denied coverage for existing medical conditions that were previously covered before re-employment.

BG [NS] Tan Chuan-Jin:

(for the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Manpower): Mr Speaker, Sir, the Retirement and Re-employment Act, which came into effect on 1 January of this year requires employers to re-employ their older workers from age 62 to 65. To enable these employees to continue to be covered by group medical insurance schemes, we understand that most major insurers have extended the coverage of employees up to the age of 65 and beyond. Re-employed employees who have been working for the same company over the years and have been covered by the company's medical insurance schemes typically do not need to be re-assessed as "new cases" for the purpose of insurance coverage in this regard. If an insurance company does not extend the coverage of the scheme up to the age of 65 and also requires re-employed employees to be re-assessed, the employer should work with the insurance company to address this issue so that the medical needs of these employees can continue to be met.

Industry feedback drawn from various briefing and outreach sessions has shown that companies have already raised the coverage of their group medical insurance schemes for their employees to the age of 65, or beyond. In such cases, re-employed workers would continue to enjoy medical benefits under their company's medical insurance schemes. By so doing, they would avoid the risk of being denied coverage for existing medical conditions that were previously covered.

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