Almost All Integrated Shield Plan Insurers are Struggling Based on Latest Financial Results.

The insurers who were in the integrated shield plan business (IP) filed their latest result with MAS.

Havend have compiled the results together with the past results. This means that we have five years of data to review.

I decided to share some of the results tabulated by my colleague here since some might be interested.

Prudential have done very well doubling their underwriting profits from $11 million to $25 million. Income and Singlife are the two insurers with worsening results. Great Easter and RHI have improved.

With this kind of results, I think it is likely that we will see our premiums rising, especially for the highest grade of medical plan that caters for private medical care.

Income Insurance Covers Less Lives in 2024

Almost all insurer show that they have more lives covered except for Income.

Income has showed decline for three consecutive years:

1. 2022: 721k
2. 2023: 720k
3. 2024: 715k

Singlife show a pick up for three consecutive years.

The Big 3 of AIA, Prudential and Great Eastern Collect More Premiums

Almost all insurer are collecting more premiums. Great Eastern shows the most significant change. In fact the big three collected the most premiums.

RHI and Great Eastern Show Improvement in Claims Ratio

Claims ratio is the amount of claims paid out divided by the amount of premiums collected.

Income and Singlife show that the amount of claims paid out is almost same as the premiums collected.

Great Eastern show improvement here, most likely because of the higher total premiums collected. RHI also show improvement.

Income Insurance Has the Highest Number of Claims Per Life, Indicating a Cohort Greying Issue

The number of claims per life shows the degree of claims if we adjust based on the size of the pool of clients. A rising number shows that for each policyholder, more claims are made.

Significant Increase in Number of Claims per Life

• Income: 7.2%
• Prudential: 6.2%
• Great Eastern: 4.3%
• Singlife: 4.0%

RHI claims per life is not increasing but the rest is rising. Among the highest is Income which has reached 51%.

This shows signs that Incomes pool of policyholders may be older and they are not renewing enough younger policyholder to maintain the number of claims per life.

This might explain why Singlife came up with their Singlife Shield Starter series for younger adults because they wish to renew the pool.

The appeal of the Singlife Shield Starter series lies in its affordability, simplicity, and strategic targeting of a key market: younger, healthier Singaporeans. Here’s a breakdown of why it’s attractive:

🎯 1. Affordability for Young Adults

• S$300/year premium (fully payable via MediSave)
• S$1/year rider (Health Plus Starter) for added coverage with just 5% co-payment
• Minimal cash outlay, especially for fresh grads or early-career individuals

👉 Attractive to first-time IP buyers who want protection without straining finances.

⚡ 2. Simplicity & Accessibility

• Only 5 health questions and no medical checkup
• Fully digital application—purchase in minutes via mobile or web
• No agent pressure or complex paperwork

👉 Appeals to digital-native millennials and Gen Z, used to self-service experiences.

🛡️ 3. Decent Base Coverage

• Annual coverage of up to S$20,000 at over 500 preferred private healthcare providers
• Covers inpatient, day surgery, and pre/post-hospitalisation (via rider)

👉 Sufficient for most minor-to-moderate health events at primary specialists.

🔄 4. Future-Proof with Guaranteed Upgrade

• At age 40, auto-upgrades to:
  • Singlife Shield Plan 2 (covers B1 public hospital wards)
  • Health Plus Public Prime rider (up to S$1 million/year)

👉 No medical underwriting required at upgrade—insulates you from future health exclusions.

📊 5. Improves Risk Pool for Insurer

From Singlife’s perspective, the Starter series helps:

• Attract a healthier pool of younger lives
• Balance claims ratios across a portfolio that may be aging
• Introduce new customers into a lifelong product funnel

🔑 Summary: Who It Appeals To

AIA, Income and Singlife are Paying Out the Most Per Policyholder

The average claim per life shows how much the insurer paid out, adjusted to the pool size of their policyholders.

The 4 highest absolute claims paid out:

1. AIA: $874
2. Singlife: $758
3. Income: $734
4. HSBC Life: $550

AIA and HSBC Life is interesting in that both have the 2nd and 3rd lowest number of claims per life but have some of the highest absolute claims.

Singlife and Income are paying out significantly more in 2024.

Financial Performance Review from the Data

We have compiled the underwriting results based on what was submitted by the insurers to MAS.

Each bar represents a year, with the follow breakdown:

• Claims ratio: Incurred claims cost divide by earned premiums.
• Management cost ratio: (Management / Overhead cost) divide by earned premiums
• Distribution cost ratio: (Agent commissions + marketing & acquisition costs) divide by earned premiums
• Underwriting margin: (Earned Premiums – Incurred Claims – Management Costs – Distribution Costs) ÷ (Earned Premiums)

AIA Barely Making any Underwriting Margin

80% of their premiums is paid out as claims. Their scale as a big three have help spread out the management cost. Distribution cost is a consistent 11-12%.

Their underwriting margin have been going down for the past 3 years from $41 mil to $12 mil to $7 mil.

Great Eastern Turn from Loss to Positive Underwriting Margin

By just raising only the premiums for the private grade plan, Great Eastern managed to reverse their 2023 losses to be profitable.

HSBC Life Sinks Deeper into the Red

Insurers with smaller base like HSBC will have 20% management cost compare to 6-8% for GE and AIA.

Their distribution cost is also higher. This leaves less room for margin to be positive. As claims increases, it makes it easier to sink in to the red.

Income Sink Deep into the Red

For the first time, Income is red in underwriting margin. While they have a relatively large policy base to spread the distribution and management cost, they are seeing more and higher claims.

Prudential is Positive but Barely

Prudential has the lowest management cost and was making good profits until the claims picked up the last two years. They improved their underwriting margin.

RHI Narrows their Underwriting Margin Losses.

RHI has some of the highest management cost ratio because of their small base. They are still in a loss but they were able to narrow the loss by controlling the amount of claims and raising the premiums.

They ended up narrowing their losses.

Singlife Widens Their Losses

Singlife have not been profitable for the past three years. They widen their losses each year. While they have controlled their management cost, they had to spend more distribution cost and the amount of claims is more than the increase in premiums collected.

Summary

1. All insurers except Income show that they are covering more lives.
2. Income and Singlife show significant increase in claims ratio in 2024.
3. Great Eastern and RHI show significant decrease in claims ratio in 2024.
4. Significant increase in number of claims per life
   • Income: 7.2%
   • Prudential: 6.2%
   • Great Eastern: 4.3%
   • Singlife: 4.0%
5. Most claims paid out per life
   • AIA
   • Singlife
   • Income
   • HSBC Life
6. RHI and AIA have the highest average claim per claim.
7. The big 3 are profitable but the smaller ones are not.
8. Almost all of them are not earning anything significant except maybe Prudential.

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Kyith worked as an IT operations engineer from 2004 to 2019. Currently, he works as a Senior Solutions Specialist in Insurance Start-up Havend. All opinions on Investment Moats are his own and does not represent the views of Providend.

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