Protect Your Savings: Understanding Maid Insurance in Singapore

Your maid is an important part of your household. She cooks, cleans and helps out with the kids, enabling you to focus on quality time with loved ones, your career and activities you enjoy.

But enlisting the assistance of a domestic helper is also a big responsibility. As an employer, you are responsible for your maid’s medical costs. If she falls ill or gets injured, the burden of ensuring the medical bills get paid falls squarely on your shoulders.

During a maid’s illness, a robust maid insurance policy can significantly reduce your financial burden by covering a portion of the medical expenses, allowing you to file a maid insurance claim.

In fact, not having adequate maid insurance coverage has, more than once, put Singaporean employers at risk of losing their life savings.

Maid suffering from multiple organ failure incurs bill of $125,000

According to a March 2021 AsiaOne report¹, a 34-year-old Filipino maid contracted severe blood poisoning and was admitted to the Khoo Teck Puat Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for multiple organ failure. She was later found to also have tuberculosis. The 27-day stay in the hospital resulted in a bill of $120,000.

Upon her release from hospital, she had to be repatriated to the Philippines on a private plane accompanied by a medical team, which amounted to $45,000.

Opting for cheap maid insurance in Singapore left the employers financially vulnerable. The policy’s limited coverage of only $30,000 for medical bills and $10,000 for repatriation resulted in a staggering $125,000 out-of-pocket expense.

Maid suffering from brain aneurysm incurs six-figure bill

According to a March 2023 Today report², a 29-year old Indonesian maid suffered a brain aneurysm and was rushed to the hospital for immediate surgery. She was placed on a ventilator and fed through a tube for over two weeks.

At the time of the report, the hospital expenses incurred were $70,152, with the final medical bill expected to cross the $100,000 mark.

The employers were also intending to repatriate the maid to Indonesia, but the estimated repatriation costs were not published.

The employers’ maid insurance, which had been purchased through their maid agency, would only cover up to $15,000 worth of medical bills and $10,000 worth of repatriation costs.

How can you be sure to avoid the same fate as these hapless employers? By understanding your responsibilities for your maid’s healthcare costs and ensuring you have adequate insurance coverage, you can minimise your out-of-pocket expenses in the event that your maid falls ill.

Sick domestic worker hospitalised.

Employer’s responsibilities towards maid’s healthcare costs

As the employer of a domestic helper, it is very important to understand your responsibilities in terms of healthcare and insurance.

a) Medical costs

The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) stipulates that, as an employer of a migrant domestic worker, you are required to bear all the costs of maintaining your maid’s life in Singapore, including any medical costs that are necessary for her health. This includes the cost of check-ups, routine dental visits and medication. If your maid falls sick or gets injured on her weekly rest day³, you are still required to pay any medical costs incurred.

You are not allowed to make your maid pay for any medical expenses⁴, including any insurance co-payments or deductibles, or any sums not covered by insurance. Even if your maid offers or agrees to pay all or part of her medical costs, you are not allowed to accept.

b) Medical examination

You are responsible for making sure your maid goes for a medical examination⁵ every six months, which should be paid for by you. If your maid fails the medical exam, which can detect pregnancy, HIV, venereal diseases and tuberculosis, she will be repatriated, and her work permit revoked. As the employer, you will have to pay the cost of sending her home.

c) Insurance

You are required to purchase medical insurance that covers at least a part of your maid’s medical expenses.

Another thing to note is that maids are not covered under the Work Injury Compensation Act⁶. Since your maid lives with you and spends almost all her time in your home, it would be difficult to determine if any injuries she suffers are due to work-related activities.

You are thus required to take out personal accident insurance to protect your maid and her family if she should become permanently disabled or pass away.

Maid insurance requirements

As mentioned in the previous section, there are two key types of insurance coverage you must get for your maid—medical and personal accident insurance. Maid insurance policies should offer both types of coverage.

a) Medical insurance for maids

It is compulsory for employers to purchase medical insurance that will cover their maids’ inpatient care and day surgery expenses. These medical bills should be covered whether or not they are incurred due to work-related conditions.

As of 1 July 2023, the maid insurance requirements have become more onerous.

Your maid’s medical insurance policy must now have a claim limit of at least $60,000 per year (up from the previous minimum claim limit of $15,000), with a co-payment of 75% by insurers and 25% by employers for claim amounts above $15,000.

What does 25% employer’s co-payment mean? Suppose your maid has a heart attack and incurs a medical bill of $60,000. The insurer will pay 75% of the bill (75% x $60,000 = $45,000), and the remaining 25% of the bill (25% x $60,000 = $15,000) must be paid by you.

b) Personal accident insurance for maids

You will also need to take out personal accident insurance for your domestic helper.

This policy will offer coverage in the event of sudden, unforeseen and unexpected incidents that result in your maid’s permanent disability or death. In such an event, a lump sum will be paid out to your maid or her beneficiaries, usually her family.

The main rule here is that the policy must have a sum assured of at least $60,000 per year.

Maid’s medical expenses—how much can they be?

As someone residing in Singapore, you might already have an idea of medical costs here. Much has been said about rising healthcare costs in Singapore⁷, which now outpace the cost of treatment in many developed countries such as Japan.

As your maid is neither a Singapore citizen nor a Permanent Resident (PR), she will not be able to benefit from any subsidies.

Astonishingly, public sector medical costs without subsidies can be even higher than private sector prices. For example, a Channel News Asia report⁷ found that testing for Vitamin D levels in the blood costs $106 at specialist outpatient clinics at government hospitals, compared to $95 at private specialists.

As mentioned earlier, employers are responsible for all medical costs incurred by their maids, whether or not they are work-related conditions. These can include but are not limited to the following:

Specialist consultation – $137.89 to $176.69 for first consultation, for subsequent consultations (Singapore General Hospital)
Emergency department attendance fee – $154 (Singapore General Hospital)
Laboratory tests (urine, blood or stool) – $180 to $1,340 depending on condition (Singapore General Hospital)
Hospital ward stays – From $298 per day (Mount Elizabeth Hospital)
ICU stays – $886 per day (Mount Elizabeth Hospital)
Doctors’ inpatient attendance fees – $210 to $630 per day (MOH fee benchmark)
Day surgery – $132 for first 3 hours, thereafter $59 per hour (Mount Elizabeth Hospital)
Medication – varies depending on condition

Here is the estimated cost of hospital bills for some common conditions, based on 2021 figures:

Condition	Hospital bill (based on transacted bills at private hospitals in 2021)
General, viral diseases (e.g. dengue)	$5,767
Ankle, joint fracture re-alignment and repair (conventional surgery, both sides)	$25,999
Airway, lungs infection/inflammation with catastrophic complications	$27,845
Heart attack (without catastrophic or severe implications)	$8,358
Brain, blood clot or bleeding, stroke, with severe complications	$21,792

Domestic worker doing laundry with little girl.

Is your maid insurance enough?

The minimum maid insurance coverage amounts are meant to satisfy bare bones medical treatment needs, but there is no guarantee that the coverage will be sufficient.

As an employer, if you truly want the assurance of protection from massive out-of-pocket costs, it is a good idea to get a maid insurance policy that goes beyond the minimum mandated coverage.

Here are key factors to look out for when choosing a maid insurance policy:

A high minimum claim limit

– A high claim limit gives you the peace of mind in knowing that all or most of your hospital bills can be covered. For instance, HL Assurance’s Maid Protect360 Pro offers an annual claim limit of up to $80,000 per year, as well as a hospital cash benefit of up to $50 per day.
Waiver of co-payment

– The 25% employer’s co-payment can translate to hefty out-of-pocket costs. A maid insurance policy like HL Assurance’s Maid Protect360 Pro waives the employer’s co-payment on hospital and surgical expenses, meaning that 100% of your maid’s hospital bills up to the claim limits can be covered.
Other perks

– A good maid insurance policy will offer additional perks to lighten your financial burden. For example, HL Assurance’s Maid Protect360 Pro offers free medical teleconsultations for both you and your maid and covers you for short-term maids in Singapore or part time domestic helper if your maid needs rest due to illness or injury.

For complete protection from medical expenses incurred by your maid, HL Assurance’s Maid Protect360 PRO offers a comprehensive maid insurance and online support that you and your helper need.