SINGAPORE — A scheme to help insurance policyholders facing financial difficulties was extended on Friday (Sept 18) after some 33,600 health and life insurance policyholders applied for more time to pay premiums while maintaining their coverage.

The relief measures were first announced on March 31 by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Life Insurance Association (LIA) and General Insurance Association (GIA), among others, to help those affected by the economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The original deadline of Sept 30 has now been extended, in some cases until the end of 2021.

Individuals with life and health insurance may now apply for a premium deferment of up to six months if their payment due date or policy renewal date falls between Oct 1, 2020 and March 31, 2021, LIA said in a statement.

Those who have already deferred their payments under the earlier scheme can extend the deferment by another three months or work out other payment arrangements with their insurers or financial advisers.

Applications will be assessed according to individual insurers’ considerations, LIA said.

Life insurers and financial advisers are also engaging their policyholders who are on deferred premium plans to review their policies, it added.

LIA's president Khor Hock Seng said: “In addition, individual insurers also have their own initiatives to help their policyholders to tide through the current situation.” 

NTUC Income, for example, said on Friday that it has extended by six months until March 2021 its 20 per cent discount for insurance premiums for motorcycles registered for delivery businesses.

For policyholders of general insurance policies, such as those for homes and cars, they will have until Dec 31, 2021 to apply to their insurers for flexible premium instalment payment plans while maintaining their insurance protection for the paid-up period, GIA said.

GIA's president Craig Ellis said: “The general insurance sector will continue to respond swiftly and with agility to support our customers now and beyond the pandemic. We are committed to ensure our customers remain protected during this challenging period.”

About 33,600 life and health insurance policyholders have applied to temporarily stop paying their premiums as of Sept 11, an MAS spokesperson said on Friday in response to TODAY’s queries. Eighty-nine per cent of these applications were approved.

Another 1,406 policyholders had asked to switch to flexible instalment plans for general policies in the same period and 88 per cent had their requests approved, MAS said.