Q. Post-pandemic, what are some areas that have changed for patients and their families?

Prof Tan: Most of our general practitioners are private enterprises. For them now to be playing a big role in the government-supported scheme Healthier SG, to keep our nation healthy, to devise personalised health plans for individual Singaporeans, is truly a good example of a public-private partnership. It is critical for us to be successful in Healthier SG.

There is also a double silver lining from the pandemic. One is the acceptance of digital healthcare platforms such as teleconsultations and video consultations, which have become much more mainstream. The other is that the pandemic really highlighted the need for mental health and the challenges we have.

To build a healthy population, mental resilience towards adversity, and our ability to address mental health illnesses and see them as part of just another illness that we need to take care of, is a real positive step to remove the stigma associated with mental health.

Even within the hospitals, we are increasingly looking at healthcare and workers’ mental resilience and mental well-being. We are forming what we call Joy At Work in SingHealth, for instance. These are measures to hopefully create a society where we’re more honest with ourselves and more empathetic about mental health issues.

Q. Why is it still so hard to get people to plan for themselves early?

Ms Teo: In our recent Live Better study, two in five actually hadn’t done any financial planning in the last 12 months. What is alarming is that they didn’t know where to start. And while it may seem obvious to some people, there is still that procrastination, and I think it could stem from not anticipating that sometimes life can take a sudden turn.

I think when you are young, you would think: Why would I want to pay a few hundred dollars for medical insurance? But when your health spirals out of control, then what do you do? For instance, an extra pair of spectacles may seem quite basic, but to some people, that extra cost can be a burden or stress.

Second, some could have challenges in sticking to the plan they created – unexpected changes in the macro environment, unforeseen events that led to the loss of income, or additional spending.

We saw that one in three faced unexpected expenses such as family or medical needs, struggled to adhere to budgets consistently, and made impulsive purchases leading to overspending.

Lastly, as with any plan, we often forget that there is a need to recalibrate. For example, young consumers aged 18 to 24 are prioritising their financial wellness early in life by actively investing. But three in five of them do not consciously update their financial goals regularly.

Also, most of us are in the sandwich generation: We take care of parents, kids and ourselves. That’s a lot of moving parts to take care of on an ongoing basis.

Therefore, the secret to passing this important test is having clarity on where your money is going each month and having a disciplined strategy to get your finances in order. You can start by evaluating your financial situation and finding out how much you are earning and spending every month. 

You should also track your expenses and understand what you are spending on. A good starting point would be the 50-30-20 rule. This means allocating 50 per cent of your budget to essentials such as housing, food and transport; 30 per cent towards lifestyle; and finally, 20 per cent for savings, investments and insurance.

Q. How can families take charge of their own health?

Prof Tan: At the start of the panel discussion, you mentioned that you sort of need wealth to enjoy health. I would also say that you really need health to generate wealth.

It comes down to these two points – one is what you eat, and the second is probably what you do. I think research has shown that dietary input is critically important. Disease pattern changes in developing countries versus developed countries, primarily because of dietary changes.

It is true that expensive food doesn’t always mean good food. Food that we ingest in developed countries is often over-processed; we have high fat content, high salt, high sugar, and we lose the fibre, and we lose the natural nutrition that often comes with simple but natural ingredients.

So I think dietary habits are very important, and that it is really good to start when you are young and continue to go that way.

The other thing is what you do or what you don’t do, in some cases. Regular physical activity, and the recommendation would be at least three times a week of physical activity more than 20 minutes a day, is kind of the baseline.

You should have adequate rest in the form of sleep, but even mental rest in the form of awareness and self-reflection or quiet time is important to ensure that you have the physical and mental vitality that is so critically important for the wealth of life.

Q: How should families balance their household planning?

Ms Teo: From what our customers tell us, we realise that there are so many dots for them to join, and it’s not easy for many to understand what they need to do.

This is why we put together the AIA Health360 customer proposition that is all-encompassing in terms of helping them to understand where they can plan for better health and wealth.

Essentially, it builds on four areas – plan well, protect well, be well and live well. 

“Plan well” is really knowing what your financial needs are, what your financial scope of spending is, what your long-term goals are. You can plan by using online calculators available on the MoneySense or CPF websites to see how much people should set aside for their financial needs.

“Protect well” is leveraging the very broad base of products that we offer to our customers. For instance, in anticipation of the “super-aged” population, we launched the AIA Centurion personal accident plan, which also has dementia coverage.

And with dementia, the home-based care element is very real and essential, and that’s what we have built into the product as a holistic coverage for customers.

To be well, we have government restructured hospitals like SGH on our panel; we also have private specialists on our panel. Partnerships are essential in terms of building that holistic ecosystem.

As an insurer and payer of claims, we have seen people being wrongly diagnosed in unfortunate situations. So we partner Teladoc to provide a second opinion and manage the cases. So far, we have had 22 per cent of customers who have a change in diagnosis through the engagement with them. And as a result, 49 per cent have had a change in treatment matters.

Finally, to live well is about taking small but regular steps of eating right, sleeping well and exercising. All these help in terms of providing a holistic health proposition for the customer, and that’s what we do with AIA Health360.

Mr Ho: Families should keep an eye on financial protection, which is very important. So ensure you have adequate coverage for unforeseen events for yourself as well as your family.

Lastly, I would say that your own personal investment is taking care of yourself, making sure that you get out there to do some exercise, just to make sure you’re healthy.

I always believe that insurance is something that you have, but you try not to make use of it. You want to know that you have a safety net, but never want to use that safety net.