"Dear Wilfred, Recently there was in the news of a girl who was diagnosed with a bone cancer at just six. After fighting for 6 years, she passed away leaving her parents in debt and an estimated medical cost of a whopping $400,000. I heard from my friend there is insurance to pay for this. Where can I buy one for my son? What is your experience in handling such a case? – C"

Dear C,

From the newspaper article it seems that the medical cost is due to surgery and chemotherapy from NUH. Personally I am surprised NUH’s cost was so high. The majority of the medical bill can be covered from the integrated private shield plan. The premium is less than $300 per year for age less than 31. However, what was not stated in the article was the lost of income of the girl’s father who had to take no-pay leave. The amount of the lost of income were not mentioned but this could have been catered for by insuring on the life of the child using a life insurance with a critical illness coverage.

I have no experience handling claims related to cancer. However, almost on a monthly basis I’ll have at least one client or their dependents being admitted to hospital for various reasons. The most recent one was in early June 2009 in which a 24 year old client was hospitalized to Raffles Hospital for ovarian cyst operation. The hospital bill was $15,136.66 and the insurer paid $13,622.99. Her premium for this insurance was only $242.00 per year. You can approach any independent financial adviser if you feel you need to have your child properly covered.