What happens to your Singapore insurance when you move overseas. Why the window before you leave matters more than you think.

Key things to note:

Not all your home country insurance policies work the same way when you are living overseas.
Know what travels with you and what does not. The NHS largely replaces Singapore health insurance for day-to-day needs in the UK. But that does not mean you should cancel your policies.
Critical illness coverage is the most important one to review and top up before you leave.
The window before departure is the best time to make changes. Underwriting is easier and cheaper before you go.
Small practical things matter too. Like updating your credit card details before you leave.

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If you are relocating internationally, one of the most overlooked things to sort before you leave is your insurance. Every country’s system is different but the principles of what to review, what to keep and what gaps appear when you move are surprisingly universal. This post covers our experience as a Singaporean family relocating to London, but the questions you need to ask apply wherever you are moving from.

We are the kind of people who do an annual insurance review. Our financial advisor has been with us for years and we sit down at least once a year to make sure our coverage still makes sense for where we are in life.

With the London move becoming real and the departure date getting closer, I reached out in April. Not because anything had gone wrong, but because I wanted to make sure we had our affairs in order before we left.

If you are planning to relocate, do this review before you go. Here is what we learned.

What actually travels with you when you move overseas

Not all insurance continues to be relevant or useful when you are living in another country.

What continues and remains relevant internationally:

Your term life insurance continues regardless of where you live. Claims can be made internationally.

Your critical illness insurance also generally continues internationally. The payout is a lump sum regardless of where you are when you make a claim.

Children’s policies such as accident insurance generally continue without issue.

What becomes less relevant:

In Singapore, MediShield Life and your Integrated Shield Plan cover hospitalisation in Singapore and limited overseas emergency treatment. They will not cover day to day healthcare needs in London. However the NHS fills that gap for UK residents so this is less of a concern than it sounds.

CareShield and Dependants’ Protection Scheme are Singapore specific schemes. They continue but their benefits are primarily relevant when you return.

If you are relocating from another country, check with your insurer which policies have international coverage and which are tied to your home country’s healthcare system.

Why we are keeping our Singapore hospitalisation policies even though we will be in London

The answer is simple: we are moving for two to three years, not forever.

When we return to Singapore, we will want our existing hospitalisation coverage intact. If we cancel now and try to reinstate when we are back, we will face fresh medical underwriting. Any health conditions that arose during our London years could be excluded or result in higher premiums. The cost of maintaining the policies during our London years is far less than the risk of losing coverage on our return.

For any fixed term move, keeping your home country health policies running is worth the continued premium. Think carefully before cancelling anything you may want to reinstate later.

Critical illness: the most important review before you leave

Critical illness (CI) insurance pays out a lump sum when you are diagnosed with a covered condition such as cancer, heart attack or stroke. It is not about covering medical bills. It is about replacing your income and covering life expenses during what can be a long recovery period.

MAS and MoneySense in Singapore recommend having CI coverage of at least 3 to 5 times your annual income, based on an average recovery period of five years during which you may be unable to work. This benchmark is a useful starting point regardless of which country you are in.

When we reviewed our existing CI coverage, we realised we were below this benchmark. So we topped up our coverage significantly before leaving Singapore.

Why before leaving specifically? Because the underwriting process is generally easier and less expensive to complete while you are still in your home country. Once you are overseas, getting new coverage may involve more complexity and cost more. The window before you leave is the right time to review this.

Multipay versus single pay CI: understanding the difference

This is worth understanding before you make any decision. A multipay CI plan pays out multiple times across different claims, for example once for an early stage diagnosis and again if you are later diagnosed with a different or advanced condition.

A single pay CI plan can also pay out twice, once at early or intermediate stage and once at advanced stage of the same condition. The key difference is that multipay covers multiple separate conditions while single pay covers one condition at two stages.

We chose single pay with higher coverage amounts rather than multipay with lower coverage. Our reasoning was personal. Neither side of our family has a history of critical illness so we prioritised higher coverage for a single event over broader multi-condition protection. There is no universally correct answer. It depends on your family history, your financial situation and your priorities.

The children’s education savings plan question

During our review we also explored savings plans for our children’s education. The illustrated returns sounded meaningful. But when we looked more closely, the actual annualised returns were not great. More importantly, these plans come with long lock-in periods of ten years or more. Surrendering early almost always means a loss.

For a family in the middle of an international relocation, a long lock-in plan is not the right fit. You want flexibility. Life is changing in ways that are hard to predict.

We decided against the education savings plans and are exploring more flexible investment options instead. We will write a separate post on this when we have made our decision, including how we are thinking about the UK Junior ISA option during our London years.

The general principle: be cautious about committing to long lock-in financial products in the months before a major life transition.

The small practical thing that saved us a future headache

My credit card, the one all our insurance premiums are charged to, was due to expire in 2027. If you are living overseas when a new card arrives back home, retrieving it and updating all your policies becomes a logistical headache.

I called my bank and requested a new card with a later expiry date. They issued one without any issue. One call. Five minutes. One less thing to worry about from abroad.

Check your credit card expiry date against your planned time overseas. If there is any overlap, request a new card now.

What to take away from all of this

Do your insurance review before you leave, not after. The window matters.

Understand what travels with you and what does not. Do not cancel policies without thinking about what you need when you return.

Review your critical illness coverage against the 3 to 5 times income benchmark. Most people are underinsured here.

Be cautious about long lock-in financial products during a period of transition.

And sort out your credit card expiry date. Seriously.

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We are not financial advisors and this post does not constitute financial advice. It reflects our own experience and decisions, which may not be right for your situation. Please seek advice from a qualified financial advisor before making any changes to your insurance or financial plans.

Some links on this blog may be affiliate links. I only ever recommend things we genuinely use ourselves.

If you found this useful, you might also want to read:

The UK visa process as a Singaporean. What nobody tells you before you apply.

The mental load of relocating while working and parenting. Why you need to give yourself grace.

Have questions about insurance for expats or things I did not cover? Drop them in the comments below.