You’ve probably bought NTUC travel insurance at least once in your life. Since NTUC is the household name of household names, it’s no surprise that NTUC Income is one of the biggest travel insurance providers in Singapore.
However, NTUC Income travel insurance plans’ premiums are notoriously expensive. Also, legends and rumours have it that NTUC’s insurance are difficult to claim too.
Are those hearsay about NTUC travel insurance true? Let’s find out.
Contents
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- NTUC Travel Insurance: Summary
- NTUC Travel Insurance Coverage
- NTUC Travel Insurance Pre-Existing Conditions
- NTUC Travel Insurance Covid Coverage
- NTUC Travel Insurance: Extreme Sports
- NTUC vs MSIG vs AXA Travel Insurance
- NTUC vs FWD Travel Insurance
- NTUC Travel Insurance Promo Code
- NTUC Travel Insurance Claim
- Should I buy NTUC Travel Insurance?
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1. NTUC Travel Insurance Summary
NTUC Income has two travel insurance plans:
- NTUC Travel Insurance Standard
- NTUC Income Enhanced PreX (covers pre-existing medical conditions)
Each travel insurance plan is then further sub-divided into 3 plan tiers which provide different amounts of coverage:
- Classic/ Basic PreX
- Deluxe/ Superior PreX
- Preferred/ Prestige PreX (most expensive)
The premiums you will pay for your travel insurance plan largely depends on the country you’re travelling to. Usually, the further your country of destination, the more expensive your travel insurance plan will be. Here are the countries that are covered by NTUC travel insurance:
- ASEAN: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam
- Asia: Australia, China (no Mongolia, Tibet), Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Macau, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, ASEAN
- Worldwide: All countries
- Countries not covered: Afghanistan, Iraq, Liberia, Sudan, Syria
2. NTUC Travel Insurance Coverage
Let’s first take a look at the NTUC Travel Insurance Standard plans first. Here’s a quick look at the premiums and coverage for the NTUC Travel Insurance Standard plans:
| NTUC Travel Insurance | Classic | Deluxe | Preferred |
| Price (ASEAN) | $61/week | $75/week | $98/week |
| Price (Asia) | $70/week | $88/week | $122/week |
| Price (Worldwide) | $137/week | $156/week | $195/week |
| Overseas medical expenses | $250,000 | $300,000 | $350,000 |
| Emergency medical evacuation | (Under medical expenses) | – | – |
| Personal accident (death, TPD) | $100,000 | $125,000 | $200,000 |
| Travel delay ($100/6 hours) | $1,000 | $1,500 | $2,000 |
| Trip cancellation | $5,000 | $10,000 | $15,000 |
| Baggage delay ($200/6 hours) | $1,000 | $1,200 | $2,000 |
| Baggage loss | $3,000 | $5,000 | $8,000 |
| Sports & Adventure | Some (Scuba diving, hiking, skiing covered) | ||
| Covid-19 | Yes | ||
At $250,000 to $350,000, NTUC travel insurance’s overseas medical coverage is adequate compared to some of its competitors such as Sompo travel insurance‘s $100,000 to $200,000 overseas medical limits.
However, do note that emergency medical evacuation shares the same overseas medical expense claim limit – which may not be sufficient if you ran into an adverse medical situation abroad and require both immediate treatment and a medical flight home to Singapore. If medical coverage is important to you, FWD travel insurance‘s medical coverage is some of the highest.
Total Premium
S$24.30
- Med. Coverage (Overseas)
- S$200,000
- Trip Cancellation
- S$7,500
- Loss/Damage of Baggage
- S$3,000
- Total PremiumTotal Premium
S$32.4025% Off - S$24.30
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One great advantage of the NTUC travel insurance is the high trip cancellation coverage ranging from $5,000 to $15,000. Other travel insurance providers such as Great Eastern is offering $2,000 to $15,000, while AIG offers $2,500 to $5,000 only.
3. NTUC Travel Insurance Pre-Existing Conditions
NTUC Income is one of the few insurers in Singapore that provide comprehensive travel insurance plans that cover pre-existing medical conditions, such as asthma, eczema, diabetes, high blood pressure, even heart disease. The other two that cover pre-existing conditions are MSIG travel insurance and Etiqa travel insurance.
The most obvious difference between a Pre-Ex travel insurance plan and a regular travel insurance plan is, of course, price. The cheapest NTUC PreX plan costs over twice the price of a regular NTUC travel insurance plan!
For those who have major health problems, you don’t have much of a choice. There’s no point buying a cheap normal insurance with no coverage for you at all, because you definitely will not be able to claim medical expenses, evacuation costs or travel delays linked to a flare-up of your condition.
It is especially worth the money if your condition is either life-threatening or very expensive to treat overseas.
However, if you have a condition that’s pure suffering not immediately life-threatening, such as eczema, then it is your choice whether you want to spend more on Pre-Ex travel insurance for better coverage.
It’s important to look at the coverage limits if you’re seriously considering pre-existing travel insurance. Why? If you’re travelling to somewhere with really expensive healthcare, like Europe or the US, you might want to upgrade to the Enhanced PreX Prestige plan.
NTUC Enhanced PreX Travel Insurance Premiums and Coverage:
| NTUC Enhanced PreX Travel Insurance | Basic PreX | Superior PreX | Prestige PreX |
| Price (ASEAN) | $102/week | $128/week | $149/week |
| Price (Asia) | $121/week | $156/week | $183/week |
| Price (Worldwide) | $194/week | $240/week | $277/week |
| Overseas medical expenses | $500,000 | $500,000 | $1,000,000 |
| Emergency medical evacuation | (Under medical expenses) | – | – |
| Personal accident (death, TPD) | $200,000 | $200,000 | $500,000 |
| Travel delay ($100/6 hours) | $1,500 | $1,500 | $2,000 |
| Trip cancellation | $10,000 | $10,000 | $15,000 |
| Trip postponement | $1,000 | $1,000 | $2,000 |
| Baggage delay ($200/6 hours) | $1,200 | $1,200 | $2,000 |
| Baggage loss | $5,000 | $5,000 | $8,000 |
| Sports & Adventure | Limited (scuba diving, hiking, skiing covered) | ||
| Covid-19 | Yes | ||
Is NTUC’s travel insurance for pre-existing medical conditions any good? For one, NTUC PreX travel insurance covers Covid-19 while MSIG Pre-Ex and Etiqa Pre-Ex don’t cover you for Covid. So, if you want both pre-existing medical conditions and Covid-19 coverage in your travel insurance, NTUC Enhanced PreX is your only choice.
Even though NTUC Pre-Ex travel insurance offers you Covid coverage, the downside is that they’ve lowered the medical benefits you get. For example, NTUC PreX’s overseas medical and emergency medical evacuation coverage share a total claim limit of $500,000 for its basic plan tier. MSIG Pre-Ex basic offers $250,000 medical and $1,000,000 evacuation, while Etiqa Pre-Ex basic offers $200,000 medical and $1,000,000 evacuation.
Otherwise, NTUC PreX’s miscellaneous trip cancellation and baggage delay benefits are pretty good.
Total Premium
S$70.50
- Med. Coverage (Overseas)
- S$75,000
- Trip Cancellation
- S$5,000
- Loss/Damage of Baggage
- S$3,000
- Total Premium
- S$70.50
4. NTUC Travel Insurance Covid Coverage
Whether you buy a NTUC Travel Insurance Standard or a NTUC Enhanced PreX Travel Insurance, you’ll be assured to know that all NTUC travel insurance plans automatically come with Covid-19 coverage.
You won’t find the Covid-19 coverage table in the usual NTUC travel insurance policy wordings. Instead, there’s a separate NTUC travel insurance Covid-19 policy wording document that you should refer to.
NTUC travel insurance’s Covid-19 coverage and benefits:
| NTUC Travel Insurance Covid Coverage (covers PreX) | |
| Trip cancellation | $2,000 |
| Trip postponement | $2,000 |
| Trip shortening | $2,000 |
| Trip disruption | $1,000 |
| Medical expenses overseas | $150,000 |
| Emergency medical evacuation | $150,000 |
| Overseas quarantine allowance ($100/day) | $1,400 |
Few of us really scrutinise the individual coverage limits on our travel insurance, trusting that they do cover the bare essentials.
The good news is that NTUC travel insurance’s Covid-19 extension is simple, and adequate. Take Covid-19 overseas medical coverage for example, NTUC offers $150,000 while MSIG’ basic plan offers $75,000. Then, there’s overseas Covid-19 quarantine cash allowance, which NTUC gives $100 per day, up to $1,400, but Etiqa’s basic plan offers $100 per day, up to $500 only.
5. NTUC Travel Insurance: Extreme Sports
However, there is one area where it falls short. NTUC travel insurance does not cover a whole lot of adventurous activities. Common vacation activities like scuba diving and skiing are covered, but extreme thrill seekers may want to go for a more lenient insurance provider such as Direct Asia travel insurance which properly covers extreme sports and martial arts.
| Extreme Sports & Outdoor Adventure | NTUC Travel Insurance |
| Hot air balloon | Not stated |
| Scuba diving | Yes (up to 30m) |
| Skiing and other ice/snow sports | Yes |
| Hiking or trekking | Yes (up to 4,000m) |
| Mountaineering or outdoor rock climbing | No (but man-made walls are ok) |
| Marathons and other competitions | No |
| Jet skiing | Not stated |
| White water rafting | Not stated |
| Skydiving | No |
| Paragliding, hang gliding or parachuting | No |
| Bungee jumping | No |
It’s actually adequate if you’re looking to just snorkel or take a hot air balloon ride with an instructor or guided tour group with a licensed outdoor adventure operator. I mean, any other type of adventure sounds like it’ll induce a terrible backache…
6. NTUC vs MSIG vs AXA Travel Insurance
If you’re considering NTUC travel insurance, you would be comparing it against established household insurance providers such as MSIG and AXA travel insurance plans as well.
| NTUC Travel Insurance | MSIG Travel Insurance | AXA Travel Insurance | |
| Price (per week) | $61 – $195 | $61 – $201 | $43.12 – $177.80 |
| Covid-19 (per week) | Included | Included | Included |
| Medical Expenses (Overseas) | $250,000 – $350,000 | $250,000 – $1,000,000 | $30,000 – $300,000 |
| Emergency Medical Evacuation | (Under medical expenses) | $1,000,000 | $100,000 – Unlimited |
| Trip Cancellation | $5,000 – $15,000 | $5,000 – $15,000 | $1,000 – $6,000 |
| Baggage Loss | $3,000 – $8,000 | $3,000 – $7,500 | $0 – $5,000 |
All three insurers, NTUC, MSIG, and AXA offer Covid-19 coverage in their travel insurance plans automatically.
In terms of overseas medical expenses, MSIG offers higher coverage than NTUC travel insurance. However, when it comes to other travel and logistics related coverage such as trip cancellation, and baggage loss, NTUC and MSIG travel insurance plans’ coverage are pretty much on par. All things considered, NTUC and MSIG travel insurance plans are shockingly similar and competitive. The one key difference is the emergency medical evacuation coverage – NTUC travel insurance parks that under the overseas medical expense limit.
7. NTUC vs FWD Travel Insurance
When you contend NTUC travel insurance against one the most popular “budget” travel insurance providers, FWD, you’ll realise that the travel insurance offerings are very similar and competitive.
| NTUC Travel Insurance | FWD Travel Insurance | |
| Price (per week) | $61 – $195 | $50 – $105 |
| Covid-19 (per week) | Included | $20.60 – $34.04 |
| Medical Expenses (Overseas) | $250,000 – $350,000 | $200,000 – $1,000,000 |
| Emergency Medical Evacuation | (Under medical expenses) | Unlimited |
| Trip Cancellation | $5,000 – $15,000 | $7,500 – $15,000 |
| Baggage Loss | $3,000 – $8,000 | $300 – $1,000 |
Between NTUC travel insurance and FWD travel insurance, premiums are actually largely on par if you’re considering a basic travel insurance plan with Covid-19 coverage. FWD is more value for money if you’re considering the highest tier premium plan.
However, you’ll notice that FWD’s medical coverage is way higher. However, the baggage and personal belongings loss department is sorely lacking with only $300 to $1,000 in claim limits – negligible if you’re a generally careful person.
8. NTUC Travel Insurance Promo Code
Even though many Singaporeans probably don’t mind paying more for NTUC travel insurance just because it’s a household brand name, their travel insurance plans are actually pretty expensive.
However, with ongoing promotions like the current 40% discount promo, it can be value for money. For example, if you wanted to go temple-hopping for a week in Myanmar, the cheapest Classic plan would cost just $22.80 after discount. For example, here are the premiums you’ll be paying with the current 40% discount promo:
| NTUC Travel Insurance (40% discount) | Classic | Deluxe | Preferred |
| Price (ASEAN) | $36.60/week | $45/week | $58.80/week |
| Price (Asia) | $42/week | $52.80/week | $73.20/week |
| Price (Worldwide) | $82.20/week | $93.60/week | $117/week |
Unfortunately, NTUC’s promotions tend to exclude the NTUC Enhanced PreX plans. That’s a shame because the Enhanced PreX plans are some of the most expensive travel insurance plans on the market.
You’ll also get a discounted pre-departure PCR test at $112 at any Raffles Medical clinic after you purchase your NTUC travel insurance.
9. NTUC Travel Insurance Claim
If you follow insurance threads on forums, or even talk to your friends about insurance claims over kopi, you’ll be aware of NTUC Income’s bad claims reputation. Unfortunately, online forums such as Hardwarezone and Reddit are full of similar stories from users claiming that their NTUC insurance claims were slow, long-drawn, and plagued with difficulties According to the users’ NTUC claim experience, there was also much emphasis on the need for original invoices to be submitted.
To be fair, in between these nasty stories, you’ll also find users who managed to smoothly claim from NTUC insurance and received their cheques in the mail.
NTUC Travel Insurance Emergency hotline: Call the NTUC emergency assistance hotline at +65 6338 1222
Here’s where it gets confusing. Find the claim that you’re making and the “correct” way to submit the claim. Super important: all claims must be made within 30 days of the event or incident.
NTUC Travel insurance online claims: Submit NTUC travel insurance claims online with supporting documents such as invoice, flight itinerary, police report, etc. through their website. You can do so for the following benefits:
- Trip cancellation
- Trip shortening
- Travel delay
- Baggage delay
- Loss and damage of baggage or personal belongings
NTUC Hard copy claims: For medical expenses, you need to fill in the NTUC travel insurance claim form, and drop off the hard copy form with the supporting documents such as hospital bill, medical report, boarding pass, etc. at an NTUC Income branch,
NTUC Email claims: For claims that do not involve travel inconveniences (see above) and medical expenses (see above), you’ll need to fill in the NTUC travel insurance claim form digitally, and email it together with your supporting documents to [email protected] Include your travel policy number in the subject line.
NTUC Claims settlement time: If there is no dispute, NTUC Income will settle your claims within 10 working days, or longer during high-volume travel periods like school holidays.
10. Conclusion: Should I buy NTUC Travel Insurance?
NTUC travel insurance isn’t the absolute cheapest around, but their regular travel insurance plans are very affordable and value for money when there’s a 40% promotion going on.
However, just because it’s a brand name doesn’t mean that their coverage is the highest in town, especially when you compare it against newcomers like FWD. That’s not a problem for most travellers though, unless you’re going to a super expensive country or encounter some unusual scenario.
For most Singaporeans who just want to eat, chill and relax on holiday, NTUC travel insurance is more than adequate. Especially, because it also provides Covid-19 coverage. But it does not cover more thrilling activities like skydiving and other extreme sports.
If you have a pre-existing medical condition, NTUC Enhanced PreX is one of the very few travel insurance options for you. It is pricey for sure, but probably worth the money if you have a life-threatening condition like asthma or heart disease. Make sure that the plan is sufficient to cover your overseas expenses and/or evacuation.
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