HEALTH Minister Khaw Boon Wan is considering raising the amount of insurance that employers must buy for foreign workers who are on work permits.
He said the $5,000 minimum, set at the beginning of last year, might no longer be adequate.
He made this point at a dialogue yesterday when presented with a scenario involving a maid who had incurred $10,000 in medical expenses while she was covered for only half that amount.
Mr Khaw agreed that such cases were becoming more common and even shared his own tale of an employer who had gone to see him. Her Filipino maid had died from tuberculosis after three weeks in an intensive care unit (ICU).
'For some reason, it was not picked up at the medical check-up...but whatever it was, the poor lady succumbed to tuberculosis, and spending three weeks in an ICU is very costly,' he said. The bill came up to $20,000, he added.
When the $5,000 threshold was set, data showed that only one in 10 foreign workers was racking up bills of more than $5,000.
Mr Khaw said it was no longer uncommon for that amount to be exceeded. He noted: 'We may have to think about raising $5,000 to something else. A lot depends on how much the premium increase will be.'
He said that when he bought coverage of up to $20,000 for his own maid, he found the increase 'quite inexpensive'. 'It was just an extra few dollars a month...Pay a few dollars more a month, you have peace of mind,' he said.
Mr Khaw then took a quick survey of the more than 100 people at the dialogue, asking for a show of hands from those who supported a move for higher insurance cover for foreign workers.
Read the full story in today's edition of The Straits Times.
