Income policyholders on existing Integrated Shield Plans with riders that cover hospital bills in full will have to co-pay part of their bills when their policies are renewed.

For this co-payment to be capped at $3,000 a year, policyholders must go to a doctor from an approved list.

While there are specialities on the list with more than 30 approved doctors, there are also some specialities with only one doctor, such as geriatric fractures and paediatric medicine (gastroenterology).

It is also stated that the list will be updated from time to time.

What happens if a doctor is no longer on the list? Does it mean a patient will have to re-establish a patient-doctor relationship with a new doctor on the list, assuming one can be found?

Will I now end up with a long wait to get an appointment, if the speciality I require has only one approved doctor?

Policyholders like myself are unable to change insurers now as pre-existing illnesses have set in.

This predicament was previously highlighted by MP Tan Wu Meng in Parliament.

Will each insurer be required to ensure that there is a sufficient number of approved doctors to choose from? And if a speciality is not represented in the list of approved doctors, what are policyholders' options?

Tan Siak Khian