The current minimum insurance coverage worth SGD15,000 for domestic helpers is sufficient, according to Minister of State for Manpower Sam Tan.

Tan said in Parliament on Monday that the insurance coverage was enough to cover 97% of all in-patient and day surgery costs for domestic helpers in the past three years. Out of 1,900 cases, only 170 exceeded the SGD15,000 limit, revealed Tan. That translated to around 57 cases a year.

“For these cases, [employers] can actually seek help from the medical social workers for assistance in defraying part of the medical cost, if they genuinely have difficulty in meeting medical bills,” Tan was quoted as saying by Channel News Asia.

Tan was responding to a question by Labour MP Patrick Tay, who inquired whether the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) is looking into introducing policy enhancements to help employers deal with “unexpected and huge medical bills” in case their domestic helpers are diagnosed with mental and critical illnesses that are not within the scope of the compulsory insurance.

According to Tan, employers can buy insurance with higher coverage, and the MOM will spearhead efforts to increase awareness of such insurance products. He argued against increasing the minimum insurance coverage as this would lead to higher premiums, affecting all employers.