Income Travel Insurance Review: Types, Fees and More

What is Income Travel Insurance? Is it Worth it?

If you’re shopping around for a travel insurance plan, chances are that you’ve come across Income Travel Insurance. But that’s hardly surprising considering that it’s one of the biggest household names around.

What makes Income Travel Insurance stand out is that it’s one of the few insurance plans out there which offer coverage for pre-existing medical conditions. On top of that, you’ll also get coverage for COVID-19, along with overseas medical expenses, personal accidents, travel delays, trip cancellations, accommodation expenses,  baggage loss, and more.

However, it’s also one of the most expensive travel insurance policies out there. So, is it worth splashing on? Let's find out!

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Why do you need a travel insurance policy?

But before we dig into the details, you may be wondering if you even require a travel insurance plan in the first place. Afterall, isn’t flying supposedly safer than driving a car?

Well, a travel insurance policy isn’t just when things go seriously wrong. It can also help to mitigate the negative impact of smaller – but no less annoying – mishaps. With a proper plan in place, the policyholder is entitled to benefits during the period of insurance across many events that commonly happen during travel. 

Some good examples are losing your travel documents, damage of baggage, and even travel delays due to natural disasters. Should your flight be postponed due to extreme weather, the airline may not compensate you for having to stay an extra night or two. 

With a travel policy, however, you can make a claim for reimbursement should you encounter difficulty during your trip, allowing for greater peace of mind during travel.

Compare Single Vs Annual Trip Travel Insurance

 

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Income Travel Insurance coverage

1. Coverage for pre-existing medical conditions and emergency evacuation (for Income Travel Insurance Enhanced PreX only)

Income is one of the three insurance providers in Singapore (the other two being MSIG and TIQ) that provides coverage for pre-existing medical conditions, such as asthma, eczema, diabetes and high blood pressure.

You can avail yourself of these benefits by choosing the Income Enhanced PreX version of the policy.

It's worth noting that Income’s Travel Insurance plans combine overseas medical and emergency evacuation limits together, resulting in lower overall coverage. In contrast, both MSIG and TIQ offer separate limits for both claims. 

2. COVID-19 coverage

This plan also covers COVID-19-related inconveniences such as trip cancellations/postponements, medical expenses, quarantine allowance, evacuation costs, and more.

This allows you to recover pre-booked accommodation expenses should you be forced to cancel your trip due to the disease.

Also read: Best Travel Insurance Plans With COVID-19 Coverage

3. Sports coverage

Income Travel Insurance provides comprehensive sports cover. You’ll be protected when indulging in all manner of outdoors and sports activities such as hiking, skiing, scuba diving, skydiving and more.

If you need more information, do read the policy contract for more details.

4. Coverage for overseas medical expenses, personal accidents, baggage loss, etc.

Aside from COVID-19 coverage, Income Travel Insurance also provides good coverage for various benefits, including personal accidents (up to S$200,000), trip cancellations (up to S$15,000), baggage loss (up to S$8,000), travel delays (up to S$2,000), and more.  

List of exclusions

• Pre-existing conditions (except for PreX plans)

• Pregnancy coverage

• Cosmetic or elective surgery

• Metastatic or terminal illness

• Items taken/destroyed by customs officers

• Extreme sports

• Fragile items, antiques, dentures, artefacts

• Baggage checked in separately or unattended items

• Business goods

• Sports equipment

You may see the full list of exclusions here.

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Travel Insurance Plans and Pricing

Income offers two travel insurance plans:

• Income Travel Insurance Standard
• Income Insurance Enhanced PreX

As previously mentioned, the difference is that the Enhanced PreX plans provide coverage to the insured person for pre-existing medical conditions, while the Standard plans do not.

Both plans are further divided into three tiers, which provide different coverage amounts:

• Income Travel Insurance Standard: Classic, Deluxe, and Preferred

• Income Enhanced PreX: Basic PreX, Superior PreX, and Prestige PreX

Let’s take a look at the plans and coverage amount (per insured person for adults below 70 years old):

Income Travel Insurance Standard

Plan type	Classic	Deluxe	Preferred
Overseas medical expenses	S$250,000	S$300,000	S$350,000
Emergency medical evacuation	Combined with medical expenses	Combined with medical expenses	Combined with medical expenses
Personal accident	S$100,000	S$125,000	S$200,000
Travel delay (S$100 every six hours)	S$1,000	S$1,500	S$2,000
Trip cancellation	S$5,000	S$10,000	S$15,000
Baggage loss	S$3,000	S$5,000	S$8,000
Baggage delay (S$200 every six hours)	S$1,200	S$1,200	S$2,000
Sports coverage	Included	Included	Included
COVID-19 coverage	Included	Included	Included

Income’s Standard plans offer the standard (pun intended) coverages you’d expect from a travel insurance plan, including medical expenses, personal accidents, trip cancellations, and baggage delays.

On top of this, all their plans come included with COVID-19 benefits, which is something that isn’t available in most travel insurance plans.

Lastly, you’ll also get coverage for medical expenses ranging from S$250,000 to S$350,000.

However, while this is adequate for most, remember that the limit is shared with emergency medical evacuation, so the coverage may not be enough if you need emergency medical treatment and a flight back to Singapore.

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Income Enhanced PreX Travel Insurance plans

Plan type	Enhanced PreX Basic	Enhanced PreX Superior	Enhanced PreX Prestige
Overseas medical expenses	S$500,000	S$500,000	S$1,000,000
Overseas medical expenses, emergency evacuation and repatriation (for pre-existing conditions)	S$150,000	S$150,000	S$300,000
Emergency medical evacuation	Combined with medical expenses	Combined with medical expenses	Combined with medical expenses
Personal accident	S$200,000	S$200,000	S$500,000
Travel delay (S$100 every six hours)	S$1,500	S$1,500	S$2,000
Trip cancellation	S$10,000	S$10,000	S$15,000
Baggage loss/damage	S$5,000	S$5,000	S$8,000
Baggage delay (S$200 every six hours)	S$1,500	S$1,500	S$2,000
COVID-19 coverage	Included	Included	Included

Income’s PreX plans offer S$150,000 to S$300,000 to cover medical expenses and emergency evacuation. But as we’ve pointed out, the downside is that the limits for both are shared. You’ll also get coverage for overseas medical treatments, emergency evacuation, or travel inconveniences (including accommodation expenses)if they’re related to your pre-existing condition.

You can also claim up to 50% for travel inconveniences (cancellations, postponements, delays) if you buy their Superior or Prestige plans. Though, keep in mind that you need to co-pay 50% of the amount too, should you make a claim.

Like many other travel insurance plans, the premiums are based on the plan and your travel destination. In general, the farther you travel, the higher the premium.

Income offers yearly and single-trip plans for both individuals and families to several destinations around the world. Here’s the list of countries/regions that are covered under Income Travel Insurance:

ASEAN	Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam
Asia	All ASEAN countries and Australia, China (except Mongolia and Tibet), Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Macau, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Taiwan
Worldwide	All countries
Countries not covered	Afghanistan, Iraq, Liberia, Sudan, and Syria

Here are the premiums for its Standard and PreX plans:

Income Travel Insurance Standard

Income Travel Insurance plan type	Classic	Deluxe	Preferred
Price (ASEAN)	S$61 per week	S$75 per week	S$98 per week
Price (Asia)	S$70 per week	S$88 per week	S$122 per week
Price (global)	S$137 per week	S$156 per week	S$195 per week

Income Enhanced PreX

Income Travel Insurance plan type	PreX Basic	PreX Superior	PreX Prestige
Price (ASEAN)	S$102 per week	S$128 per week	S$149 per week
Price (Asia)	S$121 per week	S$156 per week	S$183 per week
Price (global)	S$194 per week	S$240 per week	S$277 per week

Not surprisingly, Income’s PreX plans are priced higher due to the pre-existing coverage. The cheapest PreX plan would cost you S$102 for a week for a trip to ASEAN countries.

Let’s see how Income compares against other popular travel insurance plans such as MSIG, FWD, and TIQ.

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Income vs MSIG vs FWD vs TIQ 

Insurance plan	Income Travel Insurance	MSIG TravelEasy	FWD Travel Insurance	TIQ Travel Insurance
Price (per week)	S$61 to S$195	S$61 to S$205	S$30 to S$87.60	S$39 to S$72
Overseas medical expenses	S$250,000 to S$350,000	S$250,000 to S$1,000,000	S$200,000 to S$1,000,000	S$200,000 to S$1,000,000
Emergency evacuation	Combined with medical expenses	S$1,000,000	Unlimited	S$1,000,000 to S$1,800,000
Trip cancellation	S$5,000 to S$15,000	S$5,000 to S$15,000	S$7,500 to S$15,000	S$5,000 to S$10,000
Travel delay	S$1,000 to S$2,000	S$500 to S$1,500	S$300 to S$1,000 (S$100 every six hours)	S$300 to S$500
Buggage loss/ Loss of personal belongings	S$3,000 to S$8,000	S$3,000 to S$7,500	S$300 to S$1,000	S$2,000 to S$3,000
Buggage delay	$150 every six hours (max S$600)	S$200 every six hours (max S$1,000)	S$150 to S$900 (S$150 for every six hours)	S$200
COVID-19 coverage	Included	Included	Add-on	Add-on

Among the four, Income has the highest coverage for baggage loss, and its travel delay coverage is also higher than FWD and TIQ. For baggage delay, the coverage is pretty much similar across the board.

Conversely, MSIG, FWD and TIQ all offer higher overseas medical expenses and emergency evacuation coverage compared to Income. Income Travel Insurance is more expensive than FWD and TIQ, but slightly cheaper than MSIG.

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Income Enhanced PreX vs MSIG TravelEasy Pre-Ex vs TIQ Travel Insurance Pre-Ex

Insurance plan	Income Enhanced PreX	MSIG TravelEasy Pre-Ex	TIQ Travel Insurance Pre-Ex
Price (per week)	S$102 to S$277	S$70.50 to S$192.50	S$93 to S$254
Overseas medical expenses (for pre-ex conditions)	S$150,000 to S$300,000	S$75,000 to S$150,000	S$75,000 to S$150,000
Emergency evacuation (for pre-ex conditions)	Combined with medical expenses	S$100,000 to S$200,000	S$150,000 to S$200,000
Trip cancellation	S$10,000 to S$15,000	S$5,000 to S$15,000	S$5,000 to S$10,000
Travel delay	S$1,500 to S$2,000	S$750 to S$2,000	S$300 to S$500 (S$50 every three hours)
Baggage loss	S$5,000 to S$8,000	S$3,000 to S$7,500	S$2,000 to S$3,000
Baggage delay	S$1,500 to S$2,000	S$600 to S$1,500	S$200 (S$100 every six hours)
COVID-19 coverage (for pre-ex conditions)	Yes	No	Add-on

As mentioned, Income, MSIG, and TIQ are the only insurers in Singapore that provide coverage for pre-existing conditions at the moment.

As you can see, Income Enhanced PreX plans have the highest premiums among the three. However, you get better coverage for most categories, including trip cancellations, travel delays, and baggage delays. Additionally, it also comes included with COVID-19 benefits.

That said, the caveat is that the medical coverage is comparatively lower than its counterparts since the limit is combined with emergency evacuation.

For example, Income’s Enhanced PreX Basic’s overseas medical expenses and emergency evacuation have a combined coverage of S$500,000.

In contrast, MSIG TravelEasy Pre-Ex Standard offers S$500,000 for overseas medical expenses and S$1,000,000 for emergency evacuation.

On the other hand, TIQ Travel Insurance Pre-EX Entry offers S$200,000 and S$1,000,000 for overseas medical expenses and emergency evacuation respectively.

Therefore, if you’re on a budget or want higher medical coverage, then MSIG and TIQ travel insurance plans are better options. Though, remember that MSIG doesn’t provide any COVID-19 coverage while TIQ only has a COVID-19 add-on option.
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Should I buy NTUC Income Travel Insurance? Pros and cons

Pros	Cons
Coverage for pre-existing conditions (for Enhanced PreX plans only)	Overseas medical expenses and emergency evacuation limits are combined
Coverage for COVID-19	Pricier than most insurance plans
Higher-than-average coverage for trip cancellations, travel delays, and baggage loss	No coverage for extreme sports such as skydiving and bungee jumping

Income Travel Insurance is a competent travel policy for a wide range of different travellers. Whether you’re looking for a laidback vacation, or an adrenaline junkie seeking to go skydiving, this plan will likely cover your needs. Furthermore, the included COVID-19 coverage adds another layer of assurance. 

For travellers with pre-existing conditions, Income Enhanced PreX is one of the few travel insurance options available on the market. Though pricey, it becomes a worthwhile investment for those facing health worries, providing essential coverage and peace of mind during their travels.

Also read: What You Need to Know About Travelling With Pets Singapore

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How to make a claim

You can make a claim via Income’s claims hotline at +65 63381222. Alternatively, you can also make a claim by filling the online form with supporting documents including invoice, flight itinerary, police report, medical report, etc.

Otherwise, you can also drop an email to the Income customer service team at pcc@income.com.sg.

 

Read these next:

• Best Travel Insurance In Singapore
• Which is Better: Individual Or Group Travel Insurance?
• Best Travel Insurance Plans And Promotions In Singapore
• Is Travel Insurance With COVID-19 Coverage Still Necessary?
• Top 3 Things Travel Insurance Should Cover (And How Much is Enough)

Find Out About Travel Insurance Providers Here:

• Find Out About Etiqa Travel Insurance Singapore
• Find Out About HL Assurance Travel Insurance Singapore
• Find Out About Great Eastern Travel Insurance Singapore

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