What your Shield Plan really costs over a lifetime

By default the pool stays invested through retirement too, just more conservatively, at the Growth rate in retirement above — new contributions still stop at retirement, but staying invested (rather than shifting everything to cash) means a smaller pool, and a smaller monthly amount, gets the job done. The Fixed Deposit line below is the no-market-risk comparison: saving up and drawing down entirely in cash.

Medical inflation compounds each future year's premium on top of the age-based increases already in the chart above — worth raising above the 2% default for a more conservative estimate:

• Singapore ISP premiums: +8.6%/yr average, 2021–2024 (MOH)
• Insurer-reported medical cost trend: 15.5% in 2025, 16.9% projected for 2026 (WTW)
• Long-run actuarial standard (Society of Actuaries' Getzen model): converges to ~5%/yr once general inflation, wage growth and a modest excess-cost margin are netted out

That double-digit pace can't hold for the 30–50+ years this tool projects over — medical costs can't keep outgrowing the economy forever — but it does mean 2% likely understates the real number.