July 13, 2018, 11:46 PM 
An online petition has been started to demand for men and women to pay equal premiums for the upcoming CareShield Life scheme.
The petition, started by women, has gathered more than 1,700 signatures in the span of a day.
It was launched on Thursday, July 12.
What is the issue?
From 2020, CareShield Life will be compulsory for Singaporeans aged 40 and younger.
As comparison, a man who pays S$206 annual premium will see a woman of the same age pay S$253.
This universal insurance scheme charges women a higher premium as research, both local and overseas, has shown that they live longer than men and are expected to suffer from disabilities for longer.
These premiums are before subsidies and will go up by 2 percent every year for the first five years.
What petition is asking for?
The petition proposes a decrease of women's annual premiums by S$23.50 and increase of men's annual premiums by S$23.50.
This is to allow everyone to pay the same S$229.50 per year.
Parliament debate
A heated Parliament debate took place on Tuesday, July 10, when multiple MPs spoke on the proposed scheme.
A dozen MPs, from both parties, were opposed to women paying a higher premium.
Senior Minister of State for Health Amy Khor said in response the decision to have women pay more was actuarially-sound and difficult, as women's life expectancy is 85.2 years, and men's 80.7 years.
Disability is more likely to take place in the later years, with 1 in 2 Singaporeans expected to become severely disabled.
Using the same information and statistics by gender, Khor said that 3 in 5 healthy woman at age 65 are expected to be severely disabled, compared to 2 in 5 healthy men.
Moreover, two surveys showed that women aged 60 were estimated to spend 7.8 years requiring assistance, compared to 2.6 years for men aged 60.
Government addressing affordability through subsidies
Health Minister Gan Kim Yong said that the government premium subsidies for Careshield Life is means tested of up to 30 percent, to help lower and middle-income Singaporeans with their premiums.
In fact Khor added that lower and middle income females will receive larger dollar quantum of government subsidies compared to the men in their age cohort with same income levels.
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What petition said
With regards to the CareShield Life insurance scheme, we ask to decrease women's annual premiums by $23.50 and increase men's annual premiums by $23.50 so that everyone pays the same $229.50 per year.
It's 2018. Our society as a whole is slowly but surely appreciating the role of women. Gender inequality issues in pay, healthcare and social rights are gradually being addressed around the world. Collectively, we need to be moving forward and consistently exploring ways to narrow the gender divide, not emphasising it.
The recently proposed CareShield Life long-term care insurance by Singapore's Ministry of Health—a compulsory scheme—makes it mandatory for women to pay SGD47 more per year than men (with a 2% increase annually for the first five years for both males and females). The reason for this, as stated by Dr Amy Khor, Senior Minister of State for Health, is because our average life expectancy is higher.
It is an outrage that women are being penalised for living longer. What statement are we sending to women, young and old, when we penalise them for simply... existing? What message does this send to the world about our nation?
The fact is that this scheme is also detrimental to men. As immediate family members, such as spouses and children, will have to step in to cover premiums with their MediSave savings, should we find ourselves not working for any particular reason.
It's a lose-lose situation.
This petition is not about the payment. As young women (under 30) putting this petition together, we all agree that we are more than able to pay our own way. This is a privilege in itself. But this is us—part of a generation deemed as apathetic towards politics, a gender that is blatantly referred to as the 'fairer sex'—demanding to be treated as equal to men. We cannot be made to pay for circumstances we cannot control. This is not the future we should be creating for our society. This is not a future that is based on the equality we have proudly declared for years in our pledge.
This has been the only home we have ever known. We are proud of what we have achieved as a nation and that is why we believe it is so important that we—both men and women - stand together to fight for what is right, fair and just, so that we truly build a democratic society based on justice and equality—if we want to achieve happiness, prosperity and progress for our nation.
It's 2018. We will not stand down.
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