PGI chapter 7 pairs a heavily regulated product with a purely voluntary one. Foreign domestic worker (FDW) insurance is shaped by MOM's work pass rules: before a migrant domestic worker (MDW) arrives, the employer must buy medical insurance and personal accident insurance and furnish a S$5,000 security bond, and the Employment of Foreign Manpower (Work Passes) Regulations fix the minimum terms. Golfer's insurance is a voluntary package of liability, personal accident, equipment and hole-in-one covers for golf. The exam tests the MOM figures and their dates, the co-payment arithmetic, the permitted exclusions, how the bond and counter-indemnity work, and which golfer's section responds to which incident.
7 sections·~5 min read
✓Checked against the SCI PGI syllabus chapter 7 (checked 13 Sep 2026); MOM 'Insurance requirements for MDWs' (updated 1 Jul 2025) and 'Security bond requirements for MDWs' (updated 2 Feb 2026); MOM FAQs and press release of 31 Mar 2023 with Annex; EFM (Work Passes) Regulations 2012, Fourth Schedule Part II paras 4, 4A, 4B and Eighth Schedule (sso.agc.gov.sg, as amended by S 436/2025 and S 875/2025); LIA & GIA A&H disclosure guidelines (Nov 2025) para 10; illustrative insurer product pages (Chubb Domestic Helper Protect via DBS; MSIG Golfer's Insurance; Liberty GolfCare; Income golfer's claims). All checked 13 Sep 2026.. Unofficial prep, not endorsed by MAS or SCI.
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Must-know for the exam
✓As at 13 Sep 2026, before an MDW arrives the employer must buy medical insurance (MI) and personal accident insurance (PAI) and furnish a S$5,000 security bond (not needed for Malaysian MDWs). None of these costs may be passed to the helper (MOM).
✓PAI: at least S$60,000 (Work Permit applications from 1 Oct 2017). Covers accidental death or permanent disability, whether or not work-related and whether or not in Singapore. Payable to the helper or her beneficiaries. The employer must claim within 30 days of the accident (EFM (Work Passes) Regs, 4th Sch Pt II paras 4A, 4B).
✓PAI may carry only the exclusions listed in para 4B, and no extra exclusions: pre-existing conditions; mental disorders; STDs and communicable disease; pregnancy-related conditions; alcohol or non-prescribed drugs; nuclear; hazardous sports; unlawful acts or wilful exposure to danger (except when saving life); self-harm; war and terrorism; foreseeable strike or riot.
✓MDWs are not covered by WICA. PAI is required in its place, and MI pays hospital bills whether or not the illness or injury is work-related (MOM FAQ).
✓MI (Eighth Schedule): inpatient care and day surgery, plus related outpatient care within 7 days of discharge and rehabilitation prescribed during the stay. The insurer's total claims limit is at least S$60,000 per 12-month employment period, and each sub-limit must also be at least S$60,000.
✓Co-payment: the insurer pays the first S$15,000 in full, then at least 75% of the rest, capped by the balance of the S$60,000 limit. The employer pays the remainder and may NOT recover any of it from the MDW.
✓Stage 1 (policies starting on or after 1 Jul 2023): S$60,000 limit with the 75/25 co-payment above S$15,000. Stage 2 (on or after 1 Jul 2025): only the standardised exclusions allowed; premiums in two age bands (50 and below, above 50); insurers pay hospitals directly.
✓Permitted MI exclusions include: a known pre-existing condition only within the first 12 months with the same employer; pregnancy and childbirth; congenital conditions; treatment outside Singapore; cosmetic surgery. For suicide attempts, psychiatric disorders and similar, only the second and later occasions may be excluded.
✓Security bond: a banker's or insurer's guarantee of S$5,000, which must be in effect on arrival or the MDW is refused entry. It is discharged when the Work Permit is cancelled, the helper has gone home and there was no breach (usually about a week after she leaves).
✓Bond forfeiture triggers: breach of Work Permit or bond conditions, late salary, failure to repatriate, helper going missing. The employer is not liable for the helper's breach if it informed her of the conditions and reported the breach promptly.
✓Counter-indemnity: if MOM calls the bond, the insurer pays and recovers from the employer. An optional waiver of counter-indemnity limits the employer's cost to an excess (for example S$250), but not where the employer caused the breach.
✓Golfer's insurance (voluntary) typically covers you while playing or practising golf on a course or driving range. Sections: liability to the public (third-party injury or property damage through negligence), PA and medical expenses, golf equipment and personal effects, and a hole-in-one benefit that reimburses celebration costs against a certificate, signed scorecard and receipts.
Why this chapter matters
•FDW insurance questions are numbers questions: S$60,000, S$15,000, 75%, S$5,000, 30 days, 7 days, 12 months. They are also applied scenarios. Who pays the balance of a S$95,000 bill? Can a pre-existing condition be excluded in month 15? Does the bond waiver help when the employer paid salary late?
•Golfer's insurance questions test whether you can send each incident to the right section, and which location and verification conditions apply.
The three MOM requirements before the helper arrives
•MOM's MDW pages and the EFM (Work Passes) Regulations 2012 require the employer, before the helper arrives, to:
•Buy medical insurance (MI) for inpatient care and day surgery.
•Buy personal accident insurance (PAI) of at least S$60,000.
•Buy a S$5,000 security bond (except for Malaysian helpers), and ask the bank or insurer to send the bond details to MOM, which takes up to 3 working days.
•Bear all these costs. The helper cannot be asked to pay for any of them, and MI, PAI and bond may be bought as a package or separately.
•Why PAI exists: MDWs are excluded from the Work Injury Compensation Act, because they live and work in the same premises and it is hard to tell whether an injury was work-related. PAI replaces WICA with a lump sum for death or permanent disability regardless of cause at work.
•Trap: PAI does not pay hospital bills, and WICA does not pay an MDW's surgery. The MI pays the bills; the PAI pays only if she dies or is permanently disabled.
•Takeaway: MI pays the bill, PAI pays the lump sum, the bond guarantees compliance. All three are the employer's cost and must be in place before arrival.
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