If something that worked in the past is no longer relevant now, it should be gotten rid of, said former Nominated Member of Parliament Calvin Cheng.

He was speaking to Mothership in a Jul. 26 interview about the potential sale of Income Insurance to German insurer Allianz.

The foreign entity on Jul. 17 announced its plans to buy a majority stake of the formerly NTUC-owned insurer, raising an outcry online.

A history of Income

In 1970, Income — then known as NTUC Income — was established to "plug a social need for insurance".

This was a message reiterated by Tan Suee Chieh, former Group CEO of NTUC Enterprise and CEO of NTUC Income, who wrote in a Facebook post that Income aims not to maximise profits, but rather social impact.

Cheng recognised this, saying:

"Very importantly, there was a social mission to provide workers — especially unionised workers — affordable insurance, with good coverage, to make sure that their healthcare needs were looked after if they ever fell sick...or passed away and weren't able to leave something for their family."

Fast forward to today, and Singapore has over 30 private insurance companies. Income, having been corporatised in 2022, is one of them.

While it has retained its social mission, Cheng pointed out that it is "no longer always the cheapest, most affordable insurance".

"If you look at a lot of the comparison plans, [Income] does not fill that niche anymore," he said.

He said that having looked at some of the insurance plans, Income's plans are seldom the cheapest — and in fact in some cases are among the more expensive ones.

"So I don't think the role that they pla...