since you said 'looks good compare to other....', why not sharing with us what goods do they have?

great, then I can then share you what points that I found which you may not aware abt them:
- 20% co-insurance if you upgrade a room type that exceeds your plan
- extremely low out-patient claims, both pre-and-post;
- very low lifetime limit on Cancer and Kidney Dialysis;
- per-disability claim method. Meaning, for the same type of illness you will not be entitled to claim the second consecutive time within 90 days period.
- Renewable up to 80, provided you are already holding this policy since 59th birthday...

sorry, i am not updated abt their Gold/Plat scheme, what is it actually?

Upgrade Room : Imagine you are hospitalized in an emergency situation, you have purchased a room/board plan RM180.. Somehow the only room available cost you 250 a day... This is consider 'Room upgrade''

Cancer, dialysis in Axa is a Lifetime limit, not Annual. Unless they have upgraded their offer lately!

the key here is 'emergency' -- and when you are not in a condition to even move around...

As to the chances of cancer/kidney failure, it is all down to your individual priority. No one can tell you whether this suits you or not.

PJUsa has previously suggested to take this AXA(becoz of no lifetime limit), and to top it up with Tokio Marine's (with Cancer 'As Charge) as a top-up-plan.

again...give yourself a clear requirements ie. do you need to worry about cancer/kidney sicknesses based on your lifestyle, family background etc.. There is really no fast and hard rule in finding the right one i think...

ING - if you are talking abt I.Maxcare - watch out for their non-guaranteed renewal clause.

now..that is very picky.. lol , but a good one for TS to find out. But as a general clause, I have never seen any clauses that says current year claims will be taken into consideration when it comes to renewal... Policy expires is always one year after the effective date. Renewal shall be paid within 30 days thereafter... hence, the claim made in between 03/2011 - 03/2012 is always considered to be previous year IMO.

I do not think the insurer would want to play such a trick to be honest. But you may write them to get clarification.

Anyhow, from AXA policy wording this is what I understood and hence I stand on the fact that this policy has no loading based on previous claim experience , no matter current policy year or previous policy year.

Extracts :
6. Period of Cover and Renewal
This Policy shall become effective as of the date stated in the
Schedule. The Policy Anniversary shall be one (1) year after the
effective date and annually thereafter. On each such anniversary,
this Policy is renewable at the premium rates in effect at that time
and any change in the renewal premium shall be notified by writing
at least thirty (30) days before change is effected. It shall not be
incumbent on the Company to give notice that any premium for
renewal is due and such premium shall be deemed to be due date
on which the Policy expires and must be paid within thirty (30) days
thereafter. However, during such thirty (30) days the Company shall
remain liable thereunder if by the last of such days the premium is
actually paid unless the Company or the Insured Person shall have
given notice that the Insurance would not be renewed.

This Policy will be renewable at the option of Policyholder subject to
the terms, conditions and termination at each of the anniversary of
the Policy date. The renewal premiums payable will increase with
age and is not guaranteed. The Company reserves the right to revise
the premium rate applicable at the time of renewal. Such changes, if
any shall be applicable to all Policyholders irrespective of their claim
experience according to the Company’s risk assessment.

when they decide to load you, that means it is a change in premium. And I could always argue that your premium rate changes shall not refer back to my claim experience.. Anyway best is to get a B&W from Axa, not down to me to make assumption i suppose.

no two plans are identical if their premium is far from similar... Surely there is an area where they distinguish themselves and hence demand a higher premium...

and don't forget, if you are already covered by a decent company medical plan, you may opt for deductable plan in SCO which is cheaper by a large percentage compares to a full plan.

happy shopping.

a straight copy from their premium table sent by their CS :

Deductible Discount / Diskaun Deduktibel
Deductible Amount / Amaun Deduktibel Discount / Diskaun
RM 7,500 25%
RM10,000 30%
RM15,000 40%
RM20,000 50%

Extracts:
Deductible Option
You may choose our Deductible Option where you pay the first RM7,500, RM10,000, RM15,000 or RM20,000
of your hospitalisation bills. SmartCare Optimum will reimburse the remaining amount, up to the overall annual
limit of your plan. This option comes with a premium discount but is without the cashless admission benefit.
This option is suitable if your employer already provides you with some healthcare benefits. Please refer to our
website or your policy contract for full details of this Option.

hi aeiou228 , i think PJ has already recommended one combi ... SCO+Tokio Marine's topup plan..

ad official answer from AXA CS :

From: MAL-AXA-Customer-Service [mailto:customer.service@axa.com.my]
Sent: Tuesday, 29 March, 2011 10:02 AM
To: ********
Subject: FW: Smartcare Ooptimum : e-Brochure & Premium table request


Dear ********,

Thank you for your email below.

We would like to inform that the renewal is guaranteed even though there is claim made on the current year.
Thank you.


Regards,
Iris

The clause was there even in the '09 brochure...



And , read the terms above on Premium guaranteed.. Most GI policy has a portfolio loading only...not individual. I don't know if you can find any policy contract that specifically says no individual loading upon renewal or something similar. In fact, the 'premium guaranteed' statement is good enuf for me to argue , if needs be!

Basically there are only two cases here after reading some many policy contracts...
i) GI Policy, most if not all, usually tells us their loading will be based on portfolio loading, and no loading is based on individual past claims history.

ii) loading happens... ie. your AIA i believe is one of them..and usually it comes from LI.

can we not discuss about investment linked medical card here... it is just not right to compare this with standalone medical card...in many aspects.

i think you hv been here long enough to join a few hot discussions about standalone and ILP's .. I'm trying not to generalised all these terms but to say ILP is affordable just doesn't sound right if one were to look for a medical card and nothing else.



fair comparison exists when cost + features are more or less the same... but look, ILP MC coverage most if not all is anytime way better (let say life time limit) than standalone's. And I can also tell the public that ILP-MC is cheaper (per RM1 coverage) compares to standalone's, but one has to pay a lot more to get medical coverage if his/her sole intention is to get medical insurance. So, if we are telling public consumer that this X ILP-MC has million in lifetime limit so why bother about Y's standalone which only gives 400K lifetime isn't exactly a good way to do comparo , isn't it.

yeap..we are certainly here to help each other to better understand the MC products. Hopefully everyone will get a better picture by joining this forum. cheers.