i can see your frustration and probably you had bad experiences before...yes, we need to understand what we buy or else we will end up in unnecessary argument.

An insurance policy is nothing but a few pieces of paper
with some writing on and bound together

But it is a very important document, because you
pay money for it because the insurance company
promises to pay as promised in the document
should you have personal loss AS STATED IN THE POLICY

Please consider this:- no doubt the agent should explain as much
information as possible about your policy and there are agents
who do not explain the policy fully.

2 reasons:-

1) Too much info causes information overload and confusion.... we don't want to confuse and frustrate client
....only stick to very important points, as client slowly understands policy, then progress to finer details
2) Some devious agents want to hide information that will affect the sale.. these people ought to be shot dead
because they bring the insurance industry a bad name by bringing problems to their clients


Having said that, everybody is given a policy document that explains the
policy benefits and term & conditions. Everything is explained here, and the insurance
companies will use this fact if you say you didn't know about a condition

Having said that, I ask how many people you know have actually read their car, hire-purchase
and housing loan agreements and fully understood it?

PLEASE READ THE POLICY AND ASK THE AGENT WHATEVER YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND
UNTIL YOU UNDERSTAND. When you understand it fully, you will be good enough to even become
a life insurance agent

ur http://zurichmalaysia.wordpress.com/medical-card/ is ILP or standalone?

Available as both stand-alone and rider to ILP

No... not my frustration....

always, I bought insurance and I see insurance as government... they hardly there when we need them, but are always there when they need us(to purchase)

I heard someone say once

Some people make things happen
Some people watch things happen
Some people wonder what happened

If you want to make things happen, you've 2 choices:-
1) get to know the product well or
2) get to know someone who knows the product well

YES... typical tag line...

for me, what will happen if I buy?

yes.. those three lines equates to insurance agent`s luxury and high income by selling insurance...

make your success happen by joining us, dont wonder, dont watch, make your first move, join insurance...

My hometown friend who was an agent ask me to join his MLM insurance.... and yes, he mentioned above three line...

again..... what does above three line have to do with I buy insurance?

yes, I bought insurance as well, from OLD insurance agent.. a nice chap... he tole me, dont trust me, dont trust company, dont trust other agent, they can lie to you, trust the policy and contract, know them, once you sign them no one can lie you....

again, not many young agent are so keen and so honest

HAha . . . you dont like your government than dont vote for them
no need to complain over here . . . what ever you are not satisfied with the company or the agent.
You can always write into BNM to let them know your case.

More over what is this to do with accident in seremban & panel hospital in Kepong??
I have been more than 4 year fulltime & never heard of pay 1st claim later from Prudential medical card,
will appriciate if you could provide more information here for discussion.

This post has been edited by Colaboy: Mar 23 2012, 04:47 PM

example dude.. example............

was told by my agent, never had an accident yet(touch wood)

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Added on March 23, 2012, 4:55 pmsorry, no offense to agents here, but to others, INSURANCE is like a business, any business, they are out for profit, not charity or churches or temple or masjid that help you with no question asked...

This post has been edited by Awakened_Angel: Mar 23 2012, 04:55 PM

Well, I think we understand that agents are normal workers too who want to earn a living. They are not priest or monk with ntg to worry but just help ppl disregards money value. Im sure there are good and bad apples among all which agents agree too. So we ourselves have to be prudent and not to believe in everything they say, but research more and ultimately believe in what we read from the contract. Though, usually the contract is not termed in a very user-friendly format and at times difficult to understand. Still that is what we have.

Hi, the general rule of the thumb on how to calculate how much Life/CI/TPD is to be able to provide 10 times your annual income. This is even so if you have dependents.

Having said that, insurance is NOT the only form of 'financial protection'. Properties, stocks, bonds etc (do a will) may also constitute to the entire package of your Financial Planning.

As for the Life/TPD/CI that you had for 3 years, mind sharing how much cover for it and from which company?

For those medical cards that doesn't have co-insurance, you might want to have comparison of the insurance charge in later years. Those without co-insurance the insurance charge can be rather costly. Get screwed now or later (when you're no longer generating an income), which one do you prefer?

Yes it is true that when you get it early your insurance charge is lower, but the fact is that INSURANCE charge GOES UP by age, irrespective of when you get the medical card.

If you are paying RM 200/mth now, 40 years later (if you dont do any upgrading) you may also be paying RM 200/mth. But the insurance charge will go up.

Example, if your insurance charge is RM 1800 per annum now, 40 years later it may be RM 3000/mth (the figures here are for discussion only). So who will pay for insurance charge? It's from your cash value.

For those working people who was told by their agent that they may be able to withdraw X amount when they retire sometimes buy into this idea. Sure you can withdraw, but do consider who will be paying the premium when you retire, without an income.

On average most of us retire at age 60 and lives up to age 80. That means the medical card needs to sustain for another 20 years if you stop the premium paying.

Buying a life insurance as the word 'life' implies is a lifetime commitment.

It is good that your company covers you for medical. If it is possible, always ask for a copy of the policy document and know what you have. Most of the company medical cover have limits to what you can claim.

On your questions ....

Since I'm from Prudential, I will only comment on how Prudential medical works in the event of hospitalization.
1. if exceed room and board limit (say 200), will there be 20% co-insurance or additional charges?
A. You'd pay the difference. For Prudential, you'd pay minimum RM 300 up to a maximum of RM 1K if hospitalized.

For example if the hospital bill is RM 15K, the maximum you'd pay for the co-insurance is RM 1K. But if your bill is RM 3K, you'd only need to pay RM 300.

We would normally attached hospital income of RM 200/day to your policy. If you're hospitalized for 10 days, Prudential will reimburse you back RM 2K.

2. are they guaranteed renewal? if yes, till what age limit & then subject to yearly?
A. For Prudential - Yes it is, always had been. Most medical cards nowadays we'd extend it to age 80. Beyond that it can be rather costly, but when your income improves, it is always an option to look for upgrading.

3. do you see the need in topup cash to the fund (for ILP) in the later stage? as early as 50?
A. This is the reason why people start their insurance policy early. Ie, to be able to have more time to generate more cash value so that it can have more cash value that they may be able to withdraw some, while still having extra to see it that the policy is able to auto run if they cant pay the premium after retirement.

If you're investor savvy, you might want to monitor how the funds perform, do top ups when the fund is on the down side and when the fund goes up again, switch it to bonds for profit locking etc. But then again, you need a good agent :-)

HTH

Roy Steven Ung, HP 016-451 5957
Prudential Assurance (M) Bhd
KWSP Penang

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Added on March 29, 2012, 8:16 amHi there, please do allow me to elaborate.

If it is accidental cases, most of the time the ambulance will bring you to the nearest GH, unless the accident occurs right in front of the specialist hospital.

Since you have medical card, you could ask the attending doctor for permission to transfer to the nearest panel. Depending on the condition (whether the move will be life threatening or not) the transfer might be granted by the attending Dr.

If you choose to seek treatment at the GH, you dont have to pay the minimum co-insurance of RM300. But once you're discharged from the GH, you'd need to settle the GH bill and claim from Prudential later because we can't issue GL to GH. Prudential will then reimburse based on the bill.

This process is also applicable for all other insurance that don't have alliance with the GH.

Should you seek treatment at our panel hospital, show the card and you'd need to pay the minimum co-insurance of RM300 (depending on hospital). If your bill is over RM 10K, the panel hospital will request you to top-up, up to a maximum of RM 1k.

However do note that if the bill is RM 100K, and assuming that your annual limit is RM 75K, you'll need to pay the difference of RM 25k, on top of the RM 1K co-insurance. (One month of ICU (due to accident) can costs that much at a private hospital.)

Once discharged and upon your last followup (followup is based on reimbursement basis), we'd help the client make a claim for the hospital income
and whatever bills from the pre-hospitalization and post hospitalization.

Hopefully the above clarifies the claim process. If not post, we'll try to help.

Roy Steven Ung, HP 016-451 5957
Prudential Assurance (M) Bhd
KWSP Penang

This post has been edited by roystevenung: Mar 29 2012, 08:16 AM

Bro,

Yes mnet has clarified all your queries on Allianz's medicover cum ILP plan.

On the ILP topping up, it works on all ILP's from other companies. There WILL be a tendency for topping up at old age because cost of insurance increases every year. This will happen provided that the agent puts in alot of rider that suck up all ur investment values as per mentioned by mnet. Also it MAY be due to poor investment returns in the future (only god knows how the fund will perform in the future).

But if u ask me as an agent from Allianz, i can't guarantee how the funds perform but i can only tell you that today's medical coverage may only be sufficient to cover you for the next 10 yrs or so as you can see the transformation of medical cards from the last 10 yrs, with limits being increased to 10 times or so compared to 3 times in the older policies.
So my advice is, we dont know what kind of medical cards there will be in the next 10 yrs and by that time, you may have already change to the new plan (of coz this can only be done if you are healthy).

Best advice, get what u are comfortable with with the amt of coverage deemed necessary to you at ur given budget.

PM me if u need more info.

Thanks

Is it advisable to surrender the existing policy with insurance co GE for myself, a single lady with age of 40:-
-> 1st insurance - basic coverage (CI, Live, PA) with yearly premium RM1k for 13 years. if surrender, can get back about RM6.8k.
-> upgraded insurance - investment plan with yearly premium RM1.8K for 6 years, if surrender, will get back about RM7.2k.

"Upgrade" to Powerlink for RM3.6k+ yearly to have upgrade a bit and "double" up my existing coverage which approached by the agent, the offer is due to 10 year anniversary of this insurance company.
1. Life (death or total paralyze) RM80,000
2. 36 illnesses RM80,000
3. Medi card RM1,000,000 (whole life) RM150,000 (a year), RM200 hospitalization / day.

Need some advise from expert.


This post has been edited by yaoho: Mar 30 2012, 02:18 PM

Hello. You did not mention the details of your existing cover. PM me if you don't want to reveal that information here.

Having said that, it is never beneficial to the client to cancel/surrender a policy no matter what. Add on, yes, but cancel ... hmn. Here is why:-

1. For the same amount of premium (RM1K) you will not be able to get the same cover that you had 13 years ago as insurance charge goes up by age.

2. Whenever you start a new insurance plan, you're subject to the 120 days waiting period for specified illness & pre-existing illness. If you really want (due to budget constrains, do let the new plan run for at least 2 years for incontestability clause before doing so.

3. Funds allocation starts back from zero. On your upgraded investment insurance plan, it is already the 6th year. The normal allocation would be 1st year 40%, until the 7th year this will be 100% to buy you units.

Whenever you start a new plan it starts back from 40%. That is why when you take up a new policy you're losing end. (commenting on how Prudential policy allocates the fund).

1800 0.4 720 720
1800 0.5 900 1620
1800 0.6 1080 2700
1800 0.7 1260 3960
1800 0.9 1620 5580
1800 0.9 1620 7200

Hope the above clarifies some of the doubts you may have.

Regards,

Roy Steven Ung, HP 016-451 5957
Prudential Assurance (M) Bhd
KWSP Penang

Hi roystevenung, I have a Pruvantage policy, but I didn't come across any incontestability clause in my policy document.

1) Can share with us abit more about this incontestability clause?
2) Is it a standard clause that all insurance companies in Malaysia must follow?
3) Since you are from Prudential, is Pruvantage covered by this incontestability clause?
4) The new PruFlexiMed sounds good. Any way for me to change from Pruvantage to PruFlexiMed?

Is PRULife Ready good? Anyone bought this before? The premium matures at age 100. Its too long, isnt it?

1. You can read about incontestability clause http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary....tability+Clause
2. Prudential has it, if those that dont have, hmn... sorry cant comment as it is for the benefit of the client.
3. Yes
4. Pruvantage plan though is not that flexible, covers take home drugs, implants. Implanted pacemaker costs RM43K excluding surgery (at GMC).

Of course its good. ^^
Most of the life policy out there covers up to age 100.
The longer it is, the better because life insurance 1 shall
need to be dead or TPD to claim the basic coverage.

The life portion term is age 100. However, once your cash value has accumulated you may opt to withdraw leaving a balance of RM2K in the account. When you withdraw, always make sure the fund is on the high side.

Well, at times due to urgency, you may have to withdraw when it is down. Same goes to all investment, I suppose.

Alternatively when you retire, you may choose to lower down your life cover (when your responsibility has lessen, ie house fully paid, children all grown up etc) and perhaps swing over the life cover to medical. People say old car are more prone to breakdowns.