Sure got, you didn't ask me only

Are you insured? Or over-insured? Or you’re unsure of your life insurance situation? Here, we provide frank insights on medical insurance, focussing on various types of critical illness insurance that could help to unravel your dilemma and discover solutions in medical insurance.

Q1: My company provides medical insurance for me. If I am hospitalised, the hospital expenses will be paid for by the insurance company. However, my agent says that I need another medical insurance to cover for critical illnesses. How many types of medical insurances are there?

A: Medical insurance, also called health insurance, provides you with financial assistance if you suffer from a medical condition. There are 2 main types of medical insurances – Critical Illness Insurance and Hospital & Surgical Insurance (Hospital Insurance, for short). These two types of insurance provide very different coverage; one pays you a lump sum if you suffer from a medical condition, the other reimburses you the actual medical expenses incurred if you are hospitalised.

Critical Illness insurance pays a lump sum if you suffer from one of the 36 critical illnesses defined in the policy contract. You can use this payment to pay for treatment of the critical illness, for costs of rehabilitation or nursing care, for purchases of medical tools and equipment to support your disability or even for costs incurred in renovating your house to be more disabled-friendly.

Hospital Insurance reimburses the actual expenses incurred for the treatment of your illness in a hospital. Besides paying for the cost of in-hospital expenses, it also pays forthe cost of initial diagnosis of the illness prior to your admittance and for follow up treatments after being discharged from the hospital.

Q2: My brother wants to terminate his hospital insurance because the insurance company wants to increase his premium even though he has not made any claims before. I have been trying to convince him to continue with his hospital insurance as one needs the protection of hospital insurance to cover for the increasing cost of medical treatments. What would be the options on this?

A: You are absolutely right to convince him to continue with his hospital insurance policy as everyone needs the protection it provides. People who do not own one is deemed to be insuring the risks themselves. In insurance term, this is called self-insurance.

The main advantage of insurance is the sharing of risks where the insured pays premium into a pool. If the insured event happens, a sum of money will then be taken out from the pool to pay for the loss arising from that event. The premium paid for transferring such risks into the pool is very much smaller than the financial loss that could arise if the event actually happens.

The costs of medical treatments have gone up every year in view of inflation; for better healthcare facilities being built, better services, introduction of new and more advance tests and procedures, more advance diagnostic tools and equipment being used and more effective drugs being prescribed. All of these are expensive and will add to the increased costs of medical diagnosis and treatments.

It is for the above same reasons that premium for hospital insurance cannot remain the same throughout the policy duration. The premium for hospital insurance is not guaranteed and will increase as the costs of medical treatment increases. If the total hospital insurance claims are high, it will also contribute to an increase in premium. It is, hence, important not to abuse it. Most insurance companies increase the whole portfolio rather than on individual basis, so that the increase is almost negligible in cost to policyholders.

It is advisable for your brother to reconsider his decision and to renew his hospital insurance while he is still insurable and can own one. Premium also increases with age; the older he gets, the higher the premium.

Q3: I am now employed as a manager and my company pays for my medical expenses when I am sick or is hospitalised. I am considering changing my job for my career advancement in the near future. In doing so, I will be left without any hospital insurance if I do not own one myself. Will I be ‘over-insured’ if I am to purchase another hospital policy now?

A: You can be ‘over-insured’ if you possess 2 hospital plans at the same time as you can only claim from one policy at any one time. Hospital insurance reimburses you for the actual cost of hospitalisation. Once you have been reimbursed for the hospital bills from one policy, you cannot claim again from the other policy.

Having said that, the question of whether you need to purchase another hospital plan will depend on your needs. There are circumstances that may justify the need for more than one policy.

If you are to leave your current job, you will be exposed to periods when you will not be covered by any hospital insurance. In such a situation, it might be worthwhile for you to own hospital insurance yourself without having to rely on your employer. Further, there is also the question of whether your new employer will provide you with hospital insurance.

People who will be retiring in the near future may want to consider owning their own hospital policy before they retire. As one ages, the risk of being ill is very high. Insurance companies may not offer hospital insurance if your health is substandard.

www.liam.org.my

If you are not clear, you may call up the insurance company and refer ur policy and they will let you know how much is going for life insurance and how much is medical insurance.

bro, you can ignore that supersound le, he's hardcore anti-insurance 1, he will even shoot the moon down from the orbit to tell you that insurance is useless because he kena con 24/7 by all insurance agent.

good to hear that, thanks for spreading some good stories

wow that's a big mistake. Should have done some policy review and emphasize the importance of the medical card.

I think from now onwards, all his claims against insurance malpractice has to be proven with the receipt or letter officially stating what he claims, otherwise, he's just a bag of wind.

Seems like Agent 1 proposed ILP with medical

Wheres Agent 2 proposed ILP with medical card + term life.

What are you looking for exactly ?

Will need to see your total commitments and the expenses you are paying every month. On top of that whether do you have any responsibility towards your family in the event you're no longer here. Feel free to pm me some of these details so that I can see what can work out for you.

When were you hospitalized ?
How long did your physiotherapy benefit cover up to ?

If you want to claim insurance for this x ray or mri. Make sure it's been recommended by the doctor and subsequently told you that x ray or mri is required for further diagnosis. If they require you to be hospitalized then you may claim from your medical card for all these plus any surgery. Otherwise if the doctor said you're fine, just some minor injury and you can leave without staying in the hospital. Then you can't claim under your medical card.

Nowadays insurance comes with some investment feature to make use of the money you paid to the insurance company for investment which will generate cash value to make your overall ownership in the long term cheaper compared to term insurance.

Sure what are you looking for ?

You may go to hospital to get it checked and see what's going on with your knee. It's still to your benefit that you know what's going on with your knee rather than thinking about the fees for an X-ray which normally wouldn't cost a lot together with a consultation of the Doctor for the diagnosis.

Medical card will normally have these clause as an exclusion meaning not covered.
1. Hospitalization primarily for investigatory purposes, diagnosis, X-ray examination, general physical or medical examinations, not incidental to treatment or diagnosis of a covered Disability or any treatment which is not Medically Necessary and any preventive treatments, preventive medicines or examinations carried out by a Physician, vitamins/food supplements and treatments specifically for weight reduction or gain;

2. Any treatment or investigation which is not Medically Necessary, or convalescence, custodial or rest care;

You have to ask urself
Whether you feel happy to give more business to your current GE agent. Otherwise can look for another agent to buy the policy from.

The upgrade will depend on how much you plan to upgrade as well. If the amount is not alot then upgrade with the existing policy. If the amount is alot then you can plan to get from other agents if you're unhappy or not satisfied

This post has been edited by lifebalance: Mar 10 2016, 12:22 PM

Apply and get the policy out. Choose the one you want to keep. Otherwise you'll just never know the answer.

It's just like getting a girlfriend and you're thinking too much whether she likes you or not.

AIA also has cancer plan under AIA 360 that features power reset and early cancer payment

1. If diagnosed early and found out. Medical card will pay for any surgery to remove it
2. Yes. It will cover under outpatient cancer treatment

If you have cancer plan then it will pay out as lump sum as pocket money

Can only claim from one medical card at a time

If company medical card exceeded limit then only can claim that portion on your personal medical card

This post has been edited by lifebalance: Mar 14 2016, 01:15 PM

haha how you wish right?

Buy 10 medical cards from each different company.

Each you send in to claim 100k for hospitalization and hopefully you get RM1 mil. It doesn't work that way.

Just tell the doctor that you would like to claim for insurance for some problem related to your knee. The doctor will try their best to assist you.

Hi Sitting Duck

You may upgrade the policy anytime, no issue on that part. You don't have to cancel the plan that you bought for 10 years.

However, when you upgrade, you have to go through the same thing again for the cooling off period and declare ur health again.

Feel free to ask me anything about AIA.

Hi InabaKai

Regards to ur question,

Your insurance policy is there to provide you protection in misfortune events.

Should you choose to "close account", you will not be covered anymore. As the company will completely withdraw your surrender amount and give you the RM7xxx.

However, you have the option to take a loan from ur account and withdraw partially instead of fully closing ur account. However, you will need to top back the amount later on once you're financially more stable.

When you keep your insurance policy until you're 55 years old, It's projected to gain as much as RM150k. But might be higher or lower than the amount as it's just a projection.

You will need to decide whether this RM7000 is really what you urgently need at the moment. But don't do it out of compulsion for a short term goal. You need to figure out whether are there any other ways other than taking out this insurance money.