Hi to all insurance/takaful advisors/experts. I would like to seek opinion regarding my matters.

Last June my credit card had been used by scammer overseas. I immediately cancelled the card and replaced with a new one. That means all my monthly takaful contribution was cancelled as well. I been dragging to update the payment to the new card.

So I want to use this opportunity to review back my takaful coverage and needs.

Back then, there are 4 policies auto deduct monthly by the old card.

1. Me. ILP from Prubsn takaful. RM200 (repricing to RM218). Benefits are RM60k annually, RM600k lifetime. Healthy and no claims so far.
2. Wife. Standalone from Medisavers Takaful. RM139(repricing to RM175). Benefits are RM300k annually, unlimited lifetime. She actually a hep b carrier but we didn't disclose. This is something I'm not proud of coz it wrong. So I determined to do right this time.
3. My 1st son. ILP from Prubsn Takaful. RM130 (repricing to RM144). Benefits are RM60k annually, RM600k lifetime. Healthy and had 2 claims so far. AGE and chickenpox.
4. My 2nd daughter. Standalone from Medisavers Takaful. RM89(repricing to RM131). Benefits same with wife. Healthy and no claims so far.

I got so many doubts and questions and couldn't find the definite answers.

1. Both ILP policies (mine and my son) from Prubsn still active thanks to the cash values. But should I continue with same plans or seek other plans? With the less price I even can get plans with unlimited annually and lifetime. Or should I seek plans which has takeover policy advantage to avoid the 2 years waiting period? If let say I change policy, is it true the new plan with not cover my sons AGE and chickenpox anymore?

2. I also has 3rd son which is one month old but had been diagnosed with mild pulmonary stenosis. Which is quite weird since all doctors I asked they can't hear the murmur. Will have followup in one month and I hope and pray it is not it.

3. In my situation, which is the best action I can make? Continue old plan for me, my 1st son and 2nd daughter or seek new one? For my wife and my baby, the best is to try apply all companies by finding one by one agents or just find FAR since they can access to all companies?

4. The 2 years waiting period also something that I consider. And found that there are companies have takeover policy which is Zurich Takaful and Medisavers Takaful. So either change mine and my son to Medisavers or change all to Zurich Takaful is in my consideration as well. Zurich Takaful has this NCD discount 20% if no claims which I found quite attractive.

Any opinion? Thanks.

1. Standard answer in here is "don't cancel ur policy and etc", honestly speaking there is no right or wrong to take up a new policy and cancel the old one if you feel that the coverage is no longer suitable for you. If there are some pre-existing illness that is still covered by your old policy which your new policy doesn't, then you'll have to weight whether keeping the old policy while maintaining a new policy is within your budget.

and if we are gonna worry about this 2 years waiting period whatsoever, I think you don't need to buy anymore insurance because it's gonna apply to any new insurance that you're gonna buy, so how ?

2. No comment

3. That's up to you to decide, you;re the head of the family, and this is an important decision to make. I'm sure you've done all your studies.

4. No comment

ur plan is too expensive
u better explore new medical card

Hello

I want to buy medical card for my 69yr old mom.

Any recommendation please?

Urgent coz her birthday is 26th Sept

Thanks

I am of the same opinion with you, Zurich Takaful does seem quite attractive.

Btw, could you share what do you mean by this sentence: "The 2 years waiting period also something that I consider. And found that there are companies have takeover policy which is Zurich Takaful and Medisavers Takaful."

Thank you in advance.

I think it means you will not have to wait for the 2 years contestability period. Maybe I wrong.

I see. How about the "takeover policy"?

Hello, I have recently talk to my agent and they assured me there is no problem for me since I have an old ILP(medical CI LIfe) which I have never claimed before. And since I have never claim anything before, it will not affect me

-- I have an old ILP plan bought at 2013.
-- I have done xray and went for chiropractor for my back issues in 2016.
-- Bought a new ILP plan in 2017, but in the health check questianire. I have put "NO" in both

"have you experienced any back pain ........ etc"
"have you done any xray scan in the past 5 years".

So my question is, will it affect my claim in the future?

This post has been edited by eidur: Sep 17 2018, 07:15 PM

The insurance company has the right to only honor your 2013 policy as I assume you were perfectly healthy upon application then.

As for your 2017 plan, the insurance company has the right to void the entire policy or exclude your back coverage. This will depend on their discretion.

I highly suggest you declare your back condition and wait for the insurance company respond to the matter. This will save you a lot of heartache in the future.

Best,
Jiansheng

Thanks for the prompt reply

The 2013 policy is an old policy that was bought by my parents when I was teenager, everything is ok.

And for the back condition, it is a normal back pain, not any specific illnesses, do I still need to declare normal back pain?

Seeing you have an x-ray done in regards to your back, always advisable to submit and get the company to review.

The decision is in your hands.

Best,
Jiansheng

Hey Sifus, for a fresh grad to the working force (early 20s), what sort of insurance should I be looking at? I have a life insurance that I have had since I was really young so its best for me to continue using it?

Provided you didn’t cancel your old policy, your old policy can still claim, however if the back issue is serious and was never declared then maybe there will be issue for the 2017 policy.

Well you could have just declared as back pain and allow the underwriter to examine further if they need further details instead of you trying to think on the behalf of the underwriter, it’s their decision and not yours to do their job.

They have grounds to say that you didn’t declare this back pain in the future if they want to find issue with you.

Wah bro, macam every year you request to buy insurance but tak jadi

You may consider a new medical card that covers a higher annual limit nowadays compared to the old card benefit.

Newer policies nowadays also grant you a higher sum assured for death and disability benefit.

However for starters as fresh grad, secure a medical card first, add on other benefits as additional if you have surplus budget.

A medical card is not the same as life insurance correct? Getting a new life insurance with higher sum assured would cost a lot more? Cause I thought the principal is that if you get life insurance really early on (which in my case since I was born) the cheaper it is? as oppose to getting life insurance when already getting old.

Medical card is for hospitalization purposes, life insurance is for death, disability or CI. Either way the premiums are more expensive with age.

I've always thought that I don't have to reasonably worry about medical as long as I'm employed, and just pay for life insurance. Of course, the company's insurance coverage is pretty extensive.

I'm looking for other opinions on this matter.

But the premiums wont be as expensive if started from young right?

Yes the younger you are the cheaper the insurance is, but being young and working as a fresh graduate may not have that income to buy and maintain an insurance policy especially with good coverage versus someone who is already in their 30s and have a family.

This may not apply to all fresh grad, some who start off in engineering, medical, aviation or other higher paying job may have a higher pay compared to others.

Medical Card falls under 1 of the categories of benefit under the insurance umbrella. It's probably 1 of the key components today.

As long as you're employable, sure you don't need to worry for insurance actually until you're retired.

What if you're no longer fit to work ?

It's always the hardest thing to find the perfect balance. Throwing away 2 to 4k annually seems like a big deal, then again even with a permanent employment, there's no guarantee you won't get retrenched these days

Thanks for your opinion

If putting aside 2k - 4k annually for an insurance plan that give you some decent coverage on top of the company life insurance, I think that's fair enough for some peace of mind.

But if you can't afford the 2k - 4k, then I rather you don't buy any life insurance and spend it on your daily expenses.