My spouse and I are contemplating on whether or not we should purchase medical insurance for our 2.5 year old at this point in time.

Currently, our child is covered by our employer's insurance as part of our staff benefit. So, in any case there is a need for hospitalization, it will be fully covered. For spouse's employer, there is an annual limit, for my employer, there is no limit.

My spouse and I have different views on the objective of getting medical insurance

i) My view
- In case something happens to either myself / my spouse or both of us, the appointed guardian for our child will not have to worry about the medical expenses if the need arises as a medical insurance is already in place.

2) Spouse's concern
- To lock down the premium price while he is still young and healthy. This is with the belief that the premium will increase with age.

- As a form of investment for the child's future

Questions
1) Should we purchase now or wait until our child is >5 years old as was informed that the premium for children below 5 is higher due to the higher risk?

2) Our child is only 2.5 years old now. If lockdown now, probably 10-20 years down the road, the situation is going to be very different and what are the chances that the existing plan would be able to meet the needs in the future?

Figuring out how to strike a balance for our expenses mainly because of limited budget and don't want to over-insure (as currently fully covered by employer so won't be using personal insurance as long as we're alive and working)

Thanks for the feedback lifebalance and roysteveung.

Yes, budget is the main concern here as my spouse and I are already spending almost RM700 a month in total on our own insurance policies.

Which is why was considering on whether to wait for another year or so before buying as currently already covered by employers insurance. By then some loans would have already been cleared which makes it less taxing on the pocket.

Using your illustration, when you mean 1mil cover for an individual who earns 100k per annum, does your 1mil cover refers to total sum assured for the life component?

I just saw this online product on the Prudential website, PRUdirect Term.

Is this guaranteed to be renewable every year?

Is it guaranteed that the premium amount is fixed for the tenure of the policy?

This is based on what I understand from the website as I can't seem to find any reviews on this.

I'm considering to increase my life coverage as this looks like an affordable plan as compared to topping up my existing investment link plan.

I only need to fork out an additional RM34 a month as compared to RM80-RM100 for the same amount of coverage as quoted by my existing agent.

Thanks for your feedback.

Yes, I understand generally term insurance is cheap when you're young and increases as you grow older. Which is why I was asking if anyone can comment on this specific product PRUdirect. Based on the website it looks like the rate is fixed throughout the tenure. E.g. if I take 20 years, it will be fixed for that 20 years. Can anyone confirm this?

Yes, understand some term insurance won't cover whole life. My objective is to ensure that I'll be able to sustain my kids expenses until they're independent if I'm gone. So a coverage of 20-30 years would be sufficient for now I guess.

Seeking for other opinions in order to make a better decision.

Currently spouse and I have the same personal coverage as follows, paying RM380 and RM300 respectively

1) Life RM10k
2) Crisis Shield Plus RM100k
3) PRUacci guard RM100k
4) Medical R&B 200
5) PRUacci med RM3k
6) PRUacci Income 5units
7) Enhanced PRUpayor Basic

I also have employer's Group Term Life coverage of up to RM300k in case of death/TPD.

My employer also fully covers all medical costs for myself, spouse and child.

Looking into the following:
1) Increasing life coverage for spouse RM500k
- Was quoted PRUwealth RM250/month

2) Increasing life coverage for self RM500k
- Was quoted PRUwealth RM177/month

3) Medical card for child
- Was quoted RM180 for R&B 200

Reason:
Life - The surviving parent / guardian has income to provide for the family
Child's medical card - The surviving parent / guardian does not need to worry about medical expenses for the child

Obviously budget is a constraint here. I've read that insurance premiums should not exceed 10% of your monthly income, otherwise it's over insuring In this case, it will exceed slightly.

We did consider term life insurance but the monthly premium is about the same (RM20-RM30 difference/ month assuming if term is for 30 years)

Am I overpaying / over insuring in the first place?

How do you balance / prioritize or adjust if you were me?

Thanks for your feedback.

RM500k will be able to cover approximately 7 years of annual income (not taking into account inflation yet).

Existing RM300k from employer can cover up to 4 years so in total can cover 10-11 years.

Housing loan already fully covered by MRTA, no other big loan other than hire purchase of 20k.

For spouse, anything more than 500k is way beyond affordable for now even though got no other life coverage other than the existing plan of 10k

Yes understand need to prioritize thus asking around for opinions here