mtsen,

didnt know you are looking too

i think before anyone can offer anything we should know what you expect from the package, how long you want to get insurance, what are your special requirements and last but not least how much do you want / can you spend on the premium. not just today but when you are 70 or 80 or 90 even.

hmmm,

i always try to eliminate the agent and reduce my premium through direct insurance. the savings are massive and claiming is not terribly complicated. also some of the extras offered are really attractive i find agents tend to sell you too much insurance, wrong insurance which is more profitable to them, are biased to the companies they represent and in general can give little actual advice. at least i have yet to meet an agent that gives impartial advice.

Vitorbarbosa,

many insurers have been giving the walk in customers discounts equal to the agent comission in the past. i have been getting them since 2000 but you need to ask. not all insurers do that. MSIG, Tokio Marine and AXA refused so far. In that case you can always look for an agent and request point-blank to share comission. many will do it - personally i believe the comission is way to high. a recurring comission of 15% of my premium or more is just disproportionate to the work done. a comission of 10% might be acceptable if you have a good agent but more? my share my car insurance comission, health insurance comission and i enjoy full agent discounts on houseowner, householder, PA (25%! - mind you), my mom-in-law's PA, personal liability and pretty much every other insurance we carry. the only insurance i am stuck with paying full price at the moment is tokio marines health insurance. the agents for TM are hard to find and they have so far all refused to split. in that case i still go direct as i dont like to pay them too much. i will keep requesting the agent discount from TM though - eventually insuerer will be giving them and it will be a marketing instrument too. its only starting with car insurance now and it will spread. so agents will have to start splitting on a large scale if they want to survive in the coming years.

mtsen,

i agree for H&S an agent can come handy. i also have one there

show us the details of your PRU plan and we can take a look. the life-time limit is a put off if you ask me. also the cover seems low for the premium you pay you should be getting 250k for this price with life-time limit of around 200k without.

it's just a matter of time. in europe allianz opened allianz24 just like many others. no agents, direct internet - and guess what: premiums are around 30% below the regular rate. and this is the same for most other insurers too. i look forward to this beeing just an agent for one company is not good enough. i guess there will only be a future for impartial insurance advisers. at least i would love to pay one to do all the comparison work me. at my hourly rate i am investing several annual premiums into the research alone *sigh* i rather pay someone else a few hundred bucks or so to do it for me on a regular basis.

this is interesting. and it confirms my previous assumption that a flexible premium will give you significant discounts over a fixed premium. i will add the plan to the list when i get to H&S plans attached to a life policy.

i would not limit my cover to 55-60. it's afterwards when you will really need the cover. choose a plan that offers a guaranteed renewal up to 70 or 80 - at least then you have the option. if you decide later, then you might be screwed. if you decide you dont need it you just dont renew. ideal lah.

for cover up to 70 there are plenty of plans. for up to eighty with guaranteed renewal and without fees that go into the 10s of thousands (yes i mean you Manulife and it also goes into the direction of Great Eastern - who in malaysia can or wnts to afford such premiums for your tiny cover that you furthermore cap with a lifetime limit!?) you are stuck with two options that i have found so far: Allianz and AXA.

if you go down to 70 there are a great number of plans - havent checked rates yet. will put in a feature to calculate the remaining life-time premiums and average anual premium. that is a better value to compare long term affordability and exposes hikes you otherwise overlook. afterall who cares about this years premium with a plan that runs 30 years right.

for small cover B.HealthNet might be interesting. dunno if guaranteed renewable though. AIA ExelCare Plus, ING MediPlus, Kurnia's MediGuard (catch: guaranteed renewal only until 65) are also in the game.

funny. i thought there are two ways too look at the premium (subject to portfolio adjustment across age bands):

(quote from brochure)

The premiums of PRUmajor med 5 are available in 2 forms. If PRUmajor med 5 is attached to a PRUlink policy or a Universal Life Policy, the level premiums are payable. However, premiums payable for a PRUmajor med 5 plan attached to a traditional life policy are based on the attained age. This means, as the age increases, its premium increases.

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Added on July 24, 2009, 8:46 ammtsen,

share your comparison... i let you look at mine too

This post has been edited by PJusa: Jul 24 2009, 08:46 AM

simplesmile,

i think this is the point actually. you just insure yourself against the risk that it strikes way too early. so its a crisis cover of sorts to make up for loss of income. better than nothing but admitedly not ideal.

hi,

the plans sounds like Allianz EB Medishield Plus to me. premiums would also fit roughly. i calculated 379.2 for a male, 33 - allianz quotes the exact same pricing. also benefits are the same. only plan with 10x lifetime limit i know. going direct might give you a better discount. the axa plan withtout lifetime limit would be 337 for the situation. cover seems slightly less but i will have to double check with them on some covers. basically the outpatient benefits for stroke, cancer and dialysis are a lot better with allianz since they are annually.

this plan in general sounds not too bad to me. life cover is how much? in this scenary you can use the CI cover to actually cover medical costs due the age limit. this is a twist from the usual application of using CI to cover for loss of income in which case cover until 65 is fine but the ideal cover would be a decreasing cover which is close to impossible to get in the market. so you must underinsure first or overinsure when ending age comes near. so CI until 100 is in my eyes an interesting alternative. cant say much about the premium - havent gotten to comparisons there.

i figured - life and CI have to tandem right? always must have a catch. cause if you really keep the CI then the life part wont benefit you too much. a small life cover 10k maybe to cover funeral would be nicer.

its not about free rides. more that insurers dont want to supply a CI plan as a standalone or in a way that it makes sense from a financial planning point of view. if you attach a high life cover along even coverage until 100 becomes less worthwhile since the life insurance destroys the purpose of the CI plan.

is this excel care plus? how to eliminate lifetime limit? please post entire premium schedule until age 100 for male and female with and without lifetime limit so one can really compare.

thanks

hi i got the premium schedule for the excelcare plus with MCP to ECP and without. with MCP its up to ca. 35.000 RM annual premium. if i compare the benefits its not really better than other no lifetime plan i.e. AXA. only advantages are higher lifetimelimit for dialysis (max plans) and coverage until 100. but the premium is way higher than axa for a much lower annual limit. i think with the current plans offered i take premium healthcare until 80 and then revert to GH if the savings cant cover the costs thereafter. the premium difference is huge. i think can save quite a bit - have to plug in the aia premiums then can compare nicely how much one can set aside.

prudential,

feel free to contribute. dont just advertise - this is a discussion no marketplace.