It was a bad investment. If I'd put 12K every year into FD for 10 years, I would've seen some nice growth. Instead, I'm now in negative.

I guess someone has to bear the cost of insurance coverages over the years

It is easier for us to talk about individual incidents and illness in hindsight. However in the process of choosing insurance, each product has its own pros and cons and it is very difficult to predict what illness we may face other than based on family history. So for me the main takeaway fron this is how the case was handled by the company.

It seems to me that insurance company are deliberately adding terms and condition knowing that the customers will not be able to read all of it so that they can escape paying.

Insurance never meant to be investment. Just buy term life , CI and medical card ... nvr ILP

Thx for sharing...if not mistaken they boast as fastest reimbursement upon claim...sth to think abt now ....so far my claims were via company insurance...personal ones x touched yet...touchwood...which is ge....hmm...switching insurance co with same perks easy? Depends on age right?

When did this new rule started? Since the 80 or 90s? I believe in those days, there are fairy.

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This post has been edited by MUM: Sep 9 2019, 02:34 PM

Then you must have known those fairy tales figures used...what are those figures?

new disclosure rule started recently, 1 July 2019.

http://www.bnm.gov.my/index.php?ch=en_anno...uncement&ac=720

my abt 15 yrs policy are using the 4.5% and 6% projected returns

Correction 1 january 2020. The guideline is complicated. Very hard to explain in a simple manner. Projection rates also set by bnm, but at least bank negara set a new more realistic rate

Uncle looi. Try to ignore those projected returns. Most importantly focus on what the insurance company is giving you. But keep in mind look at it super long term.

It is always not advantageous to switch insurance companies.


Back to the original topic...

This is no fault of GE. In fact... feeling funny why prudential paid the critical illness (CI) claim. My own policy does exclude that keyhole procedure

Insurance company are not running a charity. Terms and conditions are set because the insurers genuinely cover those what is called critical illnesses.

The purpose of CI is to cover for your cost of treatment and possibly lost of income if and when you are really sick.

If you ask, how is it fair to put all those t&c? Well then your insurance gonna cost twice as much. Yes, in a way, the industry is not very healthy, given the heavy reliance on agents and their salary is % based not fixed fee.

Consumers and hospitals alike are also abusing medical insurance. Sikit sikit diarrhoea, fever masuk hospital. Then exactly these people pulak ask why my premium increase? Agent say wont increase one.

Cut the story short, truly i sympathise but yes, read what you buy. You buy property, you do your due diligence. You buy phone also you compare the models and prices. Why cant take time to read the t&c of your insurance policy?


This post has been edited by adele123: Sep 9 2019, 10:50 PM

The chamber in my heart swelled by 20% in 9 months. The 3 cardiologists and 1 surgeon I saw, estimated I had 6 months at most before the heart started to fail.

My surgery took 6 hours. The heart was stopped and my lungs collapsed. After that I was in ICU for 5 days.

Was GE therefore reasonable with the t&c? Just because it wasn't open-chest surgery, therefore it wasn't critical enough?

Put it this way, my cardiologist who lectures, publishes and also featured in the newspapers reacted with "what the fu*k?"

P/S: I dislike seeing doctors and I've never made a single claim on my insurance since 2004 until now.

This post has been edited by wirelessdude: Sep 9 2019, 11:07 PM

First, thank you for posting and sharing what you've went through.

I have 2 questions...

1. Were you claiming from 2 insurance companies for the same medical bill?

2. Based on the surgical cost and all other medical cost, which is about 60k, and with hindsight in mind, would you be better off without having any medical insurance and instead pay the cost out of your own pocket?

Your answer to (2) would be helpful since I don't have medical insurance and believe in self financing my own costs.

From what I heard, the potential medical costs are often exaggerated and overblown to inflate the amount of coverage and hence paying a higher premium than absolutely necessary.

Yes, I did not buy those insurance policies with a "returns" expectation....from the bonus or special bonuses that the insurance companies will gives me at the end of the contract.
I bought into it with that "possible jackpot amount" in mind knowing that my dependents could get from those policies in the event of me getting into any of those illnesses or life/income changing events during the contract terms.

The 1st one I got was in 1992, i got into it bcos I am enticed by ..."we will pay you a sump of at least xxx if you get yourself into any of these yyyy"'s sales pitch then.
Through the years after having seen and judging from health histories of my family members and those that of my friends and colleague's; I think I made a right choice in paying those premiums as part of risk mitigation as part of financial planning tool. I only know about insurance as a risk mitigations and its term/tool used in financial planning last few years (yes from lyn forums )

yes, it is a super long term commitment like marriage.....
have to make adjustment along the way just like marriage too....reviewing and adding more as time goes by....

so far, no complain about low rates of returns except for one time I got the shock of my life when I checked the surrender value in 1997, as a just in case contingency plan during the working insecurity period in the midst of Asia Financial Crisis......
I guess someone had to pay for those "possible jackpot" pay out insurance coverage and the income of those agents and those of the stake holders of these insurance companies.
Just think about the profit margin of those bubble tea we drink, the food we ordered or the durian we eats....I am sure the % of profit margin are very high too if not higher than those of insurance...

This post has been edited by yklooi: Sep 10 2019, 08:02 AM

1. Nope, AFAIK, you can only claim from one. I only have medical coverage with Prudential.

2. Nope, I think medical insurance is worth buying and highly recommended (make sure you buy the waiver too) because the claim is more straightforward. There are fewer T&Cs like certain things not claimable (e.g. consumables, admin fee, etc) and can only claim if xx days before/after the surgery (e.g. my 6-monthly follow-up echo scans will not be claimable).

The total cost at a semi-private hospital is already MYR 60+K; I won't be surprised if it cost MYR 100+K in a fully-private hospital. I read somewhere else on LYF where this guy says he doesn't need medical insurance because he can go to public hospitals. For those which such perception, I urge you to pay a visit to hospitals like HKL and see for yourself first.

However, for critical/life insurance (considering the amount of caveats), I may not buy it on hindsight.

If you look at my medical insurance from a "financial" perspective (approx. values):

Total premium paid = MYR 90,420

What I got/will get in return:
1. Medical claims = MYR 65,000
2. Critical illness = MYR 295,000
3. Cash Value = MYR 53,000
4. Waiver on my policy (up to 100 yrs old) = MYR 409,000*
5. Waiver on my son's policy = MYR 12,000

Total returns = MYR 834,000
ROI = 9.2x

*excluding investment returns.

I hope this thread will help Malaysians make a more informed decision on your insurance needs. Do not believe everything you're sold and do not buy more than you should.

P/S: PM me if you want the contact for my Prudential agent. He's a young, honest and hardworking boy whom I can trust and recommend. He takes care of both my personal and my company's group insurance.

I have the same feeling. And I think hospitals charge higher amounts if they know you are covered ... so the 60k TS was covered could be less if self -paying... another thing is I really question whether certain surgeries are in fact needed.... e.g. many angioplasties are questionable ...

Generally, yes and also depends on which hospital, surgeon and how many opinions you get.
- I had opinions from 3 different cardiologists, who had no vested interest in my surgery.
- the hospital I went to is semi-private.
- my surgeon is an academic.
- of the MYR 50+K surgery cost, my surgeon's fee was only MYR 9+K.

This post has been edited by wirelessdude: Sep 10 2019, 10:30 AM

Before you buy, they happily give you.

Many years after you bought and ask for another copy, they seems reluctant to do so.