Hi all sifus,

Anyone experienced their medical card premium increased?

Am using Great Eastern, today I received an email that my premium will be increased.

However, I have 2 options: either to Accept or Reject the increment.

My question is, if I choose to reject the increment, will it affect my coverage in the future?

Thanks!

#hidupsusahsekarang

There had been frequent postings abt premium increases... Not only from GE
May we know the % rate of your increase?...
If I can remember correctly, I read that, if you did not pay the increased premium, then the sustainabiliry of Yr policy maybe affected

You cannot reject the increment. The charges will still increase whether you increase your premium or not.

Assuming your policy is an ILP, if you dont increase your premium, what happens is your account value will deplete faster and your policy may lapse when the account value is zero. So answer to your question, yes, it may affect.

Usually few things you can do, switch to lower plan, increase your premium as advised OR switch to a plan with co insurance or deductible. If really tight on budget need to speak to agent but again, last few post also someone mentioned agent not helpful.

Read my previous few post. The answer wont change much for everyone asking about this.

The increment is around 22%.

In this case, I would just agree to the increment. Scared later my policy affected.

I see. Thanks for your input!

In this case, I would just agree to the increment.

If you're tight on cash now, you can choose to reject the increment first and do it later.

What it will affect you is just on the term of coverage as the insurance company had increased their cost chargeable on you.

Hence they recommend you to top up soonest as possible.

if do later, the increment could be much higher?

roughly how much?

The insurance company will need to requote for you base on their internal calculation, there is no fixed amount/percentage table that can be used since everyone's account value is different.

i see.

I just submitted a return letter for premium increase.

Authorization letter for premium increase citing the reason of up-revision of insurance charge.

hi GTA5, one of my clients also need to increase RM40/month to his plan. perhaps its better to know clearly why the increase. The reason behind the increased of premium is because of the medical card charges adjustment starting 1st June 2020. The charges increased (you will see the table of increment in the letter) caused more deduction from your insurance account, thus over the long run, the value in the account will deplete earlier compared to when you took up previously. so whether you choose to accept/reject the increment, it won't affect the policy benefits, it will affect the policy sustainability. meaning to say, if you choose not to increase your premium, your policy will lapse earlier compared to before. if RM40/month is ok for you, then it's better to increase now.

hi GrumpyNooby, which insurance company?

GE

This post has been edited by GrumpyNooby: Oct 29 2020, 07:47 PM

I also received letter from Prudential for medical premium increase of RM53. Set to increase on 1/1/2021. However there is no accept or reject option. Need to discuss with my agent soon.

I have been paying the same premium since 2003, just wonder why the sudden increase. Anyway I will pay the increment. As in the past, it have been helpful for my medical claims.

My GE ILP increases 35% from RM200 to RM270. Still haven't decided to accept or not.

already got more than 10 post + a thread elsewhere about premium hike, I think it's kind of obvious that premium cost have increased for most insurance companies. if you're looking to reduce/maintain the premium, you may consider to include some deductibles to the policy (provided there is such option).

On the recent topic regarding Premium Increase:

1. Medical costs are increasing every year due to Medical Inflation.
2. Just like how consumer goods prices also experience an inflation between 2%-4%, Medical Inflation is between 12% - 13% on average.
3. Despite the reputation as an affordable medical tourism destination, our medical inflation is only trailing behind India (14%) and Indonesia (13.1%) in Asia.

Apart from these numbers and statistics, there are also good outcomes that we pay for:
1. Malaysians are living longer lives!
However this also means that demand for long-term medical services is higher.
2. Malaysians are not exactly living very healthy lifestyles. Early onset of chronic diseases due to unhealthy lifestyles is actually among the major contributors to the billions paid in medical claims each year.
3. Better medical tech requires ever more qualified staff and highly precise equipment, adding to the overall medical costs.

FAQ on the above:
1. Do the actuaries not include medical inflation into the calculations of premiums?
Yes they do. However, what they cannot do is predict the future, and force the entire nation to buy into an insurance scheme. With limited sample size and basing their assumptions on statistics of the past, an over-estimation would result in incompetent prices. And what we're experiencing today (premium increase) only proves that our health today is not better than 20 years ago.
2. Are we going to be experiencing another round of medical repricing?
If the current trend persists, yes. Sad but true. This is the reason behind insurers going to the extent of positive reinforcement, by way of rewarding healthy lifestyles. Yes, it is cheaper to give customers the perks for staying healthy than to result in a long-term medical claim. It is literally a win-win move.

You see, 20 years ago, a very big win for us as consumers was when insurers done away with "co-insurance", and also introduced "no lifetime limits".
Nowadays, we're looking at a comeback of "co-insurance" or "deductibles", as a measure to keep premiums affordable.
We're even looking at a pretty tricky issue of "sustainability" in ILP products. It's a double-edged dagger really. It is either you pay a little more now, or you pay at the mercy of whatever the cost is in the future. Similar to the loan moratorium now lah.

The way I see it, we ought to maintain our health forever so we can enjoy our health forever. While doing that, we're also playing a part in keeping the good clauses and wide range of coverage around for everyone to enjoy.
Just look at the mess that is health insurance in the US now. It is extremely expensive, and the limitations (and exclusions) makes our policies look like stuff of dreams.

This post has been edited by JIUHWEI: Oct 30 2020, 11:07 AM

ALL insurance companies affected....

"Green one color", all affected.

There should be a projected sustainability for you to see how long your policy can sustain if you decide to keep the current premium at status quo.

Frankly, just accept it bro.
Either way, you have to pay. Either you pay it with RM70/month now, or you pay it with lesser years of coverage.
Now this is just my opinion, you may have different considerations.
But it is usually at the tail end when it's not a matter of RM70/month anymore, and the matter just goes from bad to worse.

Yes, it is difficult to swallow now.
However, there are still 2 options even if you decide to pay the extra:
1. You pay into the regular premium.
This one, there is a regular commission paid to the servicing agent. 6 years only.

2. You pay into the top-up premium.
This one, there is a perpetual commission paid to the servicing agent. Small drips, but dripping forever.

There isn't.

This doesn't come with the letter.
You'll have to call up your agent or customer service center lah.

For GE, I cannot say for sure. But in our portal, we can check all these things.