The hospitals that treat you are all the same hospitals.

Maybe pay a visit to the agent's office?
Then get to know the claiming process thoroughly.

I believe many who come here looking for hopefully whichever agent who are on this platform to fight it out and give you the lowest, cheapest premium, end up with more headaches, questioning
"how long will this guy continue to be in the industry?"
"how do i know this is the bottomline?" ...etc.

And many agents here in order to win any biz at all, try to act like guru, step on each other, do everything possible to be the one with the lowest quotation, end up having to answer questions such as "why you never tell me?"

Guys, the absolute best insurance policy is one that is "in force".
The absolute best advice is for you to take action NOW, and declare all your health history.
And the "best" agent you can find, is someone you know.

Take a good look at your current finances, and let's work together and brace ourselves for whatever that is to come in this very uncertain times.

Good point.

Lemme rephrase then.

The "best" agent, is someone you truly know, and rightly deserving of your trust, not blindly, but with good reason.

I have some experience with similar cases.
It is my customer who developed depression some years back. He is currently more cheerful and motivated again, but still undergoing treatment.

However, sad to report that his application to upgrade his medical coverage was declined twice. Over a 2-year period.

As what others have mentioned, best to try and apply, submit all the relevant reports pertaining to the diagnosed condition.

Maybe you want to check with your parents?
See what do they already have in place for you.
Then build from there.

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

"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.

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.

If you bought AIA policy, no need to cancel and buy new. You can apply for the new rider within the same policy.

Medical portfolio increase, so what the previous calculations afforded for does not apply already.
Why?
Because of high medical inflation coupled with the downtrend on the general Malaysian's health condition.
And every company also want to be the most competitive in terms of rates and pricing.
So in order to be competitive, everyone also go as near as possible to the bottomline.
Now that the medical insurance portfolio requires a rate hike, semua kena.

But, know that the rate hike is only on the medical insurance COI.

The real difference is the number of transactions.

Annual payment only 1 time transaction. So only 1 times transaction fee charged.

Monthly payment is 12 times transactions in a year. So 12 transaction fees charged.

For ILP, usually there is no difference in total premiums to be paid, the difference is very slight, reflected in the difference in fund value over the years lah. NBD actually. But when customer tekan agent to go lower and lower in terms of the premiums, then when stretched until max, sometimes the same amount can go through for annual payment mode, but sangkut when changed to monthly mode.
(I tried before... a matter of rm2 difference annually. The prospect also didn't buy in the end. Also the last time I layan people like that)

For traditional and term policies, then there is a slight surcharge for anything other than Annual Premium Payment.

The new AIA medical rider is A-Plus Health.
Yeah, better coverage, of course premium will increase. However, for a lot of us between 25 to 40 (depending) the increase in premium on the old rider vs opting for the new rider is relatively the same. So then we have the option between upgrading or staying with the old coverage, and pay the extra premium.

ILP or not, the coverage is the same, unless company offer some extra benefits (usually to ILP).

In ILP, there are 2 things to look at: the premium and the cost of insurance.
The premium is to cover the cost of insurance and also to solicit for some market returns.
ILP is called a Level premium product, which means the premium is kept at a constant level.
Considering the COI rate remains unchanged (rising according to projection), the premium coupled with the expected market returns should sustain the policy to age 70/80/100, whatever is chosen during application.

I apologize if I overstepped any lines. Totally was just sharing an example.
There is a premium holiday option for all ILP policies.
How it works is you stop payment, and the policy continues by charging the COI to the fund value.
One thing to pay attention to when exercising this option is to ensure that the premium holiday option allows the company to charge the COI for policy riders (such as medical rider) as well.
You can also withdraw from your fund value at any time too, according to the minimum balance, minimum withdrawal amounts set by the company.

Actually our agency do this all the time.

Klo nak, I tunjuk u lah

Standalone premium also not fixed. In the find print, it will always say company reserve the right to adjust the premium, and have to give 3 months notice to the insured by way of a written letter.

This post has been edited by JIUHWEI: Oct 30 2020, 05:52 PM

While it is difficult to not have that thought, and it is arguably difficult to ignore, I hope to bring a different perspective.

The different perspective:
We are able to buy insurance because we qualify first with our health.
Should our health condition not qualify, then whatever amounts of money "saved" is for naught.
I can understand that you will be in a different country for an extended amount of time, with plans to return for good after.

Any sane and thinking person would consider having a health insurance wherever they are.
And that is exactly what brought us to the question:

Should I continue servicing my health insurance in Country A during my absence?


And just like any sane thinking person, "what for?"
It does present itself as a "waste of money". You have your own considerations, and I will not dismiss them.
I only encourage you to consider from another perspective.

Remember, we buy insurance first with our health. We only get to pay for it with the condition that our health qualifies.
1. So you are 5 years younger than you will be 5 years later when you return.
2. Chances are, you are also 5 years healthier now than you will be 5 years later (a probable assumption).
3. It is also much easier for insurers to take you in at a much more affordable annual rate now than 5 years later when you return.
My point is that the best time to buy any insurance at all is always yesterday, last week, last year, etc.
The next-best time is now.

Why subject yourself to the mercy of the underwriters in the unknown future, when you are in the prime of your health now?
From a risk management, risk transfer perspective, don't you see the irony of the subject matter?

I implore you to entertain the issue from my perspective, and these points mentioned above for your thorough consideration.

Yeah, it's an option available.
It is to reduce the premiums paid. And it makes sense because it is only RM500 deductible. Compared to the difference in premiums, it makes much more sense to take up the RM500 deductible.

We also would like to know.

However, there's many angles to look at it.

1. From our Medical Insurance market offerings.
Once compared to some other, more matured markets, our medical insurance offerings is among the more generous ones.
Our local medical insurance offerings have developed progressively from having inner limits in the 80s, annual limits with co-insurance, annual limits with lifetime limits in the 90s, to what we now see and are having in the recent decade (2000s and 2010s) >>> very high annual limits with no lifetime limits.

2. From our local demand
The above development also reflects our demand for healthcare increasing over the years, as mirrored by the emergence of private hospitals and also private hospital chains. Which is good because it also means that more people are getting access to regulated health care, pulling more away from bomoh-s and unlicensed practitioners.

3. From our longevity
It also shows that Malaysians are living longer lives, albeit with some chronic health issues, thereby weighing a little more on the medical cost portfolios (this is an understatement).

Now as the medical insurance players continue to outdo each other with regard to ever higher annual limits, the consequent premium amounts to be coughed up by us, the consumers, has to keep up as well.

From recent rounds of price hikes, it is quite obvious that while Malaysians are living longer, but it does not translate to living better lives due to ever higher medical claims being recorded year-on-year.

So what can we do?
Among the insurers, Great Eastern and AIA are some of the ones rewarding their customers for staying active and staying healthy. Yes, it has come to this.
It is actually cheaper to just give the customers some rewards to stay healthy and stay active.

Apart from that, recent developments are not so much in our favor as consumers.
Just browse through the latest offerings from among the medical insurers here, you will see "deductibles" and "co-insurance" making a comeback.
While it can reduce the costs in terms of premiums paid, the first "deductible amount" will have to be paid by us, the consumers.
A few hundred ringgit in deductibles is still manageable by our general public. However, deductible amounts at the thousands would weigh quite heavily on our young adults, as well as our urban poor.
With that said, everybody have different scales depending on where we stand financially. So it's difficult and unfair to make a blanket judgement on the direction of this current trajectory of developments in our local medical insurance offerings.
No good, no bad, it is just the reality we are living in and going through together.


With that said, let's switch gears and now also focus on the SUSTAINABILITY side of things.
Obviously with what's mentioned above, the previously "cheap" policies sold will now suffer a big hike on their premiums.
Some here have shared on their horror stories receiving the distasteful letter of a "suggested increase in premiums" or otherwise have their coverage terminated prematurely due to "insufficient fund value". Then they call up the agent who sold it to them, issuing all kinds of threats, etc.

What's more, some of us will also suffer what we call a "double jeopardy" of experiencing this price hike just when they qualify to the next age bracket.
Especially for the ILP policy holders who were sold on the cheapest quotations.
Not saying cheap things never good. But rather, numbers cannot hide, and they do not lie.

If the same coverage you got it for much cheaper, you are paying in another form - shorter years of coverage.
This is very dangerous because chances are, we need the coverage more than ever at the tail-end of our days. Right?
What happens then? You will have to cough up whatever your real COI is at the time, as opposed to levelling your costs out through the years.

The short answer on whether or not to cough up the "suggested increase in premium amounts", is yes. Take it and pay for it.
At the very least, should there be no more price hikes in the future, you can hold it against the company saying "apa u kata, i ikut, apsal skang ceritanya lain pula?" <<<<< Hardly happens but it's chips in your hand.

The long way around is to call up your agent and understand what is the projected sustainability years. Then from there you can decide if you want to top it up or not, and to what amounts.

You, thank you for reading till here.
I really appreciate you reading what I took the time to share.

Hi friends,

May I know what other companies offer standalone medical insurance?

I am sourcing for a childhood friend of mine.

Thanks bruh-s.

However, most of them come with a max last entry age of 65.
I'm looking for others to compare against AIA.

I believe the "race to the bottom" may appear very appealing for consumers. Everybody likes discounts, lower prices.
But when rates are being slashed, coverage side will also be affected.
Perhaps a better approach would be getting the kinds of coverage you actually want.
As you can see by surveying around, the differences are becoming a lot more apparent as the industry progresses.
You can also see from recent developments what "low premiums" have affected >>>> sustainability.

However, seeing how trends of co-insurance and deductibles are making a comeback, consumers need to then be much more alert when sourcing for what they want.
We can take a look at US market as a measure of what the future plans can look like.
RN, even the best medical insurance plans "within network" only pays around 75% of the bills, and then inner limits everywhere.
Keep in mind that it is just a reference point, not an indication of how our future plans will be.

So yes, while the recent rounds of price hikes are VERY ANNOYING, you may also want to keep in mind that we have to qualify first with our health before we can buy. A policy "in-force" is always better than a new plan to buy.
And you can also compare around, our current medical insurance offerings in Malaysia, compared to other parts of the world, is actually quite generous!

So I do hope that we can move towards looking at what we want, look at value, rather than just price alone.

We can't be going on "no frills" forever.
At least for me, I am married, planning on starting a family, moving up in my career...etc.
I want the frills (if I see value in it). <<< betul from my heart.