Congratulations on FINALLY getting yourself a medical insurance!

Well, then let's fast forward 40 years down the road and weigh it out -

Which one hurts more?
1. Regret buying medical insurance and didn't get to claim anything; or
2. Regret not having bought medical insurance on the hospital bed

I get that it is difficult to look away from the opportunity cost.

However, not everything is about money.
And I believe in this context, it is not about the money.
It never was about the money anyways.

I am sincerely impressed at the efforts and the lengths that you went through to finally secure something that fits into your portfolio.
It just shows that your money is super clean, and that you earned every single cent of it through nothing but hard work.
Much respect bro.

Anyhow, same like what I proposed to you from the get go kan?

Usually, insurance companies don't really want to insure buildings/properties left vacant for that long of a period.

Actually, I'm glad you posted this out here.

I just want to take the opportunity to point out

For the insurers (any insurers), it is never about the premium.
I mean, sure, pricing is an important part of the product, but it is just one of the factors.
In terms of general insurance, there are guidelines to follow with regard to what can be insured, vice versa.
As the example above, vacant buildings over 90 days generally won't be accepted. I believe some of you also face the same problem with cars over certain amount of years.
The nature of risks has to fall into certain parameters in order for the risk to be acceptable. Once that is established, then only we get to pay our premiums.
Once it is deemed not acceptable, any amounts of premium is immaterial.

You see, in the case of Life Insurance, the idea of ILP is to utilize market interest rates to level the premiums over the years.
To keep it short, you feed the box with money. When interest rates are high, it takes lesser money to feed the box, and vice versa.
Can you get better returns elsewhere? 100% yes.
Then again, let's not confuse insurance with investments.
If paying a premium will have a significant impact on your investments, then perhaps you're taking quite a big risk with your resources.

For the insurers, they are looking at the portfolio as a whole, then the product teams look at the business blocks, agency force and other sales channels are the ones "playing" with the premiums in exchange for sales. If the rates do not change, yet you're getting "cheaper" premiums, you're not exactly getting a good deal. You're just getting an arrangement that commands a lower premium.
Is the Life Planner then a "bad" person?
Of course not. The Life Planner just listened and delivered an arrangement that met the requirements that was given.

With that said, have we identified our risks?
Do we then have a risk management strategy in place?

This post has been edited by JIUHWEI: Jun 1 2023, 10:15 PM

The demise of the Policy Owner will not terminate the policy contract as the policy contract can only be terminated by means of a surrender, maturity, or death of the Life Assured.

In your specific case, your wife will just need to complete the transfer of policy ownership due to death of the policy owner.

I'm curious, why is this question not directed to your Life Planner?

The nominee can be the claimant as well.

I try to keep it short:

Medical card - it assures the healthcare providers that they will be paid for services rendered.
Critical Illness - it assures you that you will be paid during your "downtime".

My bro, I understand that times may be tough. Who hasn't been through some tough times?
I just hope that you take on a different mindset, and stop saying "I am poor people".
One thing is for sure >>> You're working on it, and that's worth cheering for.

There are products and plans for all market segments.
It doesn't mean that you can only afford "minimum coverage".
It just means that we need to get you something RELEVANT, just like what everyone else is doing.

How to know what is relevant leh?
That's where exploratory discussions happen.
You obviously have something at the back of your mind.
Go engage and talk to a professional about it.
It's definitely much better than settling for what's cheap, just because it is cheap, and never finding out for certain if it's a good fit at all.

To close, this is not and never will be a one-time decision to make.
It's a process, a journey that as we move along, we make adjustments to stay relevant.

Good luck my bro.

From within the cybersecurity industry -

So the attackers still remain unknown. No they did not go directly to the database.
What they did was to infiltrate the portals used by internal staff and agents.

It's not that Prudential cybersecurity is weak.
Even the Pentagon gets hacked daily and success rate is over 90% (successfully kena hacked).

So maybe those affected, just do some password changes, change credit/debit card info, etc.

Deng tit lei

Credit card details easily we can change.

It's the other bits that is a bit more worrying:
IC, contact details, home address, sum insured, income range, nominee details, etc

But we do our part to protect ourselves also la.
Start by changing passwords, and payment card details lo


This post has been edited by JIUHWEI: Jun 16 2023, 10:00 PM

May I suggest to put your regular premium payments on a credit card?

Wow they wasting no time at all...

No compliance issues mah

What's the aim here?

If I may, other sifus here please correct me if I am wrong ya:

I suspect that the differences between each insurer (similar product, similar premium, similar coverage term) is insignificant.
Life Insurance is a numbers product. And numbers do not run.
If I am paying less in premiums for similar coverages, features & benefits, I will be paying in another form, be it sustainability lah, benefits lah, etc.
After all, insurance companies are ultimately also answerable to all their stakeholders, including you and me as policy holders.

I would like to reiterate, and also to echo the sifu @lifebalance comments above,
If you've already identified that Life Insurance is what you need, then sit down with a Life Planner or an FP, or FA, or your friend in the Life Insurance career, go through an FHC to arrive at a figure that makes good sense.
This is going to be a working process forever, where we tweak and adjust accordingly to keep things relevant along the way.
Getting a relevant plan in place, is MILES better than getting something cheap but meaningless and irrelevant, just to be cancelled or terminated within the next 20 years.

For those who think that Term Life is the way to go, then buy Term Life.
For those who think that ILP macam is a better fit, then go with ILP.
For those who think that ILP return teruk, then go with Term Life.
For those who think that Life Insurance premium very expensive, might as well invest it and get a return on it, by all means, go right on ahead.
Different products are designed for their specific market segments, and to serve specific purposes. I'm sure there will be a plan that suits your situation and your needs.

Like it or not, let's face it - our lives are tied up with insurance.
The house we live in - houseowner/householder insurance
The car we drive - motor insurance
Our health - Hospitalization Insurance
The place we work at - commercial fire insurance, public liability insurance, burglary insurance, fidelity guarantee insurance
Our livelihoods - critical illness insurance, personal accident insurance, life insurance
Our businesses - machinery insurance, e&o insurance, consequential losses insurance, marine & freight insurance
So long as there is an asset or transaction of monetary value and insurable interest, it is within your interest to get it insured.

If cheap is the only thing you care about, POS Malaysia has been offering Insurance products for quite some time.
Why not get it there?
It's really cheap and very accessible too.

Very interesting...

How are you so sure that absolute strangers here will not?

I have a tendency to agree with you that at some point in time, the agency distribution system would end.
However, seeing how U for Life failed, and Fi-Life hanging by a thread, with "cheap" as their only USP, I'd say we're far from ready as a society.
If our online platforms couldn't even get Term products through to our market, what makes you think by offering more sophisticated products would lift them off the ground?
Recently I've been imagining Insurance contracts in the form of NFTs.
THAT could certainly work.

Like it or not, brand matters, track record also matters.
Any U for Life policy holders here?
If the Life Insurance sum that you bought was as important to you as it should be, how did it feel that you effectively outlived your insurance company?
How does that instill confidence to consumers like you and me?
I don't know about you, but my policies kick in to provide 20 years for my family.
20 years of whatever that matters to them when I'm no longer around.
I'm not rolling the dice here.

Again, there's a product and plan to cater for all segments of the market.
Talk to your friend, your Life Planner, your FP/FA.
And I mean allow them the time of your day, not "let's make it a quick one".
Why leh?
Cuz it just shows you're not willing to pay attention.
How can they in turn take you seriously?

It's not just Malaysia and Singapore bro.
Even in Germany, USA, UK, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, are all still running the agency system.
How I know leh? I join them on conventions, and still exchanging ideas with them mah
Are online providers like Cigna, Progressive, etc having market share? Yes of course, and yet the main players are still relying heavily on agency.

In fact, BNM has been making a lot of progressive improvements, moving the agency system towards advisory.
Are there outliers? Sure got lah, neh those that call you trying to push products to you lah.
Same like the society we live in loh. Mainly good people, sometimes there are those that terpesong also.
All of us go to the same schools. Are there people who turn out to be criminals? Sure got mah

Fi-Life is merely an online redistributor, distributing term life products.
Apparently now peddling their own, still sticking to Term Life, with "cheap" as the only USP.
If your assumptions are correct, Fi-Life should be the biggest insurer in Malaysia in terms of VONB by now.
Yet by every aspect of the business, it is still not in the conversation at all.

I'm not throwing shade on "cheap".
I'm just saying, it is never about the price.
No matter how much we talk about price, in a numbers product, where can it run?

Yes, there are insurance plan without any investment or saving link plan.


But banyak2 plan also useless if the shoe doesn't fit.
Same like what @adele123 and @Ramjade mentioned.

Sit down with your friend, have an open discussion about your objectives, maybe even conduct a Financial Health Check dulu.
Why leh?
Cuz it feels like she just pushing products on you
And the conversation putar2 also about product and price.
Product and price how cantik, if it is not meaningful to you it'll likely be the first to kena chop when times are tough.
Lidat lagi teruk kan?

1) No.

2) I have upwards of 400 ex-agents' clients. The truth is, not all of them are readily engaging with me, and that's okay. Monitoring their existing policies is not a tough job at all.
Yes, of course I will contact them for a review, conduct an FHC, find out if there are any new need for personal insurance.
Anything wrong with signing up new plans accordingly?

Hahahahaha
Nobody trying to cucuk you la bro.

I truly enjoy your passion on the subject! Keep it up!

I don't know if you will take my word for it.
And I have handled 167 claims so far (and counting) in my decade-long career.
Here's what I can share with you regarding the first 2 years, aka "contestability period" (this is the actual jargon btw):

For easy reference, let's have a distinction between accidental injuries and illnesses.
(I will be skipping first 30-days, 90 days, and 120 days waiting periods)

Like what @lifebalance mentioned, the first 2 years contestability period is there mainly to prevent any fraudulent behavior.
Considering the very generous offerings of Medical Insurance here in Malaysia, I believe we can all agree that this is fair to the insurer as well, kan?
After all, most people in our society are good folks who understand the value of working within boundaries of contracts and laws, so the legal system then protects our rights and interests.

So what actually happens during the contestability period?

Yes, the insurer reserves the right to investigate. The term is to put your claims on "HOLD", while investigation efforts take place.
So can we all agree that "being put on hold pending investigation" does not carry the same weight as "reject"?

You may ask "Why need to investigate? My policy issued already leh, approved already leh! Now want to play around with me ka? I sue kao you! (followed by colorful expletives)"
During the application process, there is a "Health Questionnaire" that will ask you about your height and weight lah, medical history lah, your parents medical history lah, if you're pregnant lah, got do health screening recently or not lah, etc.
The expectation is for you to answer these questions to the best of your knowledge, and to be as truthful as the truth can be. This is my best effort at giving the definition of "utmost good faith".
So if you did answer these questions to the best of your knowledge, just let the insurer run the investigation.
How does it work?
The insurer will send a simple letter to all the registered and licensed medical facilities in your area, asking if they have records of you ever being diagnosed for whatever that you are claiming for, or anything related.
When all the replies come back negative, then the amount you're claiming for will be released to you.
Quite a fair process, no?

Let's say the insurer really got a reply from one specialist that say "ya, I treated this mofo for this issue before. Here are all the past records. Why ah?"
Then you might as well just surrender the policy if the insurer doesn't auto-void it lah.

So the above is for the part of "illnesses".

What happens then for accidental injuries?
No such thing they won't cover la, just terus masuk.
Just pay attention to the coverage for "Emergency Accidental Injuries"
Outpatient procedures - something simple like sapu ubat only or some simple dressing to prevent infection are generally not covered.

So what constitutes an "accident"?
1. secara tetiba
2. it is violent - blood exit the body where it's not supposed to.
3. external impact - impact from outside the body.
Any combination of 2 out of the 3 listed above, kira accident.

I dunno about other insurers, but for AIA, dengue also kira accident.
Think about it...
Nyamuk land on you - secara tetiba
then the nyamuk sting you - external impact lah tu
The nyamuk suck your blood - blood exit the body
3 out of 3... accident lah

I hope I did shed some light on the issue being discussed.
Sorry lah, a bit long-winded
Comes with age.