my sister who is AIA insurance agent said great eastern's medical card is the best among the life insurance company so far.
But as i know pacific also not bad,which u can get RM500 room and RM500 pocket money per day,because i bought this M.Card before,thier service damn good

Maybe you could share with your sister this link in a very popular Chinese website called JBTALKS.

http://www.jbtalks.cc/thread-274060-1-1.html

Humbble

prudential,

feel free to contribute. dont just advertise - this is a discussion no marketplace. (sorry for the cross-post but it also applies here)

and i did read the blog. you provide little actual information. do you have factual support that prudential is a better medical insurance than others. i doubt that - actually i am pretty sure there are plans around that offer the same, similar or better coverage at a lower effective price over the insurance period.

From what i know, Prudential do not have standalone medical card. They only have PruHealth which is a rider. You must purchase investment linked policy to include this rider.

All medical cards have their strengths and weakness.

The packaging I've seen so far is always done to allow you choose what you think is important for you based on your affordability etc. Some provide high annual/lifetime limit but would sacrifice some benefits like kidney dialysis, out patient etc.

If someone tells you that one company's product is superior than the others then that's just a blatant lie as then only that product would sell well in the market.

medical cards are just like a debit card u load up to pay for ur future medical bills. many are confused about this and alw expect to be get money when their relative died. when they dont get paid, they go around say insurance cheat ppl's money.

medical cards only pay for medical bills. this is why it's not advisable to only get a medical card coz everyone dies in the end. that's why ur insurance agent alw advise u to take medical card + investment-linked insurance coz invs-linked is a lot cheaper.


when u get a medicard, u need to check the annual limit they offer for ur budget. and also the lifetime limit.

compare it to how much bills u think it would a reasonable range that u will need for ur future health problems. (never think "it wont happen to me" coz we're not fortune tellers. we dont know what will happen to us in the future. we all can get old and get sick.)

consider how much an operation would cost.
for example, a heart bypass now costs around 60k in a private hospital. do u hv a history of heart disease in the family??

then consider how comfortable u want to be when u r in a hospital. do u want 4-sharing, twin-sharing, or ur own private suite?

discuss all this with ur agent. he will guide u and discuss ur concerns.


the above are just guidelines. what kind of medicard u buy is still up to u and up to how much u r willing to put away for ur future medical expenses.

hope this helps


good luck!!

This post has been edited by xeroxeropi: Jan 30 2010, 02:19 AM

xeroxeropi...i hope you are not another one who suggests someone to buy ILP without looking at the limitation of this product...

ILP has its own strengths and weakness. Its depends on personal needs and affordability.

ILP products does have its own pros and cons. Always make an informed decisions after considering all the facts based on your objective, affordability and risk appetite.

generally ILP is the more costly variant that forces a lock-in on the insured if the overall coverage is identical. if you cant handle early savings and save them for future high premiums and you know the plan is perfect for you and will remain so then ILP might be a decent choice. for pretty much all other cases GI will be better than ILP for identical coverage.

From wat i have encounter...i found Every company have it specialty. Such as. AIA is having better offer on TPD. ING is on return and cover rate. etc etc

i thought i was offering insights on MEDICARD??


i was concerned that many ppl seem to get life insurance and medicard all mixed up.




true.

everything has their strengths and weaknesses. i'm glad there're some ppl here who understands this fact.

just because sthg didnt not live up to ur expectations, doesn't mean it won't be suitable for someone else. insurance is not a one-size-fits-all product.
ur needs and concerns should be addressed and covered. and everyone has different needs & wants.






what do u mean by "costly"?

although costs would be a major concern for everyone, it shouldn't be the most important issue when considering insurance. just make sure ur needs are covered. then adjust accordingly to ur budget and other concerns.


i assume GI=general insurance?

this is a grave mistake to suggest GI as being the same as ILP because ILP is LIFE INSURANCE and general insurance is other insurance that doesnt concern the human life. egs: motor, house, jewellery... these two aren't the same and shldnt be treated as such.

just by comparing the costs of the two, of coz, ILP would seem costlier because GI is just a few hundreds/year. but they both have different functions so shouldn't be compared like apple to apple.

xeroxeropi,

we are talking about medical (H&S) insurances and not life. i do have serious objections to life insurances but that is a different story.

ILP H&S plans are almost always more expensive to the consumer than the same cover for H&S from GI. this is due to the nature of the product. a GI H&S plan outperforms ILP H&S plans on a multitude of levels (no lock-in, no high upfront premiums, lower overall costs) that we already discussed to great length in this thread. in a nutshell: if you want a medical card, stay far away from ILP H&S. (this applies to the vast majority). just because people purchase those plans doesnt mean they are good plans. ppl tend to make bad decisions.

also purchasing a whole life insurance is generally not a good idea because it creates a lock-in situation with significant issues of underinsurance when it comes to the core protection areas (health and if you so wish TPD) when you look at the premium you pay.

costly means: you pay more with ILP than you would pay with GI for the same (!) product. this is due to the nature of the two products and its inevitable. why pay more for something when you dont need to?

on a side-note: your posts would be ever so much easier to read if you would use the normal font. the big font is pretty hard to read for me.

EDIT: sorry - i got the threads mixed up. the detailed discussion on let's say pro/con for ILP vs. H&S is not in this thread but here:
http://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?act=ST&f=153&t=940897

This post has been edited by PJusa: Jan 31 2010, 11:17 AM

Top 5 Insurance company
1. Great Eastern
2. AIA
3. Prudential
4. ING
5. Allianz

Great Eastern - very lowest price, famous, good coverage.
AIA - very high price, but super high life time coverage.
ING - high price, good coverage.
Prudential, Allianz - don't have stand alone medical card.

the medical card price i will not write out here. you may go to survey by your self or you may pm me.

---

Added on January 31, 2010, 6:29 pmsorry to dissapointed you, AIA TPD is not fully paid when you are in TPD status. they will pay accordingly base on
1st year - 10% of sum assured
2nd year - 10%
3rd year -80%

mostly all other company is 100% full payment when we already in TPD status.

---

Added on January 31, 2010, 6:44 pmYes got no need renewal product so call ILP - Investment Link Protection Plan.

But it's a combined plan which include Protection of - Life & TPD + saving.

Medical card is a rider that add into this product.

There is another rider like - 36 illness, Hospital income (daily room board pocket money) etc.

All add in rider charge extra insurance fees, the more rider you add, the more charges you need to pay in the policy, no discount even you add alot.

The insurance fees will deduct all saving value of your ILP Plan.

& The fees will increase base on your age year by year automatically.

So it's possible even you continue with a very prompt payment but the policy finish all saving inside & you have tell by agent need to top up if not the policy will be lapse.

We all need to have some basic knowledge because planning is the most important part in our life.

The plan is actually plan by your self & not agent, please do not accept an agent who refuse to let you do the plan by your self.

Agent job should be an advisor only, like me


any futher enquiry, please do not hestitate to contact

This post has been edited by QQstore88: Jan 31 2010, 06:52 PM

I thought a person who work in banking field cannot register as an agent?

Who works in bank and what makes you to say that weikian?

QQstore or daniel. Post above mine. Based on the tread that i followed, he is an assistant manager for CIMB bank. However i'm not sure that he is an insurance agent. But can we register as part time agent when we working at bank?

I don't think you can have both going on simultaneously on your own account. Perhaps he's using another account for sales. As far as I know that as a CFP etc designate however you can deal with multiple products from 3 or so companies.

???

wasnt i talking about medical card in my first post? i was talking abt medical card the whole time until Mrnumbertwo asked if i'm supporting ILP. it was clear there was still much confusion even after i explained how medical cards and life ins are two diff things. (ie: your current comment)

you continued with your "ILP sucks" slogan although i ald explained how it's completely different product from GI--point by point. canot compare GI with ILP coz ILP is life cover.

i also DID say ppl got diff needs and not everyone suit the same product. WHAT U PAY IS WHAT U GET. medical card is for paying hospital/medical bills. life ins is to cover *your life*, it's ald expected that it would cost more. do you think medical card will pay you a lump sum when you get TPD/CI or touch wood, die? of coz not. that's where the costs are incurred.

why are you continuing to beat around the bush when i ald pointed out to you why the two shouldn't be compared that way?? don't blame my font for your lack of understanding, man. (i thought bigger fonts usually are easier to read not smaller fonts? strange)

well, if you want to continue condemning ILP, that's your choice. i'm not forcing anyone to buy it. i'm just telling you the difference between those products. it's your choice not to get ILP for yourself, but please don't continue to further confuse other ppl who are seeking clarifications here.

i just want to clear misunderstandings as it seems so many ppl keep thinking getting medical card= life insurance. or that medical card/PA is ald more than enough.

getting only a medical card is not a good solution for anyone because premiums for medical cards get burnt every year.
besides that, a complete protection means getting Life, TPD, CI, PA, H+S (medical bills) ALL BASES COVERED.

this in turn means that ILP will be good for ppl who needs life insurance but canot afford to get traditional life policy that pays more bonuses and have bigger cash value. with ILP, you can put in all the riders cheaply compared to traditional policy. like i said, you get what you pay for. u pay more for traditional life policy, of coz you will get more cash value inside when you cash out. it's logical.

*** so, yes, your comparison is like comparing buying a Myvi (medical card only) vs a Mercedes (ILP+all riders) vs Ferrari (traditional life policy) ***

you may want a Myvi only to take you from point A to B and is fuel efficient so you can use your money for other things. go ahead.
but some ppl wld prefer to be more comfortable. get more things covered. it's also up to them. their needs are entirely diff from yours.
you canot tell them they are just wasting their money coz a car is only a car. they prefer to have a better airbag/braking/etc system than Myvi ley?? Merc gives a smoother ride than Myvi, bla bla bla... You dont know what kind of situation they are in as much as they don't know about urs.

if they can afford it, why can't they get it? it's their choice.

your bias and prejudice stemmed deeply from costs and what YOU PERCEIVED as cost inefficiency. let's just lay it all out there for ppl to know and decide. not mar everything with what you think is not a cost efficient choice. every choice has their pros and cons.

what is costly to you doesn't mean it's costly to everyone else. how much your life is worth is also all up to you to tag. (yes your life is priceless, but this is another long discussion... not now lar) however, can we all afford the premiums on the values we put our lives to be worth? this is how ILP comes in lar.

sidetrack a bit... for me personally, from the illustration with the cars, i feel that getting only a medical card is like actually getting the Myvi without wheels.

it's totally absurd to get only a medical card coz you never know when you will get sick and how much your sickness may or may not cost you. no one is a fortuneteller and can see into the future. hence, this is why ins agents advise you to get all your bases covered (Life, TPD, CI, PA, H+S (medical bills)) before you even think about doing investments.

so, cost is not sthg you would dedicate a section on how much a completely diff product outperforms another product although it's cheaper.

now, about your lock-in period argument...i'm quite confused about your stand. why are you advising ppl to get medical card, sthg that premiums will be considered burnt when you dont stay in hospital/getting treatment vs advising ppl against getting sthg for their family since everyone will die in the end??

lock-in period shldn't be a concern at all bcoz the idea behind insurance is to get protection, not as a pure investment vehicle. stop treating it as such. your money is used to create a safety net for ur future medical needs/ease family burdens when you pass on.
plus, you can alw cash out ur policy's cash value any time. but why do so when your intention supposed to be getting protection, not earnings?

protection should be placed as much importance as food and shelter. coz without protection, your food and shelter will be jeopardized as well. imagine your savings all depleted for paying ur medical bills, hospital stay coz u got the cheapest thing--medical card only.

##pls note that not all expenses can be paid off with the medical card or that 60k, 120k or whatever lifetime limit is a lot. plus, there's a annual cap on how much you can claim depending on what medicard you bought.
life insurance pay out the moment you claim for CI/TPD/PA/life lost IN CASH. you/your family can choose to pay extra med bills your medicard didnt cover/whatever with the cash instead of being told what you can or not claim using a medical card.

isnt this better? would this be a relief to you and your family?

you shouldn't see your money as being thrown away frivolously into insurance bcoz you see nthg in return now. insurance is to cover your life's future unfortunate events. this is a long-term relationship. treat it with respect.
dont expect to reap instant rewards when all you put into your basket is rm150-200/mth (which are what most ILP policies are. cheap affordable life coverage)

if nothing happens now, good lah!! who wants sthg bad to happen to themselves so they can claim money one?

pls remember that everyone will get old, sick and die eventually. no one is immortal.

in order for the company to pay you when you get old, sick/die, you need to get into an agreement to put aside sums of money into a future medical fund for yourself NOW. not only when you r ald sick baru korek from everywhere.

your life is protected from day 1. if you really really wanna make a great deal of money out of insurance, make sure get into accident and die instantly. then your "investment" will be guaranteed however much you're insured lor. easy.

when that happens, company can go to your family and say "eeyer.. why so unfair one!?!! your husband only paid us 1mth premium of rm250, now we have to give you back $100k+ $25k PA because he died from accident yesterday." meh??

stop thinking of insurance as a burden. the company is carrying your burden for you ald once you got into agreement with them mar.
you're giving yourself the peace of mind.

if you feel that you're underinsured, can always top up what.

so, no. i dont see how being "locked-in" into this situation my whole life is bad for me. i can die any time. i won't know how. so, i would definitely not risk my chances at getting only term insurance that expires when i'm ald old and have higher risks of needing medical care.

i would gladly put aside money so that my family are well-taken care of if sthg happens to me.

QQstore88,

allianz GI does have a standalone medical card. actually two if i am not mistaken.

xeroxeropi,

i'd still appreciate a normal font. ILP and GI H&S can very well be compared. i am not saying it "sucks". i am saying it's not the better product. it will cost you more and provide you further disadvantages. the question at hand is about medical cards. be it by means of rider or otherwise. the general consensus is that a standalone plan will almost always be the better choice for the consumer.
there is no need to add further insurance products in the mix since we are looking at medical insurances. and i do understand the differences as well as the structure of those products pretty well if i may dare to say so.

your claim is rather unsubstantiated and has remained so. if i am in the market for a H&S plan, why would you try to sell me a product i dont need. and quite frankly whole life plans offer only bits of everything and at the end of the day the protection level i bought is not sufficient because i have so many products that i didnt really need. a lousy life insurance with low cover is pretty worthless if my medical bill exceeds the lifetime limit. that is not a better product.

i really dont see any point in your argument about the sickness ("it's totally absurd to get only a medical card coz you never know when you will get sick and how much your sickness may or may not cost you. no one is a fortuneteller and can see into the future. hence, this is why ins agents advise you to get all your bases covered (Life, TPD, CI, PA, H+S (medical bills)) before you even think about doing investments.") i'd say the opposite is true.

"now, about your lock-in period argument...i'm quite confused about your stand. why are you advising ppl to get medical card, sthg that premiums will be considered burnt when you dont stay in hospital/getting treatment vs advising ppl against getting sthg for their family since everyone will die in the end??"

apparently you dont know what a lock-in is. its not a lock-in-period as for a loan but works as this: an ILP policy has uniform charges and as such forces high payments from the beginning, making you pay for the future. this money is locked away and can only be released if you want to switch. if you want to switch during a downturn, you will suffer significant losses. also the money invested might not be as well invested as otherwise. the commitment of money creates a lock-in with this particular product.

the concept of burining money is simply wrong. an insurance is the commitment to pay the average damage over the group to ensure that in case something happens the cost will be (largely) absorbed.

if you (general you - not you personally) want to make money with an insurance, you (s.o.) are looking at the wrong product. there is no money to be made of an insurance. that is what investments are for.

i think you have misunderstood my statements severly when you assume i consider insurance a burden. that is not the case

with reference to your statement of not enough cover: of course 60k is nothing. i would assume a good medical cover starts with 200-400k annual limit. that will certainly beat a combi whole life cover with say 100k/100k/100k (H&S, TPD, Death).

you might want to read the thread i mention to find out why its smart to seperate insurances and why ILP will often not be a choice that is as good as it seems.

just because i say GI H&S is a better choice thatn an ILP H&S doesnt mean that this is the only insurance one should get either. i would also look into a good PA (preferably with a cover of 500k or 1M), CI seems like a waste of money if you have a good H&S and then you can always buy a simple straight forward death for all reasons policy if you so wish.

this allows you to easily adjust the coverages, seek the cheapest or best offers, switch covers or even cancel them as needed.

the point with regards to the price of medical insurance has been made: so called fixed premium policies must be more expensive than the same cover from GI with annual adjustments because the future is uncertain and insurances work for money. a GI can adjust the premium in real time with a lower margin to be profitable while the other structure requires a healthy safety-margin due to risk-management. it's that simple.

the other reason as to what makes whole life products costly has already been said: its the bundling of all kinds of riders. this migth make sense if you really want them. most of the time that is not the case. what you actually want might be a good medical cover. you can use all the money and get an ever so much better cover by buying what you want and just that.

This post has been edited by PJusa: Jan 31 2010, 09:53 PM