hi,

due to the fact that there seems to be a lot of doubt regarding H1N1 i would like to let you guys know that i called AXA, Allianz and Tokio Marine earlier. They all related this clarification which I will post here for your information:

1) The quarantine clause does not mean the insurance will not pay if you get H1N1 and need to be hospitalised. It means you will not be covered by your insurance IF you are quarantined for the costs of the quarantine if your are not infected.

2) If you are hospitalised due to H1N1 you are covered as to the limitations of the respective policy. There is no question about this.

3) If you are not hospitalised but get H1N1 you are not covered UNLESS you have outpatient benefits. Outpatient benefits would also cover H1N1. The medical plans in malaysia usually cover only H&S costs.

4) No insurer can or will start to exclude H1N1 cover from any policies in force as per above due to "too many cases". There is no such thing as a restrospective exclusion. Also all three insurers assured me they will not start to put exclusions into new policy blankets. Of course this is no written guarantee but I would have been surprised if they would have said anything else to be honest.

I hope this puts you guys at ease a bit.

IF any insurer decides to give their insured better cover and also cover the costs of H1N1 unrelated to H&S then even better. Otherwise there is no need to make any bulletin as the one from Mr. Yem - its understood and part of exisiting contracts. there never was any doubt about the cover to begin with.

[quote=mtsen,Aug 12 2009, 01:26 AM]my plan is when I am strike by irrecovarable illness, I don't need any new insurance anymore.  I have a to do list for such incident and by then, most personal finance stuff will become less important to me.  When its time to die, just die.  The last thing I want is to hold on just for the sake of holding on.  this way, I live my daily life with full conscious what the consequences may be.

What I have on TM is they have 84k limit on Kidney dialysis and cancer, 80k limit on surgeon fee, 25k on anesthetist etc.   which TM plan has unlimited cancer treatment ?

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Added on August 12, 2009, 1:47 am
I think I get the concept but I am not sure if it works for my case.  If I have both AXA and TM, I would still have kidney dialysis limit at 60k+84k=114k
if I go for ING, my limit is the annual limit which is 150k.

am I right to say your above plan is only valid if one thinks lifetime limit is more important than no limit on dialysis ?

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Added on August 12, 2009, 2:14 amneed help again ... when I told one of the agents that I favor ING's no limit on kidney outpatient, then he said the limit is actually for the good of insured ... see below message ...

Zurich is care for the policy holders protection . The limitation is not to limit their coverage but to make sure they can use the given benefit for a long term . By giving them the annual limit , the client will make sure they use only the allocated limit annually rather then use up  the entire limit within 2 to 3 years .

what do you think ?

[/quote]


I say Zurich is protecting themselves.

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Added on August 22, 2009, 1:47 am[quote=mtsen,Aug 5 2009, 09:49 AM]some h&s plans sold in bank are actually the same as insurance companies, only minus the commissions paid to the agency distribution channel, that way, you got the same plan (cover the same risk) with cheaper price. 

But MOST of those plans are NOT 'exact' and have 'tricks' inside ...

the trend is also transfer the commission to the bank officer .. 

about my own search for top up, its still a confusing and frustrating journey ... I was happy with AXA value, then impressed with ING's feature ... then an Allianz agent shared his bad claim experience on stand alone plans ...

despite how much you know sometimes it is just hard to get over the emotion part ....

[/quote]


Basically, what mtsen said is correct. They are almost the same.
The major difference here is you will be your own agent. You'll need to do all the claims on your own instead of having an agent to assist you while you rest at home.

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Added on August 22, 2009, 1:59 am[quote=twentyfour24,Feb 21 2009, 05:01 PM]the 1st coverage u need to have is medical plan.
just attached medical card n critical illness plan will do.
some of the insurance company on critical illness already include for savings,term,PA plan as well.so u no need to pay extra.

[/quote]

I know this post has gone way back, but just to refresh, it is exceptionally undesireable to attach a medical card into a critical illness plan.
Medical card is suppose to cover you up till age 80 or 70 at least.
If you do attach a medical card into a critical illness plan, you will lose the benefits of medical card once you are diagnosed with any of the listed critical illness because the critical illness plan will pay you the benefits and thus your policy contract is void, with all riders in it.
If the illness is diagnosed at the age of 50, then you will bare all medical bills on your own for the next 20 or 30 years.

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Added on August 22, 2009, 2:01 am[quote=normal_user,Feb 21 2009, 07:16 PM]Its difficult to separate CI & Med Card if you already subscribed long time ago, unless if you buy 2nd policy that focuses on CI only and reduce the CI benefit for the 1st policy.

I know this one investment & protection plan that gives u RM200K CI protection for around RM100-150 per month (according to age). Or u can configure it for RM100K CI & RM100K Death. Policy runs until age 100 years old. If for non-investment/savings plan, the premium would be much  much cheaper. PM me if u want to know more.

[/quote]


I believe it is possible to separate all riders at any point of time/year. You are being very misleading normal_user.

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Added on August 22, 2009, 2:07 am[quote=Gen-X,Feb 28 2009, 11:49 PM]
I need CI for protection.

I read from KC Lau, Money Matter that we need CI protection of 3 x our annual income. Therefore I am under protected (my existing CI policy which was bought earlier based on my earlier income level and is currently inadequate). Adding this RM 50K will bring it up to an adequate level.

I am healthy at the moment, but getting sick during older age is a guarantee.

And since we are on this topic, what would be considered a adequate protection for Hospitalization & Medical?

Xuzen

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Added on February 21, 2009, 12:17 pm
My Life Policy is adequate.

I am now looking to up my CI and Med card Protection. As one progress in life, ones' needs and protection increases. Yes, I want to keep my CI & Med card policy separate, it is cheaper this way isn't it?

Xuzen

[/quote]

Xuzen, I agree with what raylimfs said. What the are odds of you getting the 36 CI? Even if you are dignosed with 36 CI, how long you think the RM50K or RM100K going to last you if you need treatment? Go and ask people, 1 time treatment for cancer may cost above RM30K if dignosed early.

What I noted from your reply above is you are looking for Med Card Protection. Assuming that you dont' have a Med Card, my opinion is that better to get one instead of just CI only. My wife's nephew was hit by a car last week and the had to undergo major operation and after discharged requires therapy and it will cost more that RM40K.

I myself have Prudential Med Card annual limit RM75K and Litimetime RM225K since 2003 at RM200/month and last year upgraded it to lifetime amount of RM300,000 and up to age 75 (from 60)) since I getting old and foresee more health problems and now paying about RM340.month. So my point is the ealier you are covered the premium is less and check until what age does the insurance covers you.

My eldest is getting his driving license this year and will be going out more often so I just got him a Med Card from Prudential. His plan is slightly different from mine where it does not insured for take home medicine and got co-insured but his annual amount is same as mine RM75K and Lifetime amount is RM750,000 and monthly premium is only RM125! It also includes RM20K for Accident Out Patient Treatment, RM20K Life and CI.

Suggest you talk to a Prudential agent and compare with others, best if the agent have been doing insurance fulltime for years and highly recommended and not some guy you met that will not provide you service in time of need. And if you do consider Prudential, get the higher Lifetime amount as RM750K vs. RM500K and higher hospital room allowance (what you think it will cost 20 years from now for twin bed room at private hospital) as the premium diff is only about RM20-30/monthly.

Some people may tell you to get Personal Accident and just CI insurance only since it is cheaper but what in the event one is hospitalized because of illness/disease/cancer, can he/she afford to pay the hospital bills at private hospital and not burdening family members after using up all his/her life savings? And I am not even talking about being in ICU or having to go dialysis where the cost is just tremendous.

Lastly, is you are paying taxes, Medical Insurance is tax deductable which is different from the EPF & Life Insurance combined deductable.

[/quote]


Hi Gen-X

If you've yet to know, you are already paying an extremely high premium for such a coverage. Go back to your agent and tell him/her to answer you truthfully. You can maintain with RM200/month for such a coverage.
If your agent is telling you no way, come back here and tell us what was the reason given.

This post has been edited by thomstan: Aug 22 2009, 02:07 AM

for impartial analysis at a price you can try any of the following brokers - they cover all insurers and wont recommend any specific plan just because they cover it. money spent on a broker is money well spend in malaysis IF they know what they are doing - i never tried one so i cant vouch for them. but i would choose them over an agent any time:

i found those two that do personal insurance so far:

1) http://www.protac.com.my/

2) http://www.anika.com.my/

might be of help to anyone thinking about cover and looking for a professional advise. free advise can always get here though

All 16 insurance companies has confirmed that death and hospitalisation due to H1n1 is covered under their protection plan.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=...1948&sec=nation

This post has been edited by allenultra: Aug 22 2009, 01:32 PM

From my experiences with Prudential, their ILPs are very transparent. One can find out exactly what was paid for coverage, what type of coverages and what goes to investment and admin fees etc. Sometimes it is this transparency causing ppl to not like it while actually all fees also exist in whole life and endowment but not exposed. Prudential tried very hard to train all agents to keep up with the complexity in ILP but not everyone truly understand how the premium is calculated. But the system is there and transparency is there too ...

if a malaysian wants to buy an investment link policy, the only obvious choice to go for is Prudential now due to its large market share in this aspect. some related details at http://malaysiapersonalfinance.blogspot.co...utual-fund.html

others are catching up but none is brave enough to shift the whole focus like Prudential did.

how about group term insurance, I think its quite safe to say group term medical insurance may stop paying when more than 30% of the insured are making claims all at the same time ?

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Added on August 24, 2009, 1:08 pmits good news h1n1 is covered but I doubt its the normal practice. its more like a good gesture that they do for the public while the risk isn't that high.

this issue was raised to local insurers more than 6 months ago, if it is a simple surely covered case, public announcement would have been made by then. but it didn't. It took the whole LIAM to sit down to make a decision. so it is clearly an exclusion they need to talk before they announced. Furthermore, the timing of announcement is right after 'cure' was found !?

some insurer actually did explain a few months ago h1n1 is one of the examples they don't have to pay and then follow by 'don't worry, we will still pay for now'

i don't think h1n1 will change insurer's position but I also know eventually one of the flu mutation will wipe clean human race ... I just wonder if it happens within my lifetime or yours

This post has been edited by mtsen: Aug 24 2009, 01:08 PM

ofcourse we still need a brain of our own when we read their analysed report

i agree with mtsen - if you cant even read a report or dont want to bother to read then then you simply cant be helped.

IF a broker would indeed be impartial they would be in violation of their code of conduct now? (you can read it here: http://www.mitba.org.my/consumers.php)

i think what you refer to is the fact that a broker can send millions of premiums to the insurer - and they can thus use their negotiating power and get better deals on some products with some insurers.

if you have information that indicates otherwise please do let us know. so far the info you provided was merely a statement without any foundation. i'd be interested to see if you can substantiate it

actually even if the adviser did a good and perfectly neutral job, if the consumers didn't try to understand the least, they will still ended up not satisfied with the adviser eventually, especially when another adviser is trying to pinch the consumers away ... this type of consumers, which is 80% of us, will eventually ended up in the less financial independent types ...

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Added on August 26, 2009, 7:45 pmAnika is indeed working with a few insurers to provide 'solutions' ... it is highly NOT possible they did not get any profit share from that.

not sure about protac thao.

as of whether they may provide bias recommendation, its hard to say. There are careful ways to suggest a solution of my preference without violating any code of conduct ...

This post has been edited by mtsen: Aug 26 2009, 07:45 PM

Hi PJusa,

Even in AIA, there are 2 standalone critical illness plan:

1) Critical Illness Shield - this was offered thru worksite distribution channel meaning there needs to be minimum sign-up of 10 pax, payment mode thru payroll deduction can be monthly. if through credit card, the payment shd be made semi-annual or annually. If you want to get this, you can also seek for distribution channel like life insurance brokers as they would already have minimum annual commitment to the insurer for them to distribute the product. The premium rate would be exactly the same as getting it from aia

2) Healthguard @55 - this product can be offered can be bought individually. Premium is slightly more expensive but has additional features

Both are standalone products
Strengths: Premium is level upon entry age. The younger you are, the premium is cheaper but does not change as you get older. Secondly, both product pays only till 55 and you remain covered till 70 years old

Just let me know shall you require further info
joY

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Added on August 27, 2009, 2:41 pmHi mtsen,

yes agree with you that as consumers we must put some effort to understand eventhough consultation is given by a reputable source. Each of us have individual needs and considerations to be made before making a decision thus getting more info and understanding of the subject matter would help a lot

As for brokers services, currently in the market, there are 34 insurance brokers and besides being registered under bank negara, they are also under the association IBAM. Under the BNM ruling, all brokers have a code of ethnics to follow whereby they are representing the clients needs to provide the best solution to their needs. Sometimes, the solution could be a combination of products from a few insurer

As to whether they could be bias, they could to a certain extent but it pretty much depends on the professionalism of the indiv broker.

I have been working with insurance company and now I'm a life insurance broker but long-term customer satisfaction is still my utmost priority now. There's no point if we're in for fast sales, but customers these days are educated and discerning. Bad publicity from one disappointed customer would kill our reputation. With all being said, if you're interested to get consultation on any insurance matters, you can contact me

rgds
joY

This post has been edited by joYJ: Aug 27 2009, 02:41 PM

i got a medical card from a reputable insurance company..my mom had cancer and i got some benign tumor removed 2 years go..but in the policy there's small notes saying i wont be covered for breast cancer or any future complication from so called tumor..so my question is..how can i be covered?do i need to buy some new insurance specifically to cover me from this herited cancer?
thx

eses,
For your case, even if you apply another company's insurance, the exclusion will likely to be included in the policy.
This is why we need to buy insurance when we are healthy.

im in looking for a good medical insurance.
priority must have medical card so i dont need to pay when hospitalize.
any recomendation? i know there are many agent out there rite. pm me ya

I have PM you .

Im looking for medical card for my mom. Any recommendations? She is now at age 43.

Budget?

I guess budget will basically narrow to certain medical card.

What kind of annual/lifetime limit you looking for?
As I see nowadays, some cards have very high annual limit but with restriction on kidney dialysis/cancer treatment whereas some cards with decent annual/lifetime limit but apply "reasonable and customary charges" for kidney dialysis/cancer treatment.
And some medical card can enroll into all kind of hospital as they don't practice "panel hospital" anymore. It will come handy especially during emergency.

Budget should be about 2k/year.
Not sure about annual/lifetime limit. How to determine that?

Can get a standalone medical card. I would recommend you for a medical card room & board 200-300 per day. Kidney dialysis and cancer treatment as charged.Life time limit and annual limit should be high enough to cover medical cost, hospitalization cost, surgery cost and etc.
Lifetime limit around 640,000 or 480,000 to annual limit of 120,000 and 160,000.I am an agent with Great Eastern.

does anyone has the premium table for the medical plan that is attached to Allianz Powerlink ILP? appreciate it if you can attach it here

Yah, always ensure your policy covers Kidney Dialysis and Cancer Treatment as charged as these items cost a bom. Cancer maybe not so bad if you have a big sum for critical illness to pay for the treatment as one won't be alive long if not detected during the early stage .... but dialysis you will need it to stay alive.

Also ask agent to explain co-inssured terms and conditions if any and ask your agent about medicine cost i.e. bill for medicine after leaving the hospital. Also ask up to what age you are inssured as nowadays it is common that most live up to 80 and above.

This post has been edited by Gen-X: Sep 18 2009, 02:16 AM

Hi,

How many medical card can holding by every individual?

In your case you are holding 2 cards. Its there any alternative, can we choose to upgrade room and board on the exisitng medical plan?