Thursday, August 16, 2012

Searching for a medical? Read here

Here are a few pointers whenever one need to search for medical insurance cover.

1. Always make sure that the plan that is being proposed is Guaranteed Renewal. This means that no matter how much you've claimed, the Insurer is obligated to renew your policy, so long as there is premium paid.

2. Compare the plans apple to apple. Most of the time when layman compare plans they only tend to look at the surface as other information are most of the time not disclosed. The most common mistake being the co-insurance. Co-insurance is a cost sharing concept between the insurer & client. For example if admitted the client will need to bear 10% of the expenses.

Do note that plans with co-insurance, in a long run the premium tends to be much cheaper than plans without co-insurance. Hence if you want to compare plans, make sure you compare plans with co-insurance vs another with co-insurance. If you want to compare a plan that has co-insurance vs one that don't, then compare their insurance charges as well at older age.

Do note that medical plans needs to be covered till age 70/80/90. It is a very long time commitment.

3. Look at the coverage carefully, there are certain limits that you can claim based on the plans selected. For example plans with cancer treatment limit of Rm 20K (lifetime) should be question vs the current medical inflation. The consultation alone for cancer could range from RM 7-8K. Should you were to seek second opinion from another doctor, the balance is not even enough to undergo two or more chemo.

Should you are constrained by the budget, note this down and when your income has got better, review on it.

4. Generally most of the plans nowadays do generate cash values. Most agents would tell you that the plan have savings as well and you can withdraw once you have substantial cash values.

Always be aware that insurance charges GOES UP by AGE IRRESPECTIVE of when you get it. This means the older you get the higher the insurance charges is going to be.

For example a person, male age 30, the insurance charge for a RM 200/room & board daily may cost RM 1300 per annum.

However, when he is age 60, the insurance charge may go as high as 2800 per year. Even though he seems to be paying the same amount of premium of RM 150/mth at age 60, the insurer actually deducts the variance from the cash value.

Hence, if he were to withdraw out the cash value, the plan may be prematurely terminated.

4 comments:

  1. Certainly, if you're younger and have a sound health status, the better your chances of getting less expensive health insurance. If you're sick, disabled, poor, old, or injured on the otherhand, you pose a higher risk for the insurance companies so you end up having to pay more premiums. The same policy will cost you more as you get older so better to take care of it early.

    Regards,
    Laura from medicalaidquotesonline.co.za

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  2. So far from what I heard agents are proposing ILP plans for medical insurance.

    As we know ILP's main disadvantage is the insurance charges goes very high when the person gets older. However it is pretty affordable with high protection and it is adjustable.

    My question will be other than ILP for medical card, is there any traditional type of policy for medical which is of the same insurance charges till the person gets older, and carry some guaranteed value - at least for Prudential alone? Although not much but is there any such plan for medical?

    Perhaps you can also write an article for this.

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    Replies
    1. Your wish, granted. Check out the latest postings

      http://insurancepenang.blogspot.com/2012/09/investment-linked-policy-ilp-or.html

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