Critical Illness Insurance: How it can help

Medical costs have been rising for a long time now, especially since the Malaysian government has allowed medical and dental practitioners to hike their own professional fees up to 14.4%. Treatment that currently costs you RM10,000 will likely be quadrupled in the next 8 to 10 years. While money tucked away in a savings account or long-term fixed deposit might help pay for your future medical bills, it's becoming obvious that it may not be enough. For once your savings pools runs dry, your next option is to depend on a Critical Illness Insurance plan.

What is a Critical Illness Insurance Policy?
A Critical Illness (CI) plan will provide financial support when you are diagnosed with any of the 36 critical illnesses most prevalent among Malaysians. It will be a lump sum payment based on the severity level of your ailment. For example, if your buy a CI plan with sum assured of RM30,000, 25% of that amount will be payable once you are diagnosed with early stage cancer.
However, if you are diagnosed for it at a later stage of the illness, you will be able to receive 50% of the sum assured. Because the money goes straight to you, the policyholder, you can spend it on anything at all - that would include buying yourself a holiday or a brand new sports car, but of course, the most sensible thing to do is to use the money to pay for any medical treatment and daily expenses.
But isn't that the same thing as a Medical Card? No. Unlike a CI policy, your Medical Card is an insurance plan that will only pay for the cost of your medical treatment and surgery at selected panel hospitals. These expenses are paid directly to the hospital from your insurer, not to you. If you pay for your medical bills first, you will be able to claim from the insurance company at a later date.

What illnesses should Malaysians worry about?

It is about time we lay down some hard hitting facts and figures. We Malaysians are very generous with our sugar, from our colourful kuihs to our super sweet teh tariks, so there's no wonder that we are the top Asean country with the most diabetics. It is estimated that in 2011, 15.2% of adults were diabetic - that's more than 4 million people!

Alarming still are adults with high cholesterol, affecting more than 6 million men, women and even children nationwide. Other high frequency non-communicable diseases (NCD) or more commonly known as chronic diseases include high blood pressure, obesity, stroke, and other heart diseases. All these and more are covered by a Critical Illness Insurance.
Below are the top 5 chronic diseases in Malaysia:


Typically, if you are diagnosed for a critical illness in its early stages, or below a certain severity level, you may not be able to make a claim at all. Also, traditional CI policies will end after a single claim is made.

How much do I have to pay to be insured for Critical Illness?
A better question would be, "How much can you afford to be insured for?". The amount you want to be assured for, or sum assured as it is often called, hinges entirely on your own budget and needs. The first thing to get down is calculating all the direct costs that you and your family would have to bear, and for how long.
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Being unable to work, losing out on paid employment, and constantly commuting between your home and the hospital for daily treatment and medical check-ups is nobody's idea of living a normal life. - you will need some sort of financial support to replace your monthly income and adjust to your new lifestyle.

Here's an example:
Diana earns RM40000 a year, so the ideal amount to be insured for is at least three times her annual income, or RM120000. Her policy premium would then be around RM4000 a year, not exceeding 10% of her annual income. Remember, premiums will also depend on your gender, occupation, health condition, and your status as a smoker or non-smoker.

Why three times her annual salary? It's not as random as you think. Let's say that Diana were to suffer from cancer or fall into a coma for a prolonged period, being insured for three years worth of income would be ample time for her family to regain their footing and reshuffle their finances to fit the dramatic life change .

It is worth paying for?
When you're still young and fit - with a great family health record to boot - it's hard to imagine being bed-ridden in the hospital with a severe illness. But reality is, the older you are, the less control you have over your body. So will you be ready for that possibility?

If you think you and your family may not have enough savings to fall back on, a Critical Illness Insurance can help fill in the gaps. But remember, a good insurance plan is one that you can afford to pay. So if you have the extra cash, take up an Investment-linked CI policy, where you invest a portion of your premiums in a fund of your choice to help you save up for retirement.

Source: RinggitPlus.com

3 types of people who should buy travel insurance

Going on vacation is an escape from the perils of 9 to 6 office politics for the tired and weary Malaysian office worker. And with numerous budget carrier airlines offering cheap flights to neighbouring and faraway destinations, travelling abroad has never been easier, or cheaper.
Unfortunately, bad luck can strike at any time, even while you’re on holiday. For that reason, it’s a great idea to protect yourself with travel insurance, especially if your lifestyle matches one of the three types people below.

1: Sickly Sandy
The Story
Sandy is a travel enthusiast who absolutely loves falling sick during the working week. Day after day, Sandy walks into her office with either the sniffles, a fever, or an ungodly combination of the two.
For her next holiday destination, Sandy chose Vietnam, wanting to soak up the country’s exotic cultural history. Sadly, Sandy fell ill on her first day after taking a sip of Vietnamese coffee (well, she thought it was coffee). Her trip to the local emergency room and subsequent hospital stay effectively ruined her holiday and left her stuck with a ridiculously expensive medical bill.

The Lesson
Illness can strike you at anytime, especially if you have a poor immune system. Getting sick at home is not the same as falling ill on holiday. Most countries provide health care subsidies for citizens but they do not apply to tourists.
Why leave yourself at the mercy of unreasonable hospital fees when you could just pay RM20 a day for coverage from a simple travel insurance package?

2: Bad Luck Brian

The Story
Brian’s luck is so bad, it’s legendary. Everywhere he goes bad luck seems to follow. For instance, on his last vacation, Brian had his luggage lost by the airline. To add insult to injury, the airline offered him a paltry sum as “compensation” for his missing belongings, which happen to include a very expensive camera.
To make matters worse, Brian’s return flight was delayed for six hours due to a severe thunderstorm. At a loss, Brian ended up wandering aimlessly around the airport like a zombie.

The Lesson
Some people are just victims of bad luck. While the fault may not be theirs, the costs and consequences are. Travel inconvenience such as missing luggage, flight delays and cancellations are more common than you think, especially if you’re a frequent traveller.
Some airlines do offer compensation for events such as missing luggage, but the amount they pay out might not cover the cost of your lost belongings. Do you want to gamble with the fact that your expensive luggage could be lost or damaged? All depends on your luck…

3: Adventurous Albert

The Story
Albert is an adrenaline junkie. He scours the world with his fellow Gen Y buddies in search of cheap thrills. For his latest adventure, Albert decided to venture deep into the jungles of Indonesia for a session of cave diving and base jumping.
Unfortunately, it just wasn’t Albert’s day. His risk taking lifestyle finally caught up with him and he suffered a serious neck injury while trying to jump from one end of the cave to the other. The injury left him permanently disabled with a mountain of medical bills.

The Lesson
If you plan on engaging in risky activities while on vacation travel insurance is essential. Extreme sports activities such as skydiving, cliff jumping and walking across the street (if you holiday in Paris) all come with significant risk of injury.
A simple cut or bruise might not pose much of a problem, more serious injuries will might have a huge impact on your ability to work and support your family. Be warned that some travel insurance companies don’t cover extreme sports, especially if drugs or alcohol are involved.
Always clarify with your insurance company on their extend of coverage for extreme sports and activities to avoid getting yourself screwed.
We hope you enjoyed Sandy, Brian and Albert’s cautionary tales. Maybe you know someone just like that? If you do, just let them know that a few dollars spent on travel insurance might save them a fortune in the long run.

Source: FreeMalaysiaToday.com

Personal accident insurance explained

With so many different types of insurance policies out there, it can get a little confusing when it comes to telling them apart. In this article, we attempt to explain what personal accident insurance is, as well as how it works, where you can get it, how much does it cost and more.

Personal Accident (PA) Insurance is an annual policy which provides lump-sum compensation in the event of injuries, disability or death caused solely by violent, accidental, external and visible events.
Unlike life insurance (which covers any type of death), PA Insurance is completely policy dependent. It pays a benefit due to death which helps protect loved ones against the inevitable devastating loss of income that will occur if a member dies unexpectedly.

Premiums of PA insurance policies are also generally cheaper than Life Insurance, due to a more restrictive policy. Purchasing PA Insurance is a good way to protect your family and dependents, however, because it does not cover death by natural causes, if such things concern you it might be a good idea to augment it with a Life Insurance policy.

PA Insurance can either be taken for yourself or a group policy for your family. 24-hour worldwide coverage is also provided.

Where can I get a PA Insurance policy?
In Malaysia, PA Insurance products can be purchased directly from insurance companies.

How much does it cost?
The cost of a PA Insurance policy depends on several factors such as the length of coverage, compensation, additional coverage on exclusion, age (premium can rise with age), occupation (Class 3 jobs have a higher risk than Class 1 and 2), what activities you normally do, health history and number of people who benefit.

Who can apply for PA Insurance?
Most people are eligible to apply for PA Insurance. However, some details such may differ depending on the policy.

People who aren’t eligible to be covered under PA Insurance are those with high career risk i.e: the police, military and law enforcement officers, divers, pilots or crew members, aircraft testers, racing drivers, fishermen. People who fall under this category usually have their employer take a special form of PA insurance for them. The payment of compensation to the employees is at the discretion of the employer.

Insurance companies typically categorise occupations or professions into 3 main classes:

Class 1: Professions and occupations involving indoor work and of a non-hazardous nature like accountants, administrators, architects, doctors, indoor sales staff, clerks and the like.

Class 2: Professions and occupations involving indoor work with occasional manual work or involving some outdoor work like bakers, hairdressers, waiters, outdoor sales staff, electronic engineers, civil engineers and the like.

Class 3: Professions and occupations involving light manual work or the use of tools or light machinery (other than wood working machinery), like butchers (no slaughtering), fishmongers, motor mechanics, kitchen workers, hawkers and the like.

The premium payment will be priced according to the classes of occupation. Class 3 has the highest occupation accident risk, followed by Class 2 and Class 1. As such, the higher benefit coverage personal accident plans (which normally covers RM500,000 for accidental death or permanent disablement) will not cover Class 3.

Source: FreeMalaysiaToday.com