If you’re like me, all I want to know is how much premium do I need to pay every month, and what the coverage is. So, for example, if I’m looking for an insurance policy that covers up to RM100k, I’ll be shopping around for companies that will cover this for the lowest monthly amount. But, when we think a little deeper, every company wants to be competitive – increasing my insurance premium gives me a higher profit margin, but what if I’m not able to sell? So, why do some companies charge more than others? Let’s take a look at some of the things to look out for.
Total Sum Assured
The most common thing that we all look at – the maximum amount that we will get in the event that something unfortunate does happen. The higher the amount, the better. But, we need to pay attention to the payout policy, and the coverage criteria.
Cash Value
Cash value is like a form of “cashback”. After paying for an insurance policy for a certain number of years, if we no longer want to continue, with “cash value”, we’ll be able to get a portion of our insurance premium paid back to us.
Guaranteed Renewability
With “guaranteed renewability”, we can rest assured that the moment we’ve gotten our insurance policy approved, we’ll be able to stay covered for the rest of our lives until we reach the coverage age.
This may not seem as important but imagine if, in the unfortunate event, we’re diagnosed with a common Malaysian sickness – diabetes. Without “guaranteed renewability”, we’ll no longer be able to stay insured.
Coverage Scope
List of things/illnesses that we’re covered with the insurance policy. The more extensive this list is, the better.
Claim Process
There is no actual documentation on how fast a claim will be processed. But after being in the insurance industry for a while (as a certified financial planner), what we’re able to see is that companies like Prudential, AIA, and Great Eastern tend to respond to claim submissions much faster and the entire process from claim submission to payout is generally shorter, compared to other insurance companies.
While you’ll still be getting your money if the terms and conditions are met, in the event that we need to go through a claims process, pretty sure all of us want this to be as simple and seamless as possible.