Hospital Insurance

[daddy2007]

elderflowertea:

Is it? I am thinking of changing to Aviva (previously from NTUC) coz my boyfriend has just changed to Aviva and his agent is quite good.

Agent won't be there forever. Consideration factor should be the insurer rather than agent

[elderflowertea]

daddy2007:

elderflowertea:

Is it? I am thinking of changing to Aviva (previously from NTUC) coz my boyfriend has just changed to Aviva and his agent is quite good.

Agent won't be there forever. Consideration factor should be the insurer rather than agent

So what will you recommend? I don't want to continue with NTUC because I want one which I can buy riders to cover the deductibles and co-insurance and is \"as-charged\".

Agents are very important to me. I am very scared of Prudential agents. I just want to know (and buy) shield plans but they always promote other things to me. Ended up never tell me much of their shield plans. I find many of them do not have good knowledge of their Prushield. Only their ILPs products.

[AT Online Store]

Premium affordability is another important factor one should take into consideration. As the premium for Shield plan and it's rider increases with each age band.


Example:
An annual premium of shield rider of $216(age 19-30) will become $690(Age 61-65) and $884(Age 66-70) and so for.
http://www.greateasternlife.com/sg/en/products/protect/totalshield.jsp

Ontop of that, the annual cap of Shield plan medisave withdrawal per person now is $800. any premium in excess will be payable by cash. (Most likely to occur from age 61 Age band onwards)

For me, The insurer that offers a good lower shield plan is important to me , as it offer an option for me to downgrade, just in case the premiums of the shield(excess of $800) and riders were to become a financial bundle to me when I reached age 61.
Remember no payment = no coverage.

http://www.moh.gov.sg/content/moh_web/home/statistics/healthcare_institutionstatistics/hospital_admissionratesbyageandsex/Hospital_Admission_Rates_by_Age_and_Sex_2008.html
Every 1000 residents between Age 0-4 The hospitalisation rate is 254.7 (thats a high 25% .1 in every 4 kids)

Every 1000 residents between Age 60-64 The hospitalisation rate is 149.1.

[daddy2007]

elderflowertea:

Agents are very important to me. I am very scared of Prudential agents. I just want to know (and buy) shield plans but they always promote other things to me. Ended up never tell me much of their shield plans. I find many of them do not have good knowledge of their Prushield. Only their ILPs products.

It is not surprise that they will push other products to you as they also need to earn an income to support themselves/family. Furthermore, selling ILP products are the most profitable for them. Seldom see any agent propose a term plan for me :sad:

You might want to try those independent Financial Agent (IFA) where they are insurer-neutral (supposingly) so that they can present to you the range of shield plan for the various insurers. Else if you look for AIA agent, they will sell you their product, likewise for Prudential, Great Eastern etc. They have vested interest

hmm.... maybe by now you should have received several private messages from the agents offering to help?

[daddy2007]

AT Online Store:

Premium affordability is another important factor one should take into consideration. As the premium for Shield plan and it's rider increases with each age band.

Yup. This is one of the factor when I compile all the various plans for comparison.

User base is also a consideration factor. If the user base is too small, the claim rate might be high and the possibility of increasing the premium in future is high.

[daddy2007]

elderflowertea:

So what will you recommend? I don't want to continue with NTUC because I want one which I can buy riders to cover the deductibles and co-insurance and is \"as-charged\".

NTUC withdrew their 100% deductible/co-insurance rider in Jan 2008. Luckily I got mine prior to this. So existing clients are not affected.

There is a downside for 100% deductible/co-insurance coverage. The claim amount will be high and sooner the premium will be increased gradually. So I will see if one day that I think the premium is too high that I will just switch to the non-100% deductible/co-insurance rider.

Seriously I wonder if there is anymore insurer have 100% deductible/co-insurance coverage. \"As-Charged\" is a norm now.

Let me help you to ask around

[elderflowertea]

daddy2007:

elderflowertea:

Agents are very important to me. I am very scared of Prudential agents. I just want to know (and buy) shield plans but they always promote other things to me. Ended up never tell me much of their shield plans. I find many of them do not have good knowledge of their Prushield. Only their ILPs products.

It is not surprise that they will push other products to you as they also need to earn an income to support themselves/family. Furthermore, selling ILP products are the most profitable for them. Seldom see any agent propose a term plan for me :sad:

You might want to try those independent Financial Agent (IFA) where they are insurer-neutral (supposingly) so that they can present to you the range of shield plan for the various insurers. Else if you look for AIA agent, they will sell you their product, likewise for Prudential, Great Eastern etc. They have vested interest

hmm.... maybe by now you should have received several private messages from the agents offering to help?

I know that they also to earn an income for their family but.. Oh well. At least the adviser now only sells me the MyShield plan. Didn't push me to buy any other products.

By the way, I heard some IFAs actually push ILP products to you. Not all IFAs are really neutral unless those paid ones. I don't mind paying for a good adviser but the ones I know charge really expensive which is not needed for me as I just need basic financial planning now.

No need to PM me because I have already decided to sign up for the Aviva plan 1 with deductible and co-insurance riders.

[elderflowertea]

daddy2007:

elderflowertea:

So what will you recommend? I don't want to continue with NTUC because I want one which I can buy riders to cover the deductibles and co-insurance and is \"as-charged\".

NTUC withdrew their 100% deductible/co-insurance rider in Jan 2008. Luckily I got mine prior to this. So existing clients are not affected.

There is a downside for 100% deductible/co-insurance coverage. The claim amount will be high and sooner the premium will be increased gradually. So I will see if one day that I think the premium is too high that I will just switch to the non-100% deductible/co-insurance rider.

Seriously I wonder if there is anymore insurer have 100% deductible/co-insurance coverage. \"As-Charged\" is a norm now.

Let me help you to ask around

Thanks! From what I know, the plan I am getting is $158.55 (by Medisave), $52 (by cash) for co-insurance rider and $195.05 (by cash) for deductible rider. If I get older and the riders become more expensive, I will just cancel either one or both riders.

[AT Online Store]

To be fair to the agents. They dont’ get full commission on every shield plan they sell. Integrated Shield Plan as the name applies. Includes the basic shield plan.

A portion of the premium you pay goes in there and the agent are not paid for that.
So if the client only buys a shield plan without rider. the comm may be only $20-30 ,which may not be enough to cover their transport expenses and time . if they treat the client to a meal. they actually incurred a loss.

My point is if you are not their existing clients or a client with future business prospect. I don’t see why they really want to invest alot of their time in it. Agents are running a business not a charity or non-profit cause, as in any business . the bottom line matters in the end. As at the end of the month there will be bills to be paid and mouth to feed.

Just my 2 cents

[daddy2007]

AT Online Store:

My point is if you are not their existing clients or a client with future business prospect. I don't see why they really want to invest alot of their time in it. Agents are running a business not a charity or non-profit cause, as in any business . the bottom line matters in the end. As at the end of the month there will be bills to be paid and mouth to feed.

But you might get referral from this person sometime down the road. So think of long term if this \"low-profit\" client didn't ask for too much (e.g asking for a meal, asking for too many different types of quotation or all sort of possible policies combination etc)

When I meet the various agents, I normally buy them drink instead. This is something I can still afford to