Insurance for Children

Reply to Insurance for Children on Thu, 05 Mar 2009 02:52:05 GMT

cmm — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 02:52:05 GMT

A very important point to note when buying medical plans is to check if they are guaranteed renewable. This simply means that the insurer cannot refuse you renewal provided:

1. you pay premiums on time.
2. lifetime limits have not been reached.

Plans without guaranteed renewablity allows the insurer at their discretion, to load the policyholder with higher premiums at renewal, and/or reduce benefits payable, or even refuse renewal entirely (if the claim is major enough). Imagine someone who's been paying premiums for 10 years without claim. Then he's diagnosed with kidney failure and requires kidney dialysis. He makes a claim for the expense through his medical plan for the first year. At renewal, the insurer tells him they don't want his business anymore.

insider:
Note 1: AXA Premier Care is under AXA Life while AXA SmartCare is under AXA Insurance (look similar but seems like different entities).

Note that AXA Premier Care is guaranteed renewable whereas SmartCare is not.

Reply to Insurance for Children on Wed, 04 Mar 2009 09:43:26 GMT

lifestylelink — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 09:43:26 GMT

insider:
I am very kiasu in terms of insurance planning. My first endowment policy was bought at around age 18 and it had since matured and had collected the sum.

I always advise against wife tagging on husband’s company medical insurance policy or vice versa unless such policy is of those portable types (meaning if one day the husband resigns or gets retrenched, the husband can actually continue with the cover by paying on own instead of once leaves the company, the cover lapses at the same time).

We take for example:

Husband at aged 30 is covered by company’s medical insurance which also includes spouse at aged 28. So, the spouse has this ‘false sense of security’ that she is covered.

Then, husband gets retrenched at age 50 and cover is not portable. At that point, both will be ‘naked’ without any medical cover and it maybe difficult to buy one from scratch as within that 20 years, some illnesses may have happened to either one of them and thereby rendering him/her ‘uninsurable’ or even if insurable, at a premium of a high load.

Usually children’s medical insurance is covered under parents but parents may consider letting their kids have independent cover once they hit 18 years old so that the continuity of the cover is more assured.

Personally, my medical insurance cover is under AXA Premier Care (http://www.axalife.com.sg/products/health_premier.html). Prior to buying this, I was under Asia Life. Prior to buying from Asia Life, I did my homework by comparing all the available medical insurance covers in the market and after comparing apple to apple, deemed it as the best. But after one claim, it loaded my premium by about 40% and I re-surveyed the market to decide on AXA Premier Care which I find is value for money too (think the attractive part is the no claim discount of up to 30% if you have no claims for the past three years).

My claims experience with AXA Premier Care so far is positive.

Do note that Asia Life (good value for money) covers day surgery but AXA Premier Care requires hospitalization of a minimum 12 hours before qualifying for claims (which I have argued with them it is so outdated since now so many surgeries can be performed as day surgery). Anyway, AXA is flexible in reimbursing claims for day surgery of less than 12 hours (I got mine).

PS1: I know can buy medical cover through CPF but I am leaving my CPF money for old age needs…

PS2: A recent comparison of yields and benefits of endowment policies among the different insurance company seem to point to the direction that NTUC is giving the best buy (I do my own homework when buying insurance. Get as many proposals as I can for the same amount of premium and same amount of protection and then scrutinise one by one).

KEY SUMMARY:

Don't be trapped by a false sense of security that your company provides you with medical cover and then you are safe. If such cover is not portable, it maybe wise for you to purchase an external one even at some additional cost as you really don't know what will happen to your job and your 'insurability' at the point when you leave your company...

Totally agree with you. Would you mind share the AXA premier care premium and coverage? So far, my experience with NTUC is best, especially when it comes to H&S. They are by far the fastest payee and most generous payer. Many people get fooled by the seemingly lower premium and got caught when they realised that there are so many limits to the claimable items.

Reply to Insurance for Children on Wed, 04 Mar 2009 08:21:39 GMT

Mandie — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 08:21:39 GMT

yeah, agreed, always take a rider, small amount but helps alot in case of …anything

Reply to Insurance for Children on Wed, 04 Mar 2009 08:18:11 GMT

lifestylelink — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 08:18:11 GMT

cmm:
lifestylelink:

I covered my son for H&S with NTUC Enhanced Incomeshield. Thank goodness, but I made a mistake of not taking the rider. He just went for hernia repair and I had to pay $3k out front. :stupid: Is co-pay required for each hospitalisation or for one calendar year?
Co-insurance is payable for each hospitalisation. Deductible is by per policy year.

Does your hubby's company offer medical cover for your son?

My hubby's company do not offer medical cover for my son, my company does but I decided to skip because it is too expensive. I suppose I'll just take up the rider next year. $3k is for deductible. That amount can cover my son rider fees for at least 25 years, without any claim. So folks out there, learn from my lesson.

Reply to Insurance for Children on Wed, 04 Mar 2009 08:12:24 GMT

cmm — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 08:12:24 GMT

lifestylelink:

I covered my son for H&S with NTUC Enhanced Incomeshield. Thank goodness, but I made a mistake of not taking the rider. He just went for hernia repair and I had to pay $3k out front. :stupid: Is co-pay required for each hospitalisation or for one calendar year?

Co-insurance is payable for each hospitalisation. Deductible is by per policy year.

Does your hubby's company offer medical cover for your son?

Reply to Insurance for Children on Wed, 04 Mar 2009 03:15:34 GMT

Mandie — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 03:15:34 GMT

I got all the policies for my girl from NTUC (all eggs in one basket, but hubby does not trust other brand since 10 over years ago)

- incomeshield(B plan) + rider + hospitalization plan from my company( i usually claim from my company, balance claim from her own plan)
- life insurance
- on the advice of my insurance agent, i took up a harvest plan + rider(to replace education plan), pay only 5 years and can be withdraw after the 6 years (cash amount >premium after the 6th years) , the amount should be sufficient for her to go local Uni when she turn 18 if we did not withdraw any amount halfway. If she did not need that to study, she can use the fund to do something else, as it has higer return if she draw it out later. ( and i have hte right not to give her the fund if i think she does not deserve it ). She turn 5 this year. So my hubby is thinking to get one more 5 years plan to top up this plan if she needs to go overseas to study, meaning we need to pay for another 5 years

Reply to Insurance for Children on Wed, 04 Mar 2009 00:59:30 GMT

lifestylelink — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 00:59:30 GMT

jedamum:
phantom:
For me, I didn't though of getting it until my spouse start looking around and just ask me to sign :?

Mine is the opposite.
My husband is the one who talks to the insurance agent and he gets me to sign.
For the kids, we have insurance for
- education savings plan for ds1
- life insurance for ds2
- outpatient cost for both
- hospitalisation cost for both

I covered my son for H&S with NTUC Enhanced Incomeshield. Thank goodness, but I made a mistake of not taking the rider. He just went for hernia repair and I had to pay $3k out front. :stupid: Is co-pay required for each hospitalisation or for one calendar year?

Thinking of getting education plan and a life assurance plan. Can daddy and mummy share which plan and from which company you take from?

I am considering getting the Great Eastern endownment plan for my son. Limited pay for 20 years and my agent told me it is transferable to my grandson eventually.

Still trying to find a good saving plans, any advice from anyone?

Also, can someone tell me which insurance company covers outpatient medical (not relating to hospitalisation), I had a look and thought there were none?

Thanks a lot.

Reply to Insurance for Children on Sun, 01 Mar 2009 13:49:52 GMT

mintcc — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 13:49:52 GMT

Many thanks for the advise cmm, will check with my financial institution.

Reply to Insurance for Children on Sun, 01 Mar 2009 09:33:48 GMT

cmm — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 09:33:48 GMT

mincy:
After a health scare and a day op last year, I look through my insurance and realized my insurance will just cover me less than 50k if I got some major illness or disability. After looking thought my plans, a IFA was recommending me to drop one of my life plans for a ILP plan... for more than 3 times the coverage Any body knows if that is a good idea:?

I usually advise my clients to have critical illness coverage at least 2 times your annual income (ISO22222 standard). For SAHMs, you may want to use your husband's annual income as a gauge.

It's usually not a good idea to drop existing policies to take up a new one (Replacement of Policies). Some factors to consider are:

1. you may suffer a penalty for terminating the original policy.
2. you may incur transaction costs without gaining any real benefit from replacing the policy.
3. you may not be insurable on standard terms or may have to pay a higher premium in view of higher age or the financial benefits accumulated over the years may be lost.

In your own interest, I would advise that you consult your present financial instituition before making a final decision. Hear from both sides and make a careful comparison to ensure that the replacement insurance policy is suitable for you. You can then be sure that you are making a decision that is in your best interest.

Reply to Insurance for Children on Sat, 28 Feb 2009 18:00:47 GMT

mintcc — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 18:00:47 GMT

For kids we have :

1. Endowment Plan
2. 1 plan that covers any accident
3. We ge the same Aviva health plan which means our kid is cover for free

For myself…I think it depends on how much cover you feel you need vs how much you want to spent/ whether you want to take anything back at the end of it .

After a health scare and a day op last year, I look through my insurance and realized my insurance will just cover me less than 50k if I got some major illness or disability. After looking thought my plans, a IFA was recommending me to drop one of my life plans for a ILP plan… for more than 3 times the coverage Any body knows if that is a good idea:?

Reply to Insurance for Children on Tue, 03 Feb 2009 00:08:19 GMT

ChiefKiasu — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 00:08:19 GMT

Hmm… my wife lives by the 10% rule - 10% of my salary goes to insurance payments.

Reply to Insurance for Children on Mon, 02 Feb 2009 23:08:48 GMT

tamarind — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 23:08:48 GMT

I feel that we only need a life policy, and a hospitalization plan which is most important.

NTUC incomeshield has no limits, and covers up to A1 class at a reasonable premium. We also bought the rider, so essentially all costs are covered.

My kids are covered under Great Eastern Life, covers private hospital stay, and also outpatient fees.

Reply to Insurance for Children on Mon, 02 Feb 2009 22:58:06 GMT

jedamum — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 22:58:06 GMT

phantom:
For me, I didn't though of getting it until my spouse start looking around and just ask me to sign :?

Mine is the opposite.
My husband is the one who talks to the insurance agent and he gets me to sign.
For the kids, we have insurance for
- education savings plan for ds1
- life insurance for ds2
- outpatient cost for both
- hospitalisation cost for both

Reply to Insurance for Children on Mon, 02 Feb 2009 16:11:04 GMT

buds — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 16:11:04 GMT

Heyya phantom..

Now, you sure those were insurance policies she asked you
to sign? Weheheh.. Just kidding.

When i was working, i signed up for NTUC's 2 in 1 plan for
kids below 18 yrs. Endowment cum life. So, while i saved
while i earned for her supposed tertiary education, it also
covered the usual life policies that included the usual,
permanent disability, hospital subsidies, but i seem to recall
(if i recalled correctly) that the list of illnesses included
asthma and HFMD or some sort. Hence, the sign up.

Can start as low as $100. Can have delayed installment
payments if we lose job, but policy still run. Can pay
advance. Can take out some if in need but minus from
the eventual pay-out. Interest was like from 3-5% like that.

Just sharing..

Cheerios.