Malaysians may have been facing so many changes in the past two years, but critical illnesses, like cancer, heart attack and stroke, remain as prevalent as ever in our lives. They can happen to every single one of us in the most unexpected times, which is why it’s important to have a comprehensive insurance plan that helps us be prepared for their heavy costs, beyond just medical coverage – so we can be prepared for the domino effect of serious illnesses.
Wondering whether your few-year-old insurance plan is still as good as today’s options? Here are some pointers for you to find out if it’s time to update it!
1. Your critical illness coverage is pre-defined
If there’s a strict set of criteria that a patient’s illness has to fulfil before it’s eligible for an insurance claim, then it’s probably an outdated plan. Instead, it should be outcome-based, which calculates how harmful it is to their health and personal livelihood. After all, no two similar illnesses have the same effects.
For example, if someone was diagnosed with a critical illness (CI) or faced an accident that was not covered under the CI listing, an outcome-based plan would take into account the treatment required to undergo surgery requiring post-surgery hospitalisation instead of a pre-defined diagnosis and will set out to cover Post Surgery Recovery – and if needed, Intensive Care Support – to ensure the make a full 100% recovery.
2. Post-operative care costs keep piling up
A patient’s major surgery was a success (congrats!) and they’re well on their way to recovery, but wait, it’s not over yet. If their recovery stage ends up being longer than expected, their post-op costs may also pile up and possibly leave them in debt; not to mention that in reality, only a few insurance plans actually cover post-op care.
Fortunately, there are plans that actually cover post-op care, so we can focus on healing up! If your plan gives perks like a lump sum payout after a major surgery with post-surgery hospitalisation or admission to intensive care with essential life support, then you’re good to go!
3. There’s no income replacement so one will need to use their own savings to survive
One of the biggest downsides of getting hit by a serious illness is the absence of income when the patient can’t go to work. This is where they’d have to dig up their emergency piggybank to not only cover their expenses but their family as well.
It’d be a huge help if we can get one that actually gives us income replacement for such incidents. Be sure to check how their income replacement works, like whether:
- After being diagnosed with a serious illness, we’ll receive a lump sum amount to focus on recovery.
- We’ll get comprehensive critical illness coverage, no matter what stage our illness is in.
- In the event of death, loved ones of the deceased will receive a compassionate benefit of 20% basic sum assured or the surrender value, whichever is higher.
4. No preventive care coverage so we still live anxiously
As the old adage goes, prevention is better than cure. However, it’s hard to do that when preventive care is expensive in the long run. It’s even more infuriating when one is unsure of what to do, so they end up paying more for check-ups or tests and professional opinions just to ascertain their next steps – it’s not any easier that insurance plans usually don’t include it as part of their coverage.
So remember to check whether your insurer covers preventive care to make sure you’re well taken care of and constantly in the know about your body’s physical wellbeing. You can access preventive care via health and wellness app like:
- Online consultation with a certified doctor
- Symptom checker: understand your health symptoms better and be alerted if you need to see a doctor.
- Quick online health check: get relevant overall insights into your health.
5. You worry about the domino effect of critical & serious illnesses
Even if you have both medical and critical illness plans, they only cover surface-level costs like medical fees and expenses during hospitalisation or check-ups; or just gives one lump sum amount to (hopefully) cover your recovery costs based on a pre-set list, respectively. They don’t take into account the subsequent seemingly never-ending string of new expenses, as well as other serious illnesses, that are equally harmful to our health (thanks for nothing, stress).
Thus, it’s vital to keep our insurance plans up to date and make sure its comprehensive enough to encompass both critical and serious illnesses, both during and after recovery.
For instance, if someone developed a tumour that isn’t cancerous, it won’t be covered by their critical illness plan. However, if their plan also includes serious illnesses, they can cover its removal because it might become malignant in the future.
So many things to consider until we want to pengsan!
But, if we truly want to prevent the crippling domino effect of critical illnesses from drowning us, it’s essential what life-saving insurance coverage to watch out for. From major injuries and severe mental health issues, to intensive care and post-surgery recovery, having all grounds covered will then allow us to focus on life and live with confidence!
If you’re looking for a better insurance plan that solves the domino effect of critical illnesses and picks those pieces up, we highly recommend signing up for Prudential’s PRUAll Care plan.
PRUAll Care is a plan that goes beyond covering critical illnesses, and even includes serious illnesses that are defined by the outcome of over 190 illnesses.
While other medical insurance and critical illness plans cover medical fees and expenses during hospitalization or clinic visits or grant a lump sum of amount for insurance claims (based on a preset list of critical illnesses only), PRUAll Care does all those but better and more:
- Covers both critical and serious illnesses by evaluating their risk and outcome, defined by the outcome of over 190 health conditions
- Serious health coverage includes:
- Mental health benefit: Receive 20% of Basic Sum Assured or up to RM100k upon diagnosis of specified conditions
- Post Surgery Recovery: 20% of Basic Sum Assured or up to RM25k each event, payable five times per life under this benefit.
- Intensive Care Support: 20% of Basic Sum Assured or up to RM500k for six continuous days stay in Intensive Care Unit with Essential Life Support.
- Much-needed income replacement assistance that provides:
- Lump Sum Payment: Receive a lump sum amount as income replacement upon diagnosis of a Serious Illness, so you can focus on recovery.
- Early to Late-Stage Coverage: Get comprehensive Critical Illness coverage from early to late-stage
- Compassionate Benefit: Get 20% of Basic Sum assured or the surrender value, whichever is higher, in the unfortunate event of death.
- Simple yet thorough preventive care via the Pulse by Prudential app, comprising:
- Symptom Checker: Get tailored analyses on your health conditions from the AI-powered chatbot.
- Online Consultation: Consult a certified doctor from the comfort of your home.
- Health Check: A 15-minute assessment to analyse your overall health status.
- Zero worries on the domino effect of major illnesses
And these are just the highlight of what PRUAll Care covers, with many more not mentioned in this list!
Plus, if you sign up for PRUAll Care today, you’ll receive a specially curated Watsons Health Care Box (worth RM100!), and one-month premium cashback on PRUAll Care with purchase of PRUWith You or PruWealth Plus.*
Pretty sweet deals, right?
*Terms & conditions apply
At the end of the day, what’s most important is getting a thorough insurance plan so that we can focus on enjoying life and living with confidence!
For more info on PRUAll Care, head over to this website, or download the Pulse app to find out more.
Also, Prudential is hosting a #LiveWithConfidence contest so do check out Prudential’s Facebook and Instagram to win e-vouchers!
