What is Life Insurance

What is Life Insurance?

1. Life insurance comes in two types, term life insurance or whole life insurance plan. 

• A Term Life insurance plan is a fixed term plan that pays out a sum of money in the event of death or total permanent disability. 
• Whole Life insurance plan covers you for a full term and it pays out a cash value upon maturity. 

2. Life insurance can be purchased for savings, retirement or investment purposes.

3. You can add on other protection benefits to the plan, such as critical illness coverage and hospitalisation benefits.

4. As of 2019, you are entitled for a tax relief of RM3, 000 for life insurance premiums.

What is Health Insurance?

1. Health insurance comprises of critical illness and medical insurance plan where medical plan are more commonly searched for. So, let’s deep dive into what medical insurance plan is all about.

2. A medical insurance plan usually comes with a medical card that helps you to pay for your hospitalisation fees, surgical expenses and other medical bills.

3. The types of medical plan can vary, with some offering co-insurance, deductible or non-deductible option. Here’s what you need to know the key differences of the offerings: 

• Co-Insurance option – this is a co-sharing plan, where you will need to share the cost of medical treatment with the insurance company, usually 10% of the total medical bill. 
• Deductible option − depending on the chosen deductible amount, you are required to pay a portion of the medical cost (deductible amount) and the balance will be covered by the insurance company. A plan with higher deductible amount would translate to lower premiums/insurance charges. Hence, it can be lower or higher than a Co-insurance plan.
• Non-deductible/No Co-insurance option – the insurance company will cover the full eligible medical cost of your treatment and you are not required to pay any upfront amount for your insurance claims. However, you may need to pay higher premiums/insurance charges, as compared to Co-insurance and Deductible plans.

4. A key consideration in a medical plan is the annual limit and lifetime limit: 

• An Annual Limit allows you to claim up to a maximum amount each policy year and any claim amount exceeding the Annual Limit will be paid by you in the same given year.
• A Lifetime Limit is the maximum amount you can claim for a lifetime so long your premiums are paid and policy is still inforce. Once the lifetime limit is fully utilized, the insurance plan will no longer pay for the hospitalisation cost.

Knowing and considering these differences will help you to better analyse your financial plans and get yourself covered with suitable life insurance and medical plans that best fit your budget and needs.