AIA ACHIEVES SOLID OPERATING RESULTS DESPITE CHALLENGING ENVIRONMENT.

For details, please click English, Bahasa Malaysia or 华文.

PLEASE BE CAREFUL EVEN YOU ARE HOME.

We will know the importance of insurance in our life after we have watched the video clip above. For details, please click here.

YOU ARE STILL INSURED EVEN YOU DON'T BUY ANY INSURANCE PLAN.

Does the sentence above sound weird?

When a person doesn't buy insurance like medical card and personal accident, he is still insured. Why? It is because he is the insurance company. He pays his medical bills himself.

WHY SHOULD EVERY CONSUMER BUY MEDICAL CARD?

We can be hospitalized due to a critical illness and an accident. An accident can happen any time to anyone. As we all know, a private hospital is a very realistic organization. If we don't have enough cash, the doctors there will not save our life.

We can go to a government hospital. The medical bill there is very economical. However, we need to wait for a long time before we get a treatment. When we are injured seriously, do we have the time and patience to wait? If the answer is no, every consumer should have at least one medical card.

Of course, a medical card doesn't guarantee us an admission to all hospitals without a deposit in Malaysia like what I have explained previously in my post titled WILL A HOSPITAL ACCEPT OUR MEDICAL CARD AS A GUARANTEE OF ADMISSION TO THE HOSPITAL WITHOUT A DEPOSIT? (March 17, 2009). But, it at least helps us to admit to all of the panel hospitals of an insurance company without a deposit.

WILL A HOSPITAL ACCEPT OUR MEDICAL CARD AS A GUARANTEE OF ADMISSION TO THE HOSPITAL WITHOUT A DEPOSIT?

A medical card is not a credit card and therefore will not be accepted by some of the hospitals in Malaysia. The medical card is to help panel hospitals to recognize us as policyholders of an insurance company.

Sometimes we have to pay a deposit and our medical bills ourselves first even we are admitted to a panel hospital. Why? To know the reasons, please read my post titled WHAT ARE THE REASONS A POLICYHOLDER CAN'T MAKE A CLAIM FROM AN INSURANCE COMPANY? (March 25, 2009).

IS A MEDICAL CARD THE ONLY CARD WE NEED?

We can be admitted to a hospital due to a serious road accident besides a critical illness.

In the insurance market, there is no one medical card that guarantees policyholders an admission to all hospitals in Malaysia without a deposit. Hospital A is a panel hospital for insurance company X but it may not be a panel hospital for another insurance company Y. In other words, there is no one insurance company which has all the hospitals in Malaysia as its panel hospitals.

So, what are the possible solutions to encounter this situation?

We can buy more than one medical card from different insurance companies like AIA Berhad, ING Insurance Berhad, Prudential Assurance Malaysia Berhad and so on. All insurance companies have their own list of panel hospitals.

Besides that, we should bring alone several credit cards with a high card limit. Why? If all of our medical cards are not accepted by a hospital, we can still use our credit cards to settle our medical bills. After discharging from the hospital, we can claim our money from the insurance companies.

If we don't have medical card and credit card, what we can do is bring along a lot of cash. I personally think that this way is not a good solution as it is no longer safe in certain places in Malaysia if the world economy doesn't recover fast.

WHY IS IT NOT RATIONAL TO TERMINATE OUR INSURANCE PLANS WHEN THE ECONOMY DOESN'T PERFORM WELL?

When the economy is bad, unemployment rate increases. Many people are jobless. They have no income but they still need to eat. If they still can't find a new job, some of them will be forced to commit crimes like robbery, snatch and others. As a result, crime rate will increase. When crime rate increases, our safety will be threatened. We may become the next victims of robbery and snatch.

Of course, having an insurance plan doesn't reduce crime rate in Malaysia. But, it at least helps us to cover our medical bills when we are injured due to an accident, robbery and snatch.

In sum, it is not wise to terminate our insurance plans when the economy performs badly. If we really can't afford it, we can try to reduce our annual premium by reducing our coverage.

HEALTHCARE ISSUES IN MALAYSIA.

The following articles are about the healthcare cost and problems that significantly affect everyone of us in Malaysia:

• Rising pressure of healthcare cost
• Getting a lifeline with definitive health policy
• Generic drugs vs branded ones
• Room for more hospitals
• Providing patients quality service
• Private hospitals move towards specialised disciplines to meet demand
• Medical insurance still affordable in Malaysia
• Work together to ea$e the pain

Source: The Star Online, Business, March 14, 2009

THE STRATEGIC PARTNERS OF AIA BERHAD.

There is another good news for AIA Berhad. RHB and CIMB Wealth Advisors are now the strategic partners of AIA Berhad. AmResearch views RHB Bank's bancassurance tie-up with AIA Berhad positively although there are no details on it as yet.

The good news will disprove all the rumours saying that AIA Berhad is going to bankrupt.

WHICH HOSPITAL SHOULD WE GO IF WE HAVE MEDICAL CARD?

If we don't want to pay our medical bills ourselves and the situation is not urgent, we should go to the nearest panel hospital. If the situation is very urgent, we must go to the nearest hospital and claim our medical bills from insurance companies later.

A FACT SHEET ISSUED BY AIA BERHAD.

AIA Berhad, as a locally incorporated company under the Insurance Act 1996, has issued a fact sheet which covers its financial position for the financial year ended 30 November 2008.

For the financial year ended 30 November 2008:

• Total assets as at 30 November 2008 was in excess of RM 17 billion of which more than 97 % of the invested assets are in Malaysia.
• Profit before tax was RM 428 million.
• Surplus above the solvency margin requirement as at 30 November 2008 was RM 2.3 billion.
• Capital Adequacy Ratio as at 30 November 2008 under the Risk-Based Capital Framework was 266 %, well above the regulatory minimum of 130 %.

March 3, 2009

AIA HAS ASSETS OF MORE THAN $ 60 BILLION.

Here is an article from Reuters about the financial status of AIA group.

TWO MESSAGES FROM CEO OF AIG GENERAL INSURANCE (MALAYSIA) BERHAD.

To know the recent news of AIG General Insurance (Malaysia) Berhad, please click here and here.

GOOD NEWS FROM CEO OF AIA BERHAD.

Mr Khor Hock Seng, the CEO of AIA Berhad, has updated us with good news about the AIA group and its future path. To me, it is really a good news for all people including AIA insurance agents, AIA policyholders and even stock market investors in Malaysia. For details, please click here and here.