ARE RIDERS COMPULSORY?

One of my friends asked me the question above. For other insurance companies, I don't know the answer. For AIA Berhad, I am very sure that riders are not compulsory. In other words, we don't have to buy them if we just want to buy life insurance. However, like what I have explained in my previous post titled WHAT IS A RIDER? (February 9, 2009), riders are very important to make our coverage wider and more comprehensive.

WHAT IS A RIDER?

In insurance, a rider is a supplemental agreement attached to and made part of a policy. It is very important to expand the coverage of a policy. Typically, a rider requires additional premium. Generally, we can buy a rider only if we have life insurance.

Our life insurance doesn't cover our medical bills. In order to cover our medical bills, we have to buy a medical card as a rider attached to our life insurance.

Generally, we get nothing from our life insurance if we are diagnosed with a critical illness. If we want to get a sum of money after we are diagnosed with a critical illness, we need to buy a 36 critical illnesses plan as a rider attached to our life insurance.

When we want to get treatment in a clinic, our life insurance and medical card generally don't pay us. So, we need to buy a personal accident plan as a rider attached to our life insurance.

In sum, life insurance is not the only insurance plan that we must have to protect ourselves and our family financially. Riders play a very important role in making sure that we are well protected and fully covered no matter what unfortunate events happen to us.

Some of the riders can be standalone plans. For details, please read my post titled WHAT IS A STANDALONE PLAN? (February 9, 2009).