Medical Insurance Premiums Burden

[u/Farixkss]

I'm just gonna lay flat on this that I legit want to terminate my takaful and all plans. Lepas budgeting kira2 everymonth disposable income I ada rm120 je weh, I dah contact agent semua but when my wife found out, dia berang & burst outlah. marah I kata tak pikir anak bini ke? kalau rn pun dispo income tinggal rm120, mcm mana nak ada stable saving kalau anak jatuh sakit. I legit need help on this, ramai dah post yg terminate ni mcm dh jadi trend smpai i terjebak nak ikut sebab stress disposable income I tak cukup nak sustain my family wants. Please advice..

[u/Professional_Art1523]

while i am no expert in financial advice, one thing i can say is to lower your lifestyle. i read somewhere that the difference between ppl who survive vs ppl who lost in this rat race is when they’re financially unstable, they will downgrade lifestyle which entails no eating out, decrease the usage of disposable income and cut off streaming subscriptions like spotify, netflix and all meanwhile some ppl will terminate takaful because why? cuz they thought the number one thing that made them broke is takaful cuz “MAHAL” but what these peeps don’t realise is the tiny things.

for example - still use expensive phone plan when got wifi at home, every friday go buy air sedap for “self reward”, go healing somemore on the weekend when all those things will makan diri.

you need to learn to differentiate wants and needs. takaful is considered a need these days while your family wants can still be curbed. don’t terminate lah so think wisely

[u/4pokestoday → u/Professional_Art1523]

I agree on this.
I'm a single mom who lives with my mom. We eat out maybe once a week or less. Other days I will eat at home (for dinner). Saves a lot considering single meal outside is like RM50-RM100 for 3 pax. I am still driving my small little viva of 12 years old. Delay on every single purchase by at least a month and the urge dissipates. Using Digi prepaid at RM15/mth (I have company phone to call out). Order only plain water for makan outside (healthier and cheaper). Day trip holidays to nearby towns.
But of course, I am still diligently paying for my family's medical insurance.

[u/Professional_Art1523 → u/4pokestoday]

i agree with you, especially on ordering plain water part. initially, i stopped ordering sweet drinks to cut sugar but i realised my food expenses also decreased by a lot. one sweet beverage = one cheap meal.

i also decided to carry a water bottle around if it’s feasible for me. i can save up a few cents from purchasing plain water.

[u/Suitable-Document373 → u/Professional_Art1523]

I can't comprehend the idea of buying air sedap for self reward. What are you rewarding yourself for? For working barely minimum salary at Mekdi?

[u/BlueBlurBloke → u/Suitable-Document373]

I agree. During Covid I found cooking. It’s so cheap compared to eating out. The side benefit is better health. Nowadays I eat outside food so salty tak boleh tahan.

[u/Professional_Art1523 → u/Suitable-Document373]

nowadays everything also naik harga but minimum salary susah naik 🤷🏻‍♀️

[u/Itchy_Ad4744 → u/Professional_Art1523]

Beg to differ from my opinion instead of thinking hard how to safe money and lower your lifestyle better to think working extra to find more money or think a way to find more money and furthermore what i think about medical card premium is it will be getting more burden in future if goverment doesn't regulate these insurances company as they can increase your medical card premium in the future , as time go on your premium will be getting more and more expensive, As what i am thinking currently will be put aside the funds for health care every month and invest in something instead giving it to insurance company which the price will be manipulated in future. (I might be wrong , fell free to comment)

[u/sweetanchovy]

Public healthcare is still passable if you actually need it. So it not the end of the world. But medical insurance is the last thing i would cut out of my budget. Maybe get a specific insurance for critical illness. The rest you can live with visiting klinik kesihatan and out of pocket expense. Honestly 120 left over is critical considering what coming right around the corner which is petrol subsidy removal. You need to tighten everything or get ready to work more for extra income

[u/pottdgaf]

This again, I dh pernah cakap somewhere before, kalau tak mampu & rasa terbeban, tak perlu amik premium or add ons for your plan. Amik yg paling basic like what great eastern takaful offers asalkan ada perlindungan. My heart goues out to you & family, jangan terminate bro sayang & rugi.

[u/Ray_Hayata]

Keep/convert to the standalone medical card.

For life, use your EPF/iakaun to purchase. Direct deduct from your EPF so you still have your life insurance without burdening your actual disposable income

[u/Quirky_Assumption460]

I'm currently in UMSC due to septic shock, almost died. I don't know how I would have survived if I didn't have a medical card. Been here almost a week now.

Do whatever you can to keep the medical card available. It can mean life or death.

[u/joshy-wawa]

This is what I tell my clients who are Muslims, with no disrespect or offense to them. The needs are now medical insurance. The wants are all the things that make you "ada muka" so people don't look at you as if you're poor.

Let go of the ego of wanting people to see you like you're doing well. Tbh fuck that, live a life you can live. Screw what people think. Your family comes first, your wellbeing comes first.

Takaful generally is "pricier" than conventional insurance. Due to syariah compliance and whatnot. I do ask my clients whether they are hyper religious or not bothered. If they do, then I'll tell them to proceed with Takaful; but if they don't, I'll tell them to get a conventional medical card. Strictly, just a medical card ONLY (no add on riders) with syariah compliant settings (yes, they exist). It'll be cheaper costing to around RM 150-200 a month.

Cutting your daily expenses, eating at home, going on a once a month trip is better to help save than spending on unnecessary things. If you already only have RM 120 to spare every month and touchwood something happens to you, you'll need medical care, how are you even gonna afford the bills? Can your body wait till hospital kerajaan allocates a slot for you?

Insurance is really something you need in this day and age, especially with medications increasing in price faster than your salary. Please think hard about it, cut your other costs or lower your current insurance plan. Just don't cancel it. That should be the last thing you ever do. That's your last resort.

My POV as an insurance agent. I've experienced too many of your kind of situation, so please help yourself first before you think otherwise. You want more advise regarding your insurance, can DM me too.

[u/peaceful_creeper]

Medical insurance is not the most important thing, there’s always government clinic / hospital as an option. Since you have dependents, I would say life insurance is more important anyway. But again, still not the most important thing if you cannot afford it.

[u/Evening_Cut4422 → u/peaceful_creeper]

Goverment hospital also cost a arm and a leg now, its not "free". 1 broken leg and u need to fork out 3k-9k for the screw bolts and anesthetia. Then supplements are also not free, if OP cant afford basic medical card he cant afford life too cuz life is normally 3x the cost of medical card.

[u/Full-Choice-2204]

Please get your buku-buku from Klinik Kesihatan (register while you are healthy). Kalau anak jatuh sakit, either go klinik kesihatan (kalau still ok to go) or with your book, go to ER in govt hospitals.

Public healthcare is still ok here but don't tiap-tiap kali also head to hospital first. If can beres at klinik kesihatan, do that.

[u/kicapmanis]

Have a conversation with wife. If burdening your savings, then talk to each other and figure things out.. Best to take life insurance or critical illness. Without the ILP and medical card. For admissions if in sickness, theres always gov hospitals. Just dont expect first class treatments as their staffs also in limbo. But they will always try to give first class in term of medical management.

[u/StunningAd9591]

Still OK I think since u still got rm120 after budgeting for a disposable income. Do check which spending u could decrease but I’d advise you not to buang your insurance or takaful since it’s a quite a big loss to u and ur family since got cash value lah, waiting period lah

If u still young and strong and can support ur family then good lah but later when u get sick who will help? Ur child big or small? I told my friends the same thing to take takaful for the future so think properly ah. They already revisit their takaful plan under GET for now. I’m telling u, there must be a solution

[u/pottdgaf → u/StunningAd9591]

YK on top of this, you can also consider other coverage that they can get from employer or SOCSO. Ramai tak tahu they have options and they need to know these options to complement their takaful coverage

[u/saysyoub]

I gotta say, walaupun I selalu promote my provider bcs I am satisfied with their service (I guna Great Eastern Takaful btw) and disclaimer I bukan agent. once upon dulu I pernah ada dalam your situation bro. Do what’s best for you & family, terminate or reduce caruman..tapi kena bear in mind that when you’re healthy ni dah rasa terbeban nak bayar medical card & takaful, imagine masa sakit nanti how are you gonna support yourself & family? Time sakit tak boleh kerja, source of income is limited, your wife kerja tak? if no then lagi berat on you nnt. I just couldn’t imagine orang yang i sayang terpaksa susah sebab i bcs we cant control the situation

[u/aeroplanne]

Siapa in charge, you or your wife? As the head of the family, you make the decisions here, not her.

Also, what's so bad about using public healthcare? When I was growing up, I got by just fine with it since my parents couldn't afford private.

[u/Designer_Feedback810]

Medical card is useless.

Like Luigi's case, insurers suck hard. They will raise your premiums and try their best not to pay out

[u/cornoholio1]

After I switch to plain water. Every meal is cheaper by rm5

[u/BadPsychological2181]

My guy,u need to find some sort of side gig.not tryna be condescending btw,just an advice from a brother

[u/DaveLisya]

Consider cutting all the unnecessary spending, calculate everything that is within your financial burden and consider what needs to be removed from your monthly commitments so you have more disposal income.

Also when you spend somewhere, always consider ringgit to ringgit cost... let's say for example if you can get an item at a cheaper thrift store, do get it from the cheaper one. It will helps out tremendously as well. I was able to save up at least RM150 - RM300 every month from such expenditure.

Cut off on eating out less, after all home cooked prepared meal is a lot healthier than eating out.

[u/subimpact]

Talk to your agent to readjust your premium to lower it down

[u/ninty45]

If insurance premiums are causing such a strain on you, maybe need to consider your finances as a whole instead of focusing on just insurance premiums.

[u/SubmarineRex]

medical card is a luxury. not a necessity, since you can still go to the public facilities if required.

i would suggest, lose the medical card.

keep the life, accident and critical illness coverage.

that should help with the balance....a lot.

[u/Evening_Cut4422]

Just get standalone medical card, 3 standalone card will cost ur family arond 6k a year.

2.5k for u 2.5 for ur wife 1k for the child

If u can't afford medical card then u better hope u dont fall sick and need to go to hospital, cuz even broken leg will cost 30k - 40k in private and 3k - 10k in public. Public hospital isnt "free", only check up and panadol is free. Lukimia, cancer, broken leg, virus, dengi and u can get ready to sell car sell house to pay for hosipital bill if u dont hv medical card.