MESHIO.COM

It’s the time of the year again to campaign for cancer awareness. Please don’t miss this meaningful event if you can. It’s just 2-3 hours of your time on a refreshing Sunday morning, but it’s going to mean alot to cancer patients nation wide.

Here are the 2008 Terry Fox Run for KL’s details:

Date: 2 November 2008 (Flag off 9.00 am)

Venue: Taman Tasik Perdana (Lake Gardens).

Participants are to be at the assembly area by 8.45 am.

All participants must run on the designated route. To participate, you can purchase the limited edition Terry Fox 2008 T-Shirt from the following locations:

1) Ms Chan Siew Wan / Ms Lee Siew Bee at the Canadian High Commission, 17th Floor, Menara Tan & Tan, Jln Tun Razak (6th October onwards)

2) Ms Yoon / Mr Peter Kang at the Cancer Research Initiatives Foundation (CARIF), 2nd Floor, Outpatient Centre, Subang Jaya Medical Centre (6th October onwards)

3) Ms Tila at the Foyer, Ground Floor, Menara Citibank, Jalan Ampang (12.00 to 2.00pm, 20th October until 24th October)

4) At the Lake Garden on Run Day (2nd November 2008)

If you would like to be a volunteer, contact Ms Jo Tan or Ms Yoon at organizer@terryfoxrunkl.org

Email contact: organizer@terryfoxrunkl.org

I would suggest getting your Terry Fox Shirts before the event. Usually, 2-3 weeks prior to the event, -there’ll be announcements by the organisers on “Collection Booths” around Klang Valley. Last year, I remember there were booths in Bangsar Shopping Complex and Jalan Ampang’s Citibank. Will post the information if I get winds of it.

Also, arrive early to avoid traffic jam. Car pool if possible.

Bring your own water and avoid drinking from the Milo van. Most of the runners last year had very bad stomach ache after consuming the “Sihat dan Kuat” beverage, including yours truly.

Also, I would suggest that the organisers and event sponsors avoid giving out plastic bottled waters since the amount of rubbish and plastic waste generated is very un-eco-friendly.

Nope, there’s no official website this year for Terry Fox Run for KL 2008. Surf to www.terryfoxrun.org for more info. It’s a pity, we’d a great fun helping to run the site last year :~(

Here’s a run-through on this new book.

This is a 50-page guide in PDF format on how to plan your risk management using the various types of insurance out there in the market.

Here’s the Table of Contents:

Here are a few excerpts from the book:

The Malaysia Insurance Planning Guide is available for download at USD 4.95. To get your copy now, click on the “Buy Now” button below. You will be directed to a PayPal payment page to make the purchase. Once the payment is through, the PDF ebook will be sent to you via email.

IpohChai.com shares with us how and when accidents chooses victims…

Just a few days ago, a very serious accident happen at my workplace involving a chargeman who are working at a main electrical switch. He was trying to measure the main power line current with a probe meter. You know, the main power line to that switch has a current of 800 Ampere flowing into the factory!

I’m not sure if he has place the probe at the wrong line or the meter was not set correctly but within split seconds, the chargeman was toasted.

He got jolted by the main power line current. Most part of his body was burned severely and his hair too was mostly burned off! It was only less than one second that he transform from a white into a black person!

He didn’t passed out but was stunned seriously and his colleagues who are working nearby helped him to get to the guard house for ambulance. And that fellow could still asking for a stick of cigarettes from the guard, haven’t got enough smoke perhaps.

Yes, there are many other types of accidents in the workplace.

Most of us who are working in the comfort of an air-conditioned office would normally think we have nothing to fear. Unergonomic workplaces can also pose serious damages in the long run if you are not observant enough.

Many of you might not have heard of Aeron chairs. The ergonomic awareness level in Malaysia needs a little more boost. The Malaysian Labour Law should start introducing some basic ergonomic acts that can help protect the workforce should their employers ignored the importance of an ergonomic workplace.

Also, it’s important that you are, at the very least, covered by your Employer with a personal accident insurance, with the claim proceeds going to your dependants. You never know, as patriotic as you are the company, a half-dead employee remains a non-productive liability.

There are health and medical hazards that can be reduced, if not totally eliminated in the workplace. But there also those that you cannot predict. Accident only catches you unprepared, and it doesn’t matter how rich or poor you are, which God you give your prayers to or whether if you have ever donated to a charity before. It comes in the most unexpected moments, and your only consolation is that it could have been worse.

The only way you can reduce the impact of an accident is most likely through financial means. I have yet to come across any products or services that can reduce the emotional loss of a loved one. And psychiatrist cost money too!

Although it’s good to be optimistic about life, but one should always be prepared about the uncertainties that comes with it.

It’s already quite rare to find people who are actively planning their retirement.

Nope, your existing KWSP contributions don’t count. You actually need more than the monthly 23% you are contributing if you intend to upkeep your existing lifestyle after you receive your last paycheck, and provided that post-retirement inflation don’t screw up your plans.

One of the most overlooked factor in retirement- your health.

Yup, even with the best retirement planning strategies, you might not be able to enjoy the millions you have accumulated in your retirement nest. There’s hardly any use of the money you have in the bank if you can hardly move around much. You might end up using your hard earned savings for medical bills.

Health-deteriorating activities will also works against your retirement goals. For instance, smoking is one good way to destroy your lungs, if the pollutants in big cities hasn’t already done so. Not only are you spending quite a sum in your daily cigarette consumption, you might also be spending alot of money on lungs related medical expenses after you retired. There are better ways to invest in tobacco, such as buying tobacco counters like BAT which gives great dividends (on the expenses of other smokers).

And like any good retirement strategy, strategies for good health should be implemented as early as possible.

The most downloaded PDF booklet from Meshio.com is now available in the 2nd Edition.

The first edition was introduced sometime in February 2007.

So what’s new in the 2nd Edition? Main addition is the “Wallet Damage” section, where for each diseases, I have included the amount of money needed for the treatment. I’ve touched up the layout and typography a bit to increase readability.

Also shamelessly added is a photo of yours truly in the “About the Author” page :-)

Download “Critical Illnesses Explained” now!

It’s indeed a tough decision to make. To ensure the premium is not too taxing on the policyholders, the insurance company would have to strike off the hospitals that are eating up too much claims. This decision is totally understandable, our private hospitals are notorious for their profiteering acts and would not hesitate to squeeze as much as possible from patients who visit them with a medical card.

It’s not surprising that medical claims eats up the highest portion of an insurance company’s profit margin. Unless of course, the insurance companies start setting up their own healthcare institutions. At least this way, they can control the cost.

There’s also a limit to how strict an insurance company’s underwriting department can get. If they become too strict, they would probably have to turn down 50% of their potential clients including people like me who eat nasi lemak for lunch and dinner. And this will hurt the economy of scale. You need big numbers for the law of probability to work.

Effective Tuesday, ING Insurance policy holders who seek treatment at eight private hospitals in the Klang Valley need to pay first, before claiming from the insurance company.

This follows failed discussions between ING and the hospitals which form the Joint Inter-Hospital Healthcare Committee (JHIC), over the past three months.

The JHIC which has been holding discussions with ING’s top management and mediated by Bank Negara, failed to reach an agreement on the new terms and conditions set by ING’s new Healthcare Service Panel Agreement (HSPA).

Since January, representatives from Pantai Medical Centre, Gleneagles Intan Medical Centre, Sunway Hospital, Assunta Hospital, Ampang Puteri Hospital, Tawakal Hospital, Prince Court Medical Centre and Damansara Specialist Centre had been holding discussions with the ING team.

JHIC chairman Dr Steven Chow said: “The failure to agree to terms in ING HSPA will likely see the insurer strike off over 600 doctors from these hospitals.

Source: Bernama

If our government hospitals are being run more efficiently, we can definitely reduce our dependency on these profit-minded private healtcare institutions.

This is another coverage that you should already have in your risk management portfolio. Let’s face it, after the probability of meeting with an accident, the next most possible misfortunate event would be landing up in the hospital and having to stay overnight for observations. Your stay in the hospital could be due to an unknown cause, accident-related and probably common symptoms such as dengue or appendix removal, but rest assure it’s going to cost you money. If you are admitted to a private hospital, it’s going to cost you LOTS of money.

So, what exactly is covered under this category of insurance?

For start, the core coverage would be the Standard Room & Board (R&B) package, not unlike a hotel room package. The packages usually is categorized as follow:

(i) Room & Board RM 100

(ii) Room & Board RM 150

(iii) Room & Board RM 200

(iv) Room & Board RM 300

Room & Board RM 200 means that the coverage entitles you to stay in wardroom package of RM 200. However, you can still request the hospital to upgrade your room to a better package, but there would be terms and conditions applied according to respective insurance companies.

The Annual & Lifetime Limits is tied to the R&B. Generally, the following R&B packages will have the following Annual & Lifetime Limits:

(i) Room & Board RM 100: RM 60,000 (Annual) and RM 200,000 (Lifetime)

(ii) Room & Board RM 150: RM 90,000 (Annual) and RM 300,000 (Lifetime)

(iii) Room & Board RM 200: RM 120,000 (Annual) and RM 400,000 (Lifetime)

(iv) Room & Board RM 300: RM 180,000 (Annual) and RM 600,000 (Lifetime)

You should refer to your policy’s actual schedule of benefits to find out the exact figures. The annual & lifetime limits are deducted as you make claims.

Co-insurance is a commonly used phrase in medical insurance packages. It simply means that you as the policyholder need to pay a certain percentage from the total claims made. If your policy did not mention anything on co-insurance, it would usually mean that the fee is 100% borne by the Company.

For instance, you are hospitalized for 3 days, and used up a total of RM 6,780.24. Assume that the co-insurance of your medical package is 10%, capped at RM 500, you will need to fork out:

RM 6,780.24 x 10% = RM 678.02

Since the co-insurance is capped at RM 500, you will only need to fork out RM 500, instead of RM 678.02.

Here are some other important elements in the medical coverage that you should be concerned about:

(i) Pre-hospitalization and Post-hospitalization claims, where you need to find out how many days of pre-hospitalization and post-hospitalization is claimable.

(ii) Limits payable for outpatient treatments; for Accident, Cancer and Kidney Dialysis respectively

(iii) Room & Board and Intensive Care Units (ICU) with coverage usually upto 90 days.

Prosthetics, equipments and accessories such as wheel chairs or artificial teeth used during your stay in the hospital are usually not claimable. In most instances, government tax and service tax imposed in your bill are not claimable either.

Handy tips for Medical Insurance Policy:

(i) You should always keep the Original Receipt to ensure a speedy claim.

(ii) Declare all your health and medical track records when you are applying to ensure that you will not have problem with your claims later on. Ask your parents about any hereditary diseases that you might have inherited.

(iii) Always keep your Medical Card by your side, together with your girlfriend/boyfriend photo.

(iv) You will probably need to foot a deposit even if you have a valid Medical Card, so it’s best to have a credit card to avoid any problems with the profit-oriented health institutions.

(v) Go for the best possible medical insurance package you can afford, as it is easier to downgrade your package than it is to upgrade. Nonetheless, as long as you have a good health record, upgrading should not be a problem, except that you most likely have to pay for the medical check-ups yourself.

To conclude, due to the high possibility of you landing in a hospital, a medical insurance plan should be in your priority especially when you’re shopping for your first insurance policy.

Until banks or private hospitals are ready to provide medical loans which you can pay by installments, it’s a good idea to ensure your entire family is protected at least with a minimal amount.

In the next section, I will talk about the importance of Critical Illnesses Coverage, and why it is important in your risk management strategy. Unlike the medical plan coverage mentioned here, a Critical Illnesses Coverage is where all the common big tickets illnesses are covered.

Via Jeffooi.com, it seems that ING is de-listing Sunway Medical Centre & Pantai Medical Centre in Bangsar. There’s nothing new about profiteering practices in the healthcare industry, in fact, it’s so rampant that it’s becoming “normal” practice. Show up to any of these private hospital with a medical card, and you will definitely be greeted with a big smile. Have we forgotten how one of our young boy died right in front of the hospital just because he couldn’t come up with RM 5,000 for admission deposit?

From the insurance companies’s perspective, the health claim department is one of the area which they pay most attention too, because this is one area which eats a huge chunk out of their total profit. At the same time, to maintain competitiveness in the insurance industry, providing a comprehensive health insurance package is a necessity.

Have a look at the latest chart (year 2006) published by our very own Bank Negara. This one’s on the total expenses paid out by all the insurance companies in Malaysia.

This is the medical portion, and as you can see, ING is one of the most generous companies when it comes to medical claim, followed by Prudential and then Great Eastern.

For full list of expenses, click here.

This afternoon, I managed to connect to their Customer Service Hotline, and a Miss Janet confirmed with me that both the hospitals are still under their Panel Listings.

Although this is nowhere close to what Michael Moore depicted in his latest documentary- Sicko, it’s our responsibilities as policyholders and society as a whole to ensure these health care institutions is not taking everyone for a ride.

Okay, free goodie for Meshio.Com readers, a 31-page booklet explaining the 36 types of critical illnesses that is covered under most critical illnesses policy that is offered by various insurance companies in Malaysia. Of course, the terms and conditions would vary, so you should take note of your actual policy’s black and white.

This booklet is purely meant for reference only, not as a definitive guide.

This is the 2nd edition of the Critical Illness Booklet and various information has been updated.

To proceed with the download, just complete the blanks below and your free booklet will be on its way to your email inbox. So, please insert a valid email address. Also, as each booklet request will be manually processed, you might need to wait for a few days before the booklet arrives in your inbox.

To view the list of all 36 Critical Illnesses covered by major insurance companies, check out The Comprehensive Listing of Critical Illnesses & Dread Diseases in Malaysia.

Hmm… a bunch of angry doctors can be a detrimental force in the healthcare industry.

Doctors going on strike, that’s a must-see.

New Straits Times on Angry Docs…

As president of the Malaysian Medical Association, Dr Teoh is also feeling the brunt from the several thousand members, who have issued this ultimatum to MMA office bearers: resolve this issue or resign en bloc.

“We just cannot believe the amount of anger they are venting,” said Dr Teoh when asked to comment on doctors planning to stage protests against the Act which came into force on May 1, this year.