[digitalnirvana]

Thanks carboy and aadya. Well your point is valid about the coverage till 65 years. I wanted a policy till 85 odd years as a financial safety net for my child when he will be in his late forties or fifties, that's the only reason for wanting one longer term policy.

Anyway, I have messed up by being impulsive. I followed hrman advice for 2 policies and was checking policybazaar dot com. They immediately called me up and walked me through buying 2 policies of 1cr each - one for HDFC till 65 years and one for Max till 84 years. The HDFC one had a Waiver on Premium rider, and the Max one had disability, critical illness and waiver of premium.

The HDFC one is approximately Rs1200 a month but the Max one is Rs2630 a month which is very high after checking on coverfox. I did not know about coverfox then. Now on cross checking I can see the premiums are much lower there (half or lower) so I have requested for cancellation of these 2 policies.

Lesson learnt, I will not rush into buying again. :(

One question is what impact will the policy cancelation have on my eligibility for getting new policies? I'm worried it will adversely impact my policy worthiness score.

[arvind71181]

I have a company coverage of 3L and I am thinking of going ahead with a Max Bupa family first floaer policy for 15L with a compulsory deductable of 3L. Is this a good way? The deductable amount can be changed every year on renewal so probably during retirement, I can make it zero. The premium comes to 12700 for me, wife and kid. Thoughts please?

[aadya]

Originally Posted by digitalnirvana

Thanks carboy and aadya. Well your point is valid about the coverage till 65 years. I wanted a policy till 85 odd years as a financial safety net for my child when he will be in his late forties or fifties, that's the only reason for wanting one longer term policy.

Anyway, I have messed up by being impulsive. I followed hrman advice for 2 policies and was checking policybazaar dot com. They immediately called me up and walked me through buying 2 policies of 1cr each - one for HDFC till 65 years and one for Max till 84 years. The HDFC one had a Waiver on Premium rider, and the Max one had disability, critical illness and waiver of premium.

The HDFC one is approximately Rs1200 a month but the Max one is Rs2630 a month which is very high after checking on coverfox. I did not know about coverfox then. Now on cross checking I can see the premiums are much lower there (half or lower) so I have requested for cancellation of these 2 policies.

Lesson learnt, I will not rush into buying again. :(

One question is what impact will the policy cancelation have on my eligibility for getting new policies? I'm worried it will adversely impact my policy worthiness score.

Few more crumbs to follow

1.Always calculate and compare annual/not monthly.

2.I too have a policy that will run upto 75 years, but logically it does not make sense.The money used for term insurance can be used up for health insurance etc., Post education children need not have security through parent's insurance. Increase the coverage rather than duration. Rs.2 crores at 20years of age in 2035 is much more worthier than the same money at 40yrs of age in 2055. To get that value you would be spending couple of thousands more which has more worth for you now.

3.Premium waiver is not that useful feature. Just make sure the family members are aware of the policy or do an standing instruction. Instead You can increase the Coverage. Critical illness and Disability/terminal illness are good options though.

Remember any insurance is for unfortunate occurences(risk), we should hope we do not have to use the claim at all.

[hothatchaway]

Originally Posted by digitalnirvana

One question is what impact will the policy cancelation have on my eligibility for getting new policies? I'm worried it will adversely impact my policy worthiness score.

You have to mention any current/past policies/applications every time you apply for a new policy. How the details are evaluated is upto the underwriter. in my experience, the underwriting process for insurance, be it life or medical isnt as logical/rigorous as one may think and they can be rigid about the parameters in their internal manual, which of course, the applicant does not get to know. There is no policy worthiness numerical score along the lines of the credit worthiness score, and underwriting parameters vary from one insurer to the other. As you may imagine, most of the insurers are paranoid about the slightest hint of risk and deny/hike the premium. Hence the point made about getting such covers early in life when lifestyle diseases are yet to kick in.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by digitalnirvana

Thanks carboy and aadya. Well your point is valid about the coverage till 65 years. I wanted a policy till 85 odd years as a financial safety net for my child when he will be in his late forties or fifties, that's the only reason for wanting one longer term policy.

I don't understand how it will be a financial safety net for your child?

Let's say you take a policy till you are 85 years. And now you don't die till 80. Then your child will not have a financial safety net from the time you retire till you die - because the policy will not pay anything to your child till you die.

It's much better to take a policy whose term ends when you retire. Invest the extra premium saved into a recurring deposit or a mutual fund in a SIP. That will be a financial safety net for your child.

Considering almost everybody dies by the age of 85, the extra premium is going to high enough for it to be meaningless - i.e. the insurance company will calculate your premium assuming that you are going to guarantee die by the end of the term and they will have to pay up. So whatever they pay up will be less than what premiums you pay compounded. Otherwise it's a guaranteed loss for them. OTOH, if you take a term up to say 60 age, then there is a decent chance that you will be alive post the term, so the insurance company will not have to pay up - so the premiums will be far lower. The premiums are priced based on the probability of your death during the term of the policy - i.e the probably of you dying by 85 is close to 100 - the probability of you dying by 60 is much lower.

Do not try to profit through life insurance.

In Life Insurance, both you and the insurance company are betting against each other. The insurance company wins if you do not die during the term. You win if you die during the term. i.e. you never win.

[digitalnirvana]

Thanks for the sage advice. I have requested cancellation for both the policies to policybazaar now and will start afresh.

Please would you all recommend me 2 policies of 1 cr each (or one with a Sum Assured of 2 cr), am a 34 year old non smoker male. Am dense when presented with the plethora of options and just selecting the riders and sorting annual premium from low to high isn't helping :( - especially since most policies have one or the other rider unavailable (e.g. some have critical illness disability, some have hospitalization, some have waiver of premium, and what not).

Kindly help me zero in on one or two policies. Cover till 65 years should be good enough then? Some plans have a lesser payment term e.g. pay till 60 - I'd prefer those I think, as beyond 60 I might not have funds to continue paying for the policy.

Thanks for all the help so far, much appreciated.

[digitalnirvana]

The HDFC policy could not be cancelled on time, and the folks at HDFC have issued it. So I have added critical illness 20L and accidental 10L riders to it, and revised the term till 60 years of age. The annual premium is now Rs20600 ish for a 1 cr cover with policy term of 27 years (34 till 60). Does this sound good?

I will opt for another vanilla policy of 1 cr more from coverfox - probably Aegon

[hothatchaway]

Originally Posted by digitalnirvana

The HDFC policy could not be cancelled on time, and the folks at HDFC have issued it. So I have added critical illness 20L and accidental 10L riders to it, and revised the term till 60 years of age. The annual premium is now Rs20600 ish for a 1 cr cover with policy term of 27 years (34 till 60). Does this sound good?

I will opt for another vanilla policy of 1 cr more from coverfox - probably Aegon

What would the HDFC policy cost without any riders for a 1 cr life cover? Is this inclusive of tax?

[hrman]

Originally Posted by digitalnirvana

The HDFC policy could not be cancelled on time, and the folks at HDFC have issued it. So I have added critical illness 20L and accidental 10L riders to it, and revised the term till 60 years of age. The annual premium is now Rs20600 ish for a 1 cr cover with policy term of 27 years (34 till 60). Does this sound good?

I will opt for another vanilla policy of 1 cr more from coverfox - probably Aegon

Looks fine to me. For comparison, my ICICI Pru term policy, plain vanilla for 1Cr cover till 58 years cost 15k premium p.a. Costs may have gone up now.
Maybe look for options beyond Aegon. If I recall, they had a tie up with Religare (Fortis group) which is in trouble now. Just to be safe, look at other providers.

[digitalnirvana]

Originally Posted by hothatchaway

What would the HDFC policy cost without any riders for a 1 cr life cover? Is this inclusive of tax?

It would be approx 13k without any riders

The Policy Bazaar guy who had originally recommended the two policies HDFC & Mqx called me again and advised me not to go for riders with HDFC. Apparently HDFC covers 19 critical illnesses while Max covers 40 and accident cover for HDFC is paid out monthly in small amounts. So I've told him keep the HDFC policy vanilla without riders.

I also told him that I canceled Max because I didn't feel it was worth paying higher premiums for a coverage till 84 years. And that I was looking for 60 or 65 years. He again reiterated that for Max the total premium for coverage till 65 years with all riders (except cancer) is approximately 5.6L and the original policy which he had selected which was till 84 years (however premium payment till 60 years) was approximately 8L. The guy's justification is 2.4L difference in premium has a much higher chance of getting the 1cr back because I'd likely be dead by 84 and also 20 years of additional coverage.

I've said that I will think over. All this sweet talking is difficult for me and I will let the wife decide.

[hothatchaway]

Originally Posted by hrman

Maybe look for options beyond Aegon. If I recall, they had a tie up with Religare (Fortis group) which is in trouble now. Just to be safe, look at other providers.

Each insurer has to maintain a solvency margin of 150% as mandated by IRDA. This is to guard against situations like these.

[digitalnirvana]

My wife is not sure as well. Gents your final advice please, on whether I should opt for the Max policy as mentioned above? To recap, the premium is 29k and change yearly or 2630 monthly for a 1 cr cover till 84 years with policy paying term for 27 years (34 till 60). Thanks very much.

[aadya]

Originally Posted by digitalnirvana

My wife is not sure as well. Gents your final advice please, on whether I should opt for the Max policy as mentioned above? To recap, the premium is 29k and change yearly or 2630 monthly for a 1 cr cover till 84 years with policy paying term for 27 years (34 till 60). Thanks very much.

Still the premium is high for 1 cr. Go with Aegon or Aviva for plain vanilla cover till 60/65 yrs of age. Insurance company solvency is not an issue for customers as 1.the policies are underwritten 2.they have good solvency margin 3.these new age companies have more term insurance than investment plans.

[speedgun]

Had taken Apollo Munich family floater one month before. Now I am really skeptic about my decision on finalizing AM. I had requested for hard copy two weeks before and it’s still not dispatched. I did call them all the say is will be dispatched by end of day. Also seems they don't have a good CRM system which tracks customer concerns, every time I call it’s a new story. If this is how they do business what if I have a claim, not the kind of service I really expected. How is Star Health? thinking of porting to Star by next year.

[diyguy]

Originally Posted by speedgun

I had requested for hard copy two weeks before and it's still not dispatched.

I am on AM too for wife and kids. I got the policy by email with cards on them. They expect one to register on their site, verify OTP and then access the e-card at any time. Just tried it now and the portal is pretty decent. Amhi.in
You and download and print your e-cards, modify the policy or submit a request etc.