Manulife CI FlexiCare: The Ultimate Critical Illness Insurance in SG Singaporeans are known for their kiasu attitude and the need to be prepared for anything. And when…
With the growing prevalence of critical illness (CI) among the younger generation, the expert opinion from Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is that CI insurance should form the foundation of your basic financial plan.
Given the importance of CI insurance for the vast majority of our readers, we decided to spend some time breaking down the financial jargons and highlight desirable features of the different CI insurance plans available on the market.
In today’s review, we are going to dive into the key features of China Taiping i-care, a CI insurance plan that is focused on coverage and affordability.
One of the plus points about China Taiping i-care is that it has good coverage built into the product.
To quantify that coverage, a total of 137 medical conditions are covered by this CI plan for 100% of the sum assured. And these 137 medical conditions will be covered at any stage of condition. To simplify that, it means that the moment you get medically diagnosed with any one of these medical conditions, you are entitled for a 100% pay-out.
This is unlike other CI plans that cover only mid to late stage conditions. In fact, China Taiping i-care even covers Carcinoma in Situ, which is essentially a pre-cancer stage. It is uncommon for Carcinoma in Situ to be covered because it is medically not yet considered as cancer stage one.
The inclusion of Carcinoma in Situ as part of the medical conditions that is claimable under China Taiping i-care shows how good the coverage is.
Another interesting feature of China Taiping i-care is the inclusion of death coverage for the full sum assured. While this is not uncommon for StandAline CI plans, the amount paid out to the beneficiary for death is.
In the event that the policyholder doesn’t fall ill to any CI, your beneficiary will still get paid out for the same sum assured upon your death. Other CI plans may also offer pay out for death (i.e. death coverage) but it may not be as much as what China Taiping i-care offers, which is 100% sum assured.
Source: China Taiping
China Taiping i-care comes with nine different options that you can choose from in terms of policy term and sum assured. The sum assured increases in increments of $100,000 while the policy term is up to ages 75, 85, and 99.
Having these different options allow you to choose one that is most suited for the CI risk that you want to be financially protected against.
Let’s say you have been taking great care of your health and didn’t need to make any claims on your China Taiping i-care plan. You will have the added flexibility of doing a conversion of the i-care plan into a life insurance without any kind of underwriting.
As you get older, or as your dependents grow up, you may feel that there is no longer a need to spend so much on CI coverage. This flexibility for conversion allows you to manage the spending on your CI plan and channel it into a life insurance plan that simply covers just death.
Having this flexibility for conversion makes the China Taiping i-care plan one that gives your less financial worry.
With all the features that China Taiping i-care plan offers, the first thing that comes to mind will be how expensive it might be. But contrary to that belief, China Taiping i-care is actually one of the more affordable CI plans. This is measured by the premium paid per $100,000 of sum assured.
We did a comparison against a similar CI plan (SingLife Comprehensive Critical Illness). What we found was that the cost of coverage (premium paid per $100,000 of sum assured) for China Taiping i-care is 20-30% less than SingLife Comprehensive Critical Illness. The cost of coverage on China Taiping i-care is also consistently lower for all ages of coverage from age 25 onwards.
While there are many great features of China Taiping i-care as a CI plan, it is still important to evaluate the suitability of it for your current financial plan. There are still other factors that could decide whether it is the most suitable CI plan for you.
For instance, you might already have a small CI coverage in place that overlaps with the coverage of China Taiping i-care. Or it could be that you have a life insurance plan that you have been paying for years, which makes the flexible conversion feature of China Taiping i-care less attractive to you.
If the China Taiping i-care interests you, be sure to arrange for a comprehensive financial plan review with Moneyline.SG. Our team is ready to help you figure out the suitability of China Taiping i-care for your current financial plan. Drop us your contact details here and we will arrange for a follow-up with you.
