In possession of three policies but cannot file claim with any of them

BANK Negara governor Tan Sri Muhammad Ibrahim’s advice to uphold a new paradigm on ethics in the insurance industry to maintain public trust and confidence is commendable, “Insurance industry told to continue supporting more inclusive market” (The Star, Nov 3). Ethics, besides professionalism, is vital to get the public to trust the insurance policies, the benefits of which they will only get to reap after years of paying the premiums.

There is one aspect of ethics – honesty and truthfulness – which I find lacking in some welltrained professional insurance agents who, in their enthusiasm to achieve their sales targets, may not truthfully disclose the health conditions of their clients while submitting their applications to their company. Others may be withholding certain information from potential clients in order to close the deal. After all, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

I currently have three critical illness policies which I bought from three different insurance providers over the years in view of the expensive private medical care despite the free medical treatments I can get as a civil servant.

In October 2016, I underwent surgery for prostate cancer but my subsequent critical illness claims with the two private insurance companies were turned down. The reason was my cancer was at stage 1 and not stage two or three as noted in the policies.

My claim with the third policy, a group plan under the National Teaching Union of Malaysia, was also rejected due to non-disclosure of health conditions. The disputable reason, “pre-existing condition”, would not have existed if the insurance agents had reported my true health condition, prostatic health hyperplasia which had developed in 2011, to the insurance company in 2013.

If buying an insurance is considered as “Sediakan payung sebelum hujan”, a Malay proverb which exhorts people to have an umbrella ready before it rains – in this case, to buy critical illness plan(s) before any dreadful disease strikes – I am without a payung in my crucial time of financial needs despite having bought not one but THREE policies!