7 Affordable Medical Insurance You Can Buy Online in 15 Minutes

Confession: Medical insurance is the first ever protection product I bought. Because my irrational fear is being randomly admitted to the hospital and unable to pay my hospital bills, I prioritised this protection. Later, I added more coverage.

Back then (10+ years ago), the only option for medical insurance was getting from an agent. Nowadays, you can get medical insurance from online, and they’re pretty affordable. If you are in your 20s-mid 30s, your online medical insurance shouldn’t cost more than RM100 per month.

(As a reminder, medical card ONLY pays for the hospital bill, no lump sum cash given. To get lump sum cash, you can get life, critical illness and personal accident insurance/takaful fairly affordably or even free subsidised. Refer to my Best Insurance and Takaful in Malaysia for B40 and M40 On A Budget article.)

In this article, I’ve listed 7 online medical providers. They are:

• PRO-Health Medical by Tune Protect
• Medical plans by Fi.Life
• eMedic Plus by AXA
• i-Great Medi Care by Great Eastern Takaful
• MedicNOW by Berjaya Sompo
• Takaful myClick MediCare
• Kaotim.my by Takaful Malaysia

In each section, I will show you the quotation I got, the plan at a glance as well as their pros and cons. At the end of the article, I’ll also share which online medical provider you may want to go with.

My details for the quotation are:

• 35 years in next birthday
• Female
• Non-smoker
• Note: Some providers might ask for additional information, like type of occupation and weight/height.

Remember that my quotation =/= your quotation. As a general rule, your quotation will differ based on your gender, age and smoking status. Older and smoking males will be quoted the highest premium.

Note: It is quite possible I have missed a few online medical providers, and a few details. If so, please let me know in the comments.

Ok, that’s enough introduction for now. Let’s get on with the medical insurance you can get online in Malaysia.

#1 – PRO-Health by Tune Protect

Here’s the quotation I got for PRO-Health Medical by Tune Protect:

At a glance:

• No of plans to choose from: 4
• Annual limit: RM30,000-RM150,000
• Daily room and board: RM150-RM250 per day
• My quotation for RM100,000 annual limit plan: RM54.38 monthly / RM642.60 yearly

Pros:

• Very good UI/UX, very clear
• No lifetime limit

Cons:

• Can only buy for one person at a time

Get your quotation and purchase online here: PRO-Health Medical by Tune Protect

#2 – Medical plans by Fi.Life

Here’s the quotation I got for Medical plans by Fi.Life:

At a glance:

• No of plans to choose from: 6
• Annual limit: RM100,000-RM2.1 million
• Daily room and board: RM190-RM500 per day
• My quotation for RM100,000 annual limit plan: RM72.08 monthly / RM865 yearly

Pros:

• Can buy for Self, Spouse, Child and Employee
• Max annual limit is RM2.4 million – the highest annual limit in this list!
• Many options available
• Very good UI/UX, very clear
• You can get discount. Use code ‘SURAYAROR’ for 10% of

Cons:

• 6 options may be too many options and overwhelming for some. There is a handy compare feature though

Get your quotation and purchase online here: Medical plans by Fi.Life

#3 – eMedic Plus by AXA

Here’s the quotation I got for eMedic Plus by AXA:

At a glance:

• No of plans to choose from: 4
• Annual limit: RM20,000-RM150,000
• Daily room and board: up to RM250 per day
• My quotation for RM100,000 annual limit plan: RM58.94 monthly / RM707.28 yearly

Pros:

• Can do for yourself and for family
• No-claim reward (cheaper the next time you renew)

Cons:

• May not be eligible if you’re overweight or your work involves ‘heavy manual work with heavy machinery’
• Max annual limit is RM150k only

Get your quotation and purchase online here: eMedic Plus by AXA

#4 – i-Great Medi Care by Great Eastern Takaful

Here’s the quotation I got for i-Great Medi Care by Great Eastern Takaful:

At a glance:

• No of plans to choose from: 1
• Annual limit: RM100,000
• Daily room and board: RM200 per day
• My quotation for RM100,000 annual limit plan: RM79.33 monthly / RM952 yearly

Pros:

• Syariah-compliant
• No lifetime limit!

Cons:

• A lot of info hidden in product disclosure sheet, so you must know how to read and understand yourself. For example, the annual and lifetime limit are both in there (and not in main page)

Get your quotation and purchase online here: i-Great Medi Care by Great Eastern Takaful

#5 – MedicNOW by Berjaya Sompo

Here’s the quotation I got for MedicNOW by Berjaya Sompo:

At a glance:

• No of plans to choose from: 3
• Annual limit: RM30,000-RM100,000
• Daily room and board: RM150-RM250 per day
• My quotation for RM100,000 annual limit plan: RM45.30 monthly / RM543.80 yearly (with deductible)

Pros:

• There’s a deductible* option for 15% off
• I noticed there’s a RM40 cashback via Shopback, nice additional discount there
• Very good UI/UX, very clear

*deductible = the amount you pay out of pocket before the rest of the hospital bill cost is covered by insurer (up to annual/lifetime limit).

Cons:

• Only for BMI (Body Mass Index ) range between 18 to 30
• Can only get for self

Get your quotation and purchase online here: MedicNOW by Berjaya Sompo

#6 – Takaful myClick MediCare by Takaful Malaysia

Here’s the quotation I got for Takaful myClick MediCare:

At a glance:

• No of plans to choose from: 3
• Annual limit: RM50,000-RM100,000
• Daily room and board: RM100-RM200 per day
• My quotation for RM100,000 annual limit plan: RM57.41 monthly / RM624 yearly (with deductible)

Pros:

• Syariah-compliant
• There’s a deductible* option for up to 30% off
• No lifetime limit!
• Can subscribe for yourself and Child

*deductible = the amount you pay out of pocket before the rest of the hospital bill cost is covered by insurer (up to annual/lifetime limit).

Cons:

• The only one that asks for your IC number for a quotation. Why.

Get your quotation and purchase online here: Takaful myClick MediCare

#7 – Kaotim.my by Takaful Malaysia

*Yes, its the same company as #6. This product is more ‘fresh’, at least marketing-wise

Here’s the quotation I got for Kaotim.my:

At a glance:

• No of plans to choose from: 3
• Annual limit: RM50,000-RM100,000
• Daily room and board: RM100-RM200 per day
• My quotation for RM100,000 annual limit plan: RM80.78 monthly / RM878.00 yearly

Pros:

• Syariah-compliant
• Got 10% discount for annual payment
• No lifetime limit!
• Can add rider to increase annual limit (max RM1.1 mil)
• Cashless admission

Cons:

• Can’t see quotation with rider. Can’t see if can take for spouse/child. Unless have to enter IC first? :/

Get your quotation and purchase online here: Kaotim.my

Which online medical insurance should you pick?

So, you have many options to get your medical insurance online in Malaysia. Too many, even. Which one do you pick?

Like many things in life, the answer is ‘it depends’:

1. Do you want Syariah-compliant? That’ll reduce your options
2. Do you have good/bad experience with any providers? May want to select based on that
3. How much annual limit do you want (my take is minimum 6 figures aka RM100k per annum, ‘safe’ is RM1 million per annum)
4. Do you want no lifetime limit? (It’s more expensive, but very handy to have)
5. Are you actually eligible to subscribe to the plan? (Your BMI, occupation etc)

To help you with the selection, here’s the Medical insurance to check out if you require:

• Syariah-compliant: i-Great Medi Care by Great Eastern Takaful; Takaful myClick MediCare; Kaotim.my by Takaful Malaysia
• Highest annual limit: Medical plans by Fi.Life; Kaotim.my by Takaful Malaysia (with rider)
• Cheapest for RM100,000 annual limit (note: yours might be different): MedicNOW by Berjaya Sompo, PRO-Health Medical by Tune Protect, Takaful myClick MediCare
• No lifetime limit: PRO-Health Medical by Tune Protect, i-Great Medi Care by Great Eastern Takaful, Takaful myClick MediCare, Medical plans by Fi.Life (plus plan only); Kaotim.my by Takaful Malaysia

Note: Unless you’re on an extreme budget, I also wouldn’t advise you to pick your online medical insurance based on price alone. Get what you need rather than the cheapest possible option.

How about other benefits? Should I pick based on that?

How about the other benefits, like:

• room and board,
• deductible,
• no-claim discount,
• and others?

Some may find it important, but for me personally the other benefits don’t matter as much as the 5 things above. It’s more ‘nice to have’ rather than ‘needs’. Focus on ‘needs’.

Important #1: Get a medical card while you’re healthy

I can’t emphasise enough how some protection products like medical card and critical illness insurance are ONLY available for purchase when you’re still healthy. In most cases, you can’t use the benefits if you’re already sick.

(Or rather, you can, but for a totally different illness. Let’s say you manage to subscribe and already have – touch wood – cancer. You can’t use it to pay for your cancer treatments. But if later you develop heart attack or something, then you *may* be able to use it. This is all on a case-by-case basis, subject to circumstance).

Important #2: Online medical insurance will get progressively more expensive

Online medical insurance in this article are all what you call term insurance, which means there is no cash value, what you paid will be ‘burned’ and not returned. And for term insurance, the older you get, the higher your premiums will cost.

I won’t go into term insurance vs investment-linked insurance, both have their pros and cons. One need to meet agent, another is fast, can just do online. One is self-service, another got agent to help with claims.

Obligatory promote: Learn more about insurance in my How to Buy Your Own Damn Insurance/Takaful course. In the webinar, you will learn how to purchase the best protection that’s within your budget in 2 hours. Save you time.

Purely my opinion: It is not a bad idea to get yourself covered first with one of the medical insurance products in this list while you search for a possibly ‘better’ one, via agent or financial planner.

Online enrolment takes 15 minutes, maybe shorter. Your search for the right agent and product comparison etc might take weeks if not months.

Alright, that’s all I have for you today. Let me know your experience with medical insurance, additional info, inaccuracies (I’ve done my best but not immune to mistakes) and more in the comments section!