MORBID though it may sound, finance manager Sarah Fong is already on the look-out for an insurance funeral package.
At 36, she feels she’s “not young any more” and with “life being so fragile”, she says, “I’m shopping around for a suitable package. But I also have to think about servicing my housing loan.”
Planning for one’s funeral is important “so that I don’t trouble others when I go”, Fong adds.
Good feng shui: A well-positioned grave at Nirvana Memorial Park in Semenyih. “I heard that even simple arrangements like throwing my ashes into the sea would cost around RM6,000, so I need to be prepared.”
Due to escalating costs, many are turning to insurance companies to ease their families’ burden while ensuring a respectable funeral for themselves.
Since Tokio Marine Life Insurance Malaysia Bhd introduced a RM5,000 funeral benefit claim under its Healthcare Supreme policy last year, the response to its life insurance policy has been very good, says its regional (northern) manager Goh Chee Heong.
“This RM5,000 additional benefit is not inclusive of the accidental death benefit of RM50,000 and other payouts. As far as I’m aware, no insurance company offers policies specifically to cover funeral expenses. However, funeral benefits are value-added benefits to the medical card,” he explains.
“With escalating bereavement costs, my advice is for policy holders to increase the sum assured, say RM300,000 or RM500,000, for life protection as funeral expenses would amount to about 10% of the total payout to the family should anything happen to the life assured.”
He tells of a friend who paid about RM35,000 for a very simple funeral in Klang.
“Five years ago, I only paid half of that when my father passed away.”
Prudential Assurance Malaysia Bhd chief product and marketing officer Heng Zee Wang says there are some insurance plans that provide compassionate allowance on top of the lump sum death benefit.
“Prudential’s PRUacci Guard Rider is an example. More than 75% of our investment-linked insurance policyholders opt for this value-added benefit where we pay RM2,000 if the person dies due to non-accidental reasons, RM4,000 if the person dies due to an accident in Malaysia or RM6,000 if the fatal accident happens overseas.
“Under our personal accident policies, we also pay a RM2,000 compassionate allowance benefit in the event of a valid death claim.
“The idea is to assist the deceased’s family with incidental expenses arising from the death, including funeral expenses,” he adds.
As the allowance is not a reimbursement, Heng says receipts are not required.
Noting the trend, MCA Public Services and Complaints Department chief Datuk Michael Chong is calling upon funeral and burial service providers to set aside a fund for those who are poor or have no family members.
“The bigger corporations involved in the industry must make it their corporate social responsibility to assist those in need,” he says.
“Perhaps a fund can be set up for truly deserving cases because everyone should have a dignified burial. Do some charity – there is nothing wrong with making a profit from the business but give a little back to society.”
The department, he adds, has helped arrange many funerals for those who die in prisons or hospitals with no one to claim their bodies.
“Some of them come from very poor families that cannot afford even a simple burial. There are a few undertakers who usually help us in cases like that by offering their services at a discounted price of about RM4,000,” he relates.
Chong says public appeals for donations to help in such cases are usually successful because the Chinese believe that such good deeds are noble acts. “We get generous people offering burial plots and cash because they believe that by doing it, they will be blessed with a long, prosperous life in return.”
Chong says he has also noted that more are buying burial plots as investments.
“There is nothing wrong with wanting to make money – it’s no different from buying property.” — By CHRISTINA CHIN
[Source: The Star, 27 March 2011]
No comments:
Post a Comment