Getting Global Insurance Coverage

I’ve been so busy, I haven’t posted in almost 2 weeks =\

Well, I’ve been contemplating getting insurance coverage for a while now. Like Lydia, I too, am covered by health insurance in Japan because it is mandatory to get health insurance here.

However, this is after all just health insurance. In the event I die, my family would get nothing, except for a dead body flown home probably. So, getting one to cover my family has been on my mind for a while now. I used to have a whole life plan my parents got me when I was a child. It costs about $400+ a year and only pays out about $50,000 in the event I pass away. The coverage is so low, it’s just a waste of money, so we cancelled it and got back some cash.

Part of the reason it took me so long to decide to get one was because, I wasn’t sure if I should get one in Japan or in Singapore. The other reason being, I wasn’t familiar with insurance terms and details, and I don’t feel comfortable spending money on something I don’t understand. I mean, I know what an insurance is, but I never knew what the differences between all the different plans are. Especially when many agents lack the ability to explain it to me in layman terms, it makes me wary about buying from them because, if you cannot explain something in simple words, then you do not understand it enough. And why buy something so important from people who do not understand it enough?

Getting one in Japan makes sense since I live here. However, it doesn’t make sense since I do not know if I will be here for the rest of my life. In that case, getting one in Singapore makes more sense. However, I wasn’t sure if I would be covered since I do not live in Singapore.

I started my research some 2 years ago, asking friends to introduce agents they know to help me draw up some plans. After hearing my needs, I received a few plans including those from Prudential, Aviva, and NTUC drawn up by some 3-4 unrelated agents from Prudential and PIAS. When I settled on what I want to get and asked if it covers me while I’m in Japan, one of the agents told me that he will find out and never got back to me again. The other agent vanished when I asked whether there is a way I can get it signed without returning to Singapore.

With these agents, I don’t chase after them about it because for such issues, if they are not responsible enough to find out and get back to me, then I don’t think I can trust them with my insurance. That caused the delay for the next year or so until recently, I was introduced to another agent by Ms. D. Since I already know what kind of plan I want, I just told him and he helped me find out which company covers me even though I do not live in Singapore. To my surprise though, most insurance companies do not cover for overseas residents of Singapore.

It doesn’t make sense to me at all because a death is a death, and terminal illness is terminal illness. Why does it matter where I live? Does it mean if someone had gotten theirs in Singapore and later moved overseas, they won’t be covered anymore?

Eventually though, he did help me get my term plan from Manulife, which supposedly offers global coverage, so even if I move out of Japan to another country, I will continue to be covered. So, if you are facing similar trouble getting yourself an insurance plan from Singapore that covers you globally, you might want to try Manulife.