I was just having a conversation with two friends back in my army in-camp training and one of them had just returned back to camp after attending a family member’s funeral who just passed away due to Lung Cancer. My personal condolences!

And something that I have learned from this conversation is that my friend shared that his family member went for a health check because of a certain pain in the chest and was diagnosed with last stage of lung cancer and had only three more months…

The Concerns Against Cancers

My friend’s concerns were that he feels that cancer:

- is a sudden thing

- can happen to anyone irregardless of gender, age and health status

- is undetectable and is always the last stage at the moment of detection

- there’s no much chance of recovery once you are diagnosed

and these concerns were the same as my other friend and he added that:

- even with advanced medical technologies, it’s very hard to really detect because there are too many various forms of cancer and it’s expensive to do all of these just to have a peace of mind…

After you have read about this… what’s your personal views? Do you agree as well?

If you do have these concerns as well and you are still healthy now – it’s never too late to go for regular Health Screen Tests because these tests can just help you to have a clearer understanding of your health status!

And if your concerns are against cancers, you can always include Cancer Marker Tests inside your Health Screen Checks. I got this resource page that you can make reference to >> The Cancer Cure Foundation

What Tests Are Usually Done For Health Screen Checks

In case you are wondering what are the kind of tests available, I have compiled a small list here and is definitely not the full list – so if you are interested to know, it’s better to check with various clinics. Do remember to do comparisons as some healthcare organisations offer different health screen packages and at different prices.

Health Checks Available:

1. Body Mass Index
2. Vision Test
3. Blood Pressure
4. Full Lipid Profile
5. Diabetes Screen
6. Full Blood Examination
7. Kidney Function Test
8. Bone Study
9. Gout Study
10. Liver Function Test
11. Veneral Disease
12. Urine Examination
13. Thyroid Function Screen
14. Hepatitis B Screening
15. Electro Cardiogram (ECG)
16. Hepatitis A Screening
17. Rheumatoid Arthritis Screen
18. Cancer Markers Screen
19. Pap Smear (for Ladies only)
20. Tumor Markers
21. Hepatitis C Screening
22. Peptic Ulcer Disease (Hpylori Antibody)
23. Nasopharyngeal (Nose) Cancer Screening
24. Colon cancer (Fecal Occult Blood)
25. HIV Screen

The Importance Behind A Regular Health Screen Check

Though doing a regular health screen check is not free, but doing it has its own sets of advantages:

• Understand if your current lifestyle, work and diets have an impact on your health
• Any diagnosis at the early stages will not require very advanced medical treatment and there’s definitely more room for discussions between you and your doctor
• Some of the tests stated above can actually help you to get a clearer picture (the possibility) of what might happen to your health in the future
• Rather than sharing your pain that you are having, you can relate to your doctor of your concerns – e.g. your family has a history for certain medical conditions therefore you can do some advance tests to give you a clearer picture of the probability of getting it and what you can do to prevent yourself from getting it at all

Lastly, the cost should not be the main cause for you not to go for your regular checks, it’s only once a year and even if your health screen check is at $365 – it’s only $1 per day and you could easily have spent this amount on a coffee or on a newspaper. But instead of these, you have used $1 to get a peace of mind and a better understanding on your current health!

If you have been holding back on going for a regular health check, I hope this can help to change your mind a little…

Do you know that most Singaporeans do not know that they are having High Blood Pressure or Hypertension till they have:

- Gone through a first-time ever Routine Medical Health Check

- Experienced those frequent dizziness or headaches and decided to see a doctor

And the people suffering from it can be from all walks of life, e.g.

- you can be  healthy and fit but you are working under a stressful environment.

- because of the high intake of alcohol, salt (unknowingly) and fatty rich food as part of the daily meals

These are just two common reasons that my clients have shared with me for their cause of High Blood Pressure.

Do you also know…

Do you also know that once you have this condition, you are most likely going to be under a very long term medication and you have to be under a lower medication dosage even if the condition is stabilized. In other words, you cannot take yourself out of medication once you are diagnosed with High Blood Pressure!

A Concern To Take Note Of…

And if you do know that you are having high blood pressure and under medications, its impact on your Financial Planning will usually be:

- loading (extra premiums required and usually a minimum of 25% extra) for your normal life insurance application

- exclusion (any conditions leading from high blood pressure) for your health insurance application

- long term medication costs that you need to factor in to your Retirement Planning

The So-Called Symptoms Of High Blood Pressure

Personally, I have not came across any to be suffering from the symptoms of High Blood Pressure as most of them would be told to watch out for their diet, take note of their stress level or to be under some form of medications straight away. They were also be told to go back for regular checks for monitoring purposes.

There are some medical sites that will share with you that High Blood Pressure or Hypertension is one of the major risk factors for coronary heart disease and stroke.

If the condition is left untreated, it can also cause heart and renal failure.

And according to the statistics provided by the Ministry of Health website:

Under the Top 10 Conditions Of Hospitalization:

Under The Principal Causes Of Death:

And the Percentage of The People (aged 18 to 69) Suffering From It:

And just by looking at the statistics, this condition is something that you need to take note of today before it starts affecting your daily lifestyle and your Financial Planning Process.

How To Take Control Of Your Health Today And Keep Hypertension Away

If you do not wish to be affected by High Blood Pressure, here’s some four tips for you to help you to take control:

1. A Healthy Diet. Singapore is known to be a place of good food and it’s really hard to resist. But for your health’s sake, a healthy diet is a good start. Try to cut down on food that’s high in cholesterol and rich in saturated fats. Try to take more fruits and vegetables and cut down on those salty food.
2. Exercise. Try to incorporate some form of exercises into your hectic lifestyle. This will help you to control your weight and relieve your work stress.
3. Watch Your Weight. Those who are heavy are known to have high chances of Hypertension, so it would be wise to keep your weight within the desirable range.
4. Relax. Learn to take it easy and relax from your hectic workload. Learn to take a balance between your work and family.

The Benefits Of Having A Healthy Body

Like I mentioned, having a healthy body that’s free of any medical conditions has a lot of benefits to your Financial Planning, for instance,

1. Keeping the costs of insurance low – avoiding those exclusions or loadings
2. Having more to spend on – spend only the bare necessary for your insurance planning and having more excess to spend on what you need and want
3. Able to plan and enjoy well for your Retirement - with more to spend and a healthy body to enjoy at the same time, you can be sure that your Retirement will be a good one!

In the last post, I have written the type of loading and exclusion you may be getting if you have health issues like Weight Problem, High Blood Pressure and High Cholesterol Levels. I have also written some simple guide to help you to ace (sort of…) the medical checks so that you can get the insurance coverage you need.

How are you finding it? Good? Useful?

If you have not read it, this is the link again and hope that you will find it to your benefit >> You Are Unhealthy For Your Insurance… What Happen Now? Part 1 of 2

And in this concluding post, I will be giving you a few more scenarios and also a simple guide to help ace that medical check. Enjoy…

What Happen When You Are Unhealthy For Your Insurance (Part 2 of 2)

So if you are unhealthy because you are suffering from:

Just Had An Operation

• If you had an operation either from the head to the toe, high chances will be that your application for both your life and health insurance will be postponed till a few years later (around 5 years after your operation), and also preferably that you are fully discharged and have a good medical report to support your application.
• This may sound unfair but insurance companies do have the right to protect their interests in any case that you can have a relapse in the near future. Their stand: It’s better to be safe than to be sorry.
• If you need that insurance coverage badly, it would be wise to have a good medical report and personal note written by your doctor to certify your current health status and also to provide some assurance. Next step will depend on the negotiation skills of your Planner and also on the coverage amount of your application. Too high sum assured = High Chances of Rejection.

Gout

• In our context, Gout is usually termed as a medical condition belonging to the Rich. Reason being that most of the time, those whom we have served and who have this are mostly clients who have certain level of wealth status, enjoy good and rich good (e.g. liver) and have the need to entertain others.
• To process your insurance application, you will be required to go for a full blood test to check on your Uric Acid Level. And from your Uric Acid Level, you can roughly access your current health status as to how serious your Gout is or even the potential health risk you may be facing like Diabetes.
• If the level is moderately high, be expected to get some loading (an average of 25% onwards) and/or some exclusion (normally to your coverage for Total and Permanent Disability). Chances of removing the loading are quite slim as there is a high percentage of getting it back.
• To ace the medical checks, I will normally recommend a week of strict healthy diet (free from those animal internal organs and beans), exercise and plenty of fluids to help detox the body.

Growth, Lumps or Cyst

• Do note that a normal growth, lump there and there or even a cyst can lead to some exclusion to your insurance application, e.g. exclusion of breast cancer under a Critical Illnesses if there’s any lumps or cyst (even if its benign at the moment).
• On a lighter note will be a loading if you can produce a good medical report.
• The practice is normal as insurance companies are worried that the growth can become cancerous anytime soon prior to any plans for removal or operation.

If Both Of Your Parents Have The Same Illness Before The Age 60

• Even if you are perfectly healthy at the point of application, there will be a high chance of having exclusion or loading to the same illness as what your parents are having. Reason being that, there’s a certain percentage that it can heredity.
• If your parents got the illnesses after the age of 60, insurance companies are willing to take it on the note that its due to old age.

I would like to go on with more scenarios but as you can guess it… as long as you are unhealthy, you will be either getting a loading or exclusion for your application.

And somehow, I guess at this juncture, you may be feeling that its not worthwhile to get any insurance coverage with so much limitations and exclusions. Do note that different insurance companies have different treatment against medical conditions as it depend on their risk experience.

But what I can assure you is that, as long as it’s not a direct rejection, having a certain insurance coverage approved would mean that having only to pay a rather low premium, you have an instant coverage of “many-times” of what you have just paid. It’s definitely better than having that money kept at the local bank.

Also an additional note is that if you have any intentions to not declare your health conditions (be it minor or major), you may run into risk of having your claims (if there’s any) rejected as long as the insurance company – so be Truthful!

Lastly, instead of worrying all this, how about getting your insurance coverage when you are healthy now and when you are young as well so as to save the premiums on a long term basis!

Congratulations on making that “big” decision to purchase your life and health insurance (after much budgeting and persuasion)!

But… You have became unhealthy for the application so what may happen…

After 4 years of being in this industry, I have came across a wide range of clients who have such health issues, and as their servicing agent, sometimes, its my duty and obligation to help negotiate for better terms so that they can go ahead and get the coverage needed!

Anyway the purpose of this post is not to comment on the negotiations that I have gone through (if you like to know for your own purposes, you can comment here and I will put up on the next post) but to let you have a rough feel that if you have became unhealthy, what will normally happen to your life insurance application when you really need to get one.

And if there is a need to go for a medical check, I will be offering a short guide on how to ace (not really 100% effective) the checks.

What Happen When You Are Unhealthy For Your Insurance (Part 1 of 2)

To list out all the illnesses and its complications to your insurance can be exhaustive so for this moment I will be giving a general overview of the common illnesses and what you can expect.

So if you are unhealthy because you are suffering from:

Weight Issues

• To know your current BMI (body-mass-index), you can click here to use the calculator. If your BMI is around 25, this is a warning sign but not much of a worry for your application. But should it be higher around 27 and below 30, be expected to get a loading of a minimum 25%. This loading can go as high as to 125% so be careful! This loading is necessary as many healthcare professionals link obesity to many potential health risks (= potential insurance claims)
• Are there any ways to tackle the loading? Afraid not as every medical checks will need you to take your weight. Unless you are very sure you need to get an insurance soon, and you are willing to exercise and lose some weight before the check.
• My suggestion is that if you are “really” okay with the loading, just take it on and once you have lost some weight to the normal range, you can ask for a removal of the loading later.

High Cholesterol Levels

• Cholesterol levels are normally associated with your normal diet. If your diets are rather protein-rich, be expected to have elevated cholesterol levels. How the doctor will check for your cholesterol levels will be through a full blood test (which you may have to fast for at least 10 hours). If you have a chance to go through the readings of your cholesterol level, you can refer to this site (What Your Cholesterol Levels Mean) to see if you are healthy.
• The complication for your insurance application together with a high cholesterol level is usually a loading. And you can also remove this loading if you are able to show a normal cholesterol level after a year or so in your routine health check.
• To ace the blood test, I will normally suggest to my clients to go for a week-long detox diet and exercise. During this period, you have to control whatever you are eating: Less fatty meat, more green vegetables, less eggs, more fruits, ample sleep and do some exercises like brisk walking and such.

High Blood Pressure

• One of the common problems that many clients face and is also known as a silent killer. Why is that so? Till date, there are no known causes for this condition and it may just come knocking on your door when you decide to do a routine health check.
• If you have done a check recently, if your blood pressure is less than 120/80 mm Hg, it is generally considered ideal. Levels higher than this may increase your health risk for cardiovascular disease.
• Once you have it, chances are that you’ll be on long term medication to keep it under control and many healthcare professionals deem this condition as a potential risk for Stroke and Heart Attack.
• When it comes to life insurance application, there’ll be a definite loading (normally higher than that of high cholesterol levels) and chances of removing this loading are rather slim as well unless you can prove a clean bill of health (without the need of medication) for the next few years.
• When it comes to health insurance, there’ll a high chance that an exclusion (anything related to High Blood Pressure will not be claimable) will be imposed.

I was going through the insurance claims list of my company and was shocked to see that majority of the claims is due to Cancer-related.

The Thing About Cancer

What was even shocking to know is that Cancer can come knocking at your own door, even if you are just 2 years old or 55 years old when you are reading this and also regardless of whether you like it or not!

Cancer can strike anyone! So how prepared are you?

The #1 Killer:

• For Singapore Men is Colo-Rectum
• For Singapore Women is Breast
• For Singapore Children is Leukaemia

Cancer do not cause instant death and you may have to go through a few years of fighting. You either lose or win this battle! So do you have enough Critical Illnesses Insurance and Medical Insurance to last you through this?

If you are still ignorant about the effects of Cancer, there are many informative sites like the National Cancer Centre Singapore site >> http://www.nccs.com.sg/pat/08.htm (click this to read up on what Cancer is all about and its warning Signs)

What Causes Cancer?

There are no definite reasons on what cause people to have Cancer. It can just strike on anyone even if that particular person is perfectly healthy all the way (talk about the unfairness in life and I did seen a few live cases and its disheartening)!

Some Factors That May Contribute To The Risk:

• Tobacco (higher risk for second-hand smokers)
• Unhealthy Diet
• Alcohol
• Family History
• and Stress in life! (this is totally true!)

Know The 8 Warning Signs of Cancer (as extracted from NCCS website):

• A sore which refuses to heal
• A lump or thickening in the breast or elsewhere
• Any unusual bleeding or discharge
• Any change in normal bowel habits
• Any change in a mole (those innocent looking ones) or wart
• Persistent indigestion or difficulty in swallowing
• Persistent hoarseness or cough
• Unexplained weight loss or Fever

Do note that these signs are just some health warnings and may not mean Cancer, if any doubts, please consult a doctor at once! But before that ever really happen, please get some Critical Illness Insurance and Medical Insurance to take care of the huge medical expenses!

Methods of Treatment

Early detection and with appropriate treatments, the chance of cure and long-term survival is a real possibility. And Cancer is treated with surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, hormone therapy or biological therapy. To learn the type of treatment, head over to this link >> http://www.nccs.com.sg/pat/08_07.htm

Are You (or Will You Be) Delaying Treatment Because Of These Side Effects?

All treatments come with side effects and most people (with the self-denial symptoms, lack of savings, and most important factor is having dependents needing the monthly income to survive) may wish to delay treatment and escape the side effects.

Side Effects like:

• Common for patients to feel tired or weak for a while after a Surgery. The length of time it takes to recover varies from patient to patient. The longer it takes, the higher loss of income.
• Tiredness, skin reactions such as redness, and loss of appetite due to Radiation Therapy. If you are tired, you will not be able to focus well in your working, therefore the loss of income!
• Nausea and vomiting, loss of appetite, mouth sores or tiredness after Chemotherapy. Chemotherapy is generally given in cycles: a treatment period is normally followed by a rest period, then another treatment period, and so on. Similarly, the long duration of not being able to work – loss of income!
• and much more side effects from Hormone and Biological Therapy…

My Advice: To get well soon, you really need to have ample rest and you have to get away from the stress in work! If you are worried about the loss of income, it’s always wise to transfer this risk to your insurance planning in a Critical Illness Insurance and Medical Insurance Plans.

How Much To Cover: A general rule of thumb is 5 times to 10 times of your annual income for your Critical Illness Coverage. To have an accurate value, work with your Financial Planner on your needs.

For your medical insurance, if you belong to a middle-income earner or you want the best form of coverage, get a hospitalization plan that will cover you to Private Medical Institutions. Premium may be high but think of the Medical Bills you have to face for Chemotherapy sessions!