THE STORY OF MR CHIN This is the story of Mr Chin, a handsome man with his beautiful child and this is their picture 7 years ago. However, he discovered that he had cancer of the throat and subsequently went through several treatments. His luck finally ran out last year when he needed RM50,000 through public donations in order to go for further treatment in a private hospital. The picture at the bottom is how he eventually looked like then. Money seemed to be the problem here but I feel that even if he has the financial resources to pay for his treatment, he would rather not get cancer at all IF HE HAD A CHOICE! Don’t you agree? Probably 9 years ago if he had gone for his medical checkup, he might have already discovered his cancer in its early stage. Then perhaps he might not end up like how he was in the article above. He certainly had a choice 9 years ago, before he had symptoms of his cancer. If only someone had shared with him the importance of regular medical screening and the urgency of going for one as soon as possible. Some of you may get the impression that I am trying to monopolize on someone else’s misfortune to publicize the importance of prevention, but please understand that it usually have to happen to someone (especially when this someone is close to you) in order for you to be convinced! Many of us staunchly believe in the importance of having sufficient insurance coverage in the event of an uncertainty. I personally agree that this is certainly an essential element for all of us because this serves as a tool to protect our income, buffering a sudden loss of assets in the event of sickness, disability or even death, eradication of our debts, a gift to our loved ones, and many other reasons. THIS WE CERTAINLY BELIEVE!! HOWEVER, have we ever realized that most of us purchased our policies because of the fear of such uncertainties (it is also our responsibility to our loved ones) that can be very unpredictable most of the time? I am sure that NONE OF US actually WANTS TO MAKE A SICKNESS, DISABILITY OR DEATH CLAIM! Many of us can only WISH we live long enough to make a MATURITY CLAIM and be HEALTHY ENOUGH to enjoy the returns of our investment, and live to a ripe old age happily. That is also my wish as a policyholder. HOW MANY OF US ACTUALLY HAVE SUCH A CHOICE? The MCO programs help us to REDUCE THE “JUST IN CASE” BY 40%!!! Unless the cause of such disability is by accident, WE CANNOT DENY THE FACT THAT MANY ILLNESSES CAN BE PREVENTED, OR EVEN CURED DURING EARLY STAGES IF WE GO FOR REGULAR MEDICAL SCREENING AND PRACTISE WELLNESS! We know for a fact that prevention is always better than cure and with medical screening we will always know the state of our health to a higher degree of certainty so that we can take the necessary corrective measures IF the screening results looks discouraging. Such corrective measures will reduce our chances of us suffering from serious illnesses in the mid to long term during our lifetime. I sincerely hope that with the illustration above, we can clearly define the differences between the benefits of insurance as compared to the benefits offered by our programs, i.e., the MCO programs. However, we have to accept the fact that old habits diehard and people need time to change their mindsets in order to realize this importance. Many of us sacrificed our health in the course of pursuing our wealth, but sadly, most of us also forgot the fact that we usually end up having to sacrifice our hard-earned money to restore our health!! Isn’t it ironic? I staunchly believe that professionals in the financial services industry should be encouraged to play a more important role in the promotion of total healthcare management system for their clients. Financial planning covers areas like insurance, investment, real estate, will, estate, taxes, etc. Financial planners’ duties include assisting clients in ensuring these matters are in order, and most if not all of their financial objectives are met. Would these have been complete if health planning has not been taken into consideration as part of financial planning? What’s the point of having wealth, if they do not have the health to enjoy it? Cultivating good health has one aspect that is similar to accumulating wealth for retirement both takes time. But unfortunately no amount of money in the world can give you back your health when it is gone. We must be constantly reminded that our clients are our assets because they trust us in our recommendations and that was the very reason they became our clients in the first place. If we are committed to give the best to our clients, then I feel we MUST ensure that we are in the position to offer them the choice of being healthy by educating them on the concept of total healthcare management and the programs that are available. The choice of course ultimately lies with them. Years ago when the concept of healthcare management is still relatively unknown here, the delivery of a illness or death claim cheque to the insured or his family was considered very noble for those in the insurance industry. But today when such option is available for us to recommend to our clients (our friends actually) and we choose not to do it for various reasons. Our clients would just be leaving their fate to God on whether they will still remain healthy. Would we still be as proud when we deliver their claim cheques AFTER they are struck by a serious illness? Knowing very well we could have helped them avoid it today? What about those clients (or maybe even our friends or loved ones too) who simply CANNOT QUALIFY for insurance? This could be due to several reasons like being too old, suffered from a serious illness, pre-existing illnesses, etc. How could you serve them? Don’t they DESERVE the same quality of life as we do? If they do, then how can we help them? We can certainly help them to remain as healthy as possible through our comprehensive healthcare services. I would like to end this section by sharing with all of you a very tragic story that happened recently.