So here’s the thing; insurance. But before I go on, a reminder: Our dear 5th granduncle passed away peacefully last night. He was 88. A prosperous number The Benefits of Insurance]]> Right, it’s been a couple of days since my last update, and I’m rather busy of late, so I think I might try making this as short as possible.

So here’s the thing; insurance. But before I go on, a reminder: Our dear 5th granduncle passed away peacefully last night. He was 88. A prosperous number to pass on, in my opinion. On one hand, it’s a little sad that I won’t be seeing him around anymore (Mum still refers to him and our 8th grandaunt as the “old people”. Funny how that works, since Mum’s approaching her 60th birthday next year). On the other hand, in retrospect, Dad’s side of the family hasn’t exactly been much of importance to Mum, hence all her griping and the like. She went on to whine about the terms of burial, the entire cost of the funeral, etc. May he rest well until his next life.

Anyway, back to the point, insurance. Our 5th granduncle, nor our 8th grandaunt for that matter, possessed any insurance of any sort. Sure, bank account balances are there, but how much of a bank balance would one need to actually pay off one’s hospital bills, especially those which cost tens of thousands, eh? I guess, unless one has the amount worthy of calling himself or herself a millionaire, nobody is ever free of the rising cost of health care these days (though in retrospect, the medical industry should actually stop charging a few hundred percent extra for their damn drugs just because they probably mixed up some cocktail with a bunch of placebos and other nonsense that claims to “keep <insert disease name here> at bay”. Whatever.

Again, I’m ranting off sideways again. So, I recently purchased some insurance under Great Eastern through my cousin’s husband (and funnily enough, I never recalled actually being asked about whether I actually DO need it. Great, there goes Mum and her wild assumptions again). So, after a 30-minute session, with him explaining all the intricate little details and the like, we got to the purchasing part.

Well, being a guy in the insurance sales line, he bragged on about how great his policy was, that covered him up till almost a million (lifetime payout though, of course). As with most people my age, unfortunately, we rarely see the importance of insurance until we’re in our 30s or 40s, when we start having all sorts of ailments and diseases that we could barely afford to treat, aside from our car installments, our house mortgage / installments, credit card bills, utilities, and so on. Right, I guess in the long run, insurance policies really are a good investment, that is, if you can afford it, of course.

On one hand, it was a little relieving, not having to undergo the entire process of having to meet up with some other agent and going through the whole “eye-contact-I-stare-at-you-and-your-mouth-while-you-blab-the-whole-nine-yards” situation, and just cutting to the chase to get my insurance. On the other hand, it’s RM150 a month. That’s a whole bloody RM1,800 a year. Okay, okay, so it’s not such a small issue to some, yet… I was actually hoping to get my insurance a little later, when I’m actually, individually, financially stable at last.

Long story short, I’m covered by my insurance should I ever end up wanting to break a leg. Or an arm. Or my neck. At the least, covered until I run out of money. As with most annoying situations, it usually concerns the monetary value in some way or another. Great. Just. Effing. Great.