ntuc-income's head honcho, mr tan suee chieh can rightly say, we did it again but it's definitely not to the tune of britney spear's; oops, we did it again.
what's happening at ntuc-income?
our island's only co-operative insurer has launched their ntuc-income value pack last night at the sands expo and convention centre.
what is ntuc-income value pack?
this is a bundled enhanced incomeshield plan covering hospitalisation and surgery costs in a singapore restructured hospital for the lower B2 and C Class wards together with term coverage.
on the value pack, mr tan suee chieh said:
"if we want to build a truly inclusive and strong community, we must not forget those who are at risk of being left behind while the rest of society progresses. no family should be devastated by the high costs of health care or the financial burden that comes after losing a breadwinner, especially when such a situation can be prevented."
on this, i believe mr tan may be referring to this year's budget as delivered in parliament recently by mr tharman shanmugaratnam, our deputy prime minister and minister for finance and minister for manpower, when one of the broad objectives of the current budget was to build a fair and inclusive society.
my comments:
when other insurers revised the pricing of their term products lower during the course of 2011, i was in a focus group with ntuc-income's product development team and the initial reaction to the new term rates offered by ntuc-income's competitors, was we do not know how they can do it.
since then, more than a year has gone by and yes, ntuc-income can proudly announced, we did it again and their new i-term TAN4 (term assurance product) is now one of the most competitively priced term products currently available.
how did ntuc-income manage this?
first, it is the only co-operative insurer in our tiny red dot nation and it always brings to my mind, mr tan's proclaimation that his job is not to maximise profits for the company but to put people first in his role as the head honcho of ntuc-income.
and secondly, i believe margins must have really been squeezed to probably razor thin bottomlines.
all these translates to truly good news for those residing in 3-room housing board flats or smaller or residing in households with a monthly income of less than $3,500.00 and of course, for the general population without adequate insurance coverage.
permanent residents and foreigners have not been forgotten because they will also be eligible if they meet the criteria to take up the value pack.
and last but not least, we are proud to be a business partner of ntuc-income and we are united in the co-operative's mission to insure everyone here.
"if we want to build a truly inclusive and strong community, we must not forget those who are at risk of being left behind while the rest of society progresses. no family should be devastated by the high costs of health care or the financial burden that comes after losing a breadwinner, especially when such a situation can be prevented."
ReplyDeleteThis is pulling the wool over the consumers' eyes, lah?
If he is truly and sincerely concerned about the poor and other low income consumers tell his agents to conduct a proper fact find and recommend according to what is uncovered and NOT peddle the products that give them high commission and use the fact find to cover up the conflict of interest.
You are not inside there. Did you know he issued edict to all his managers to push the salesmen to sell only products with high APIs?
These products are really good but what can $50K do for the insured. If the salesmen are honest and truly and sincerely pur their clients' interest first , NO consumers is under insured. The problem is i-term and incomeshield give low APIs and I bet you the take up rate is low.The insurer is not an idiot.They know they are taking good risk that not many will come to the business centre to buy and provide hard copy evidence that they are earning $3.5K. It is another betting game.
If he is very sincere he should say thsoe earning $3.5K can take up to $500K at special rate. This is what the poor folks need and NOT the $50K. Is this helping them. Is C plan very special? CPF already is providing minimum C plan and it helps a lot to the poor folks who also enjoy subsidy plus this C plan medishield.
Let's not be fooled by this marketing gimmick .
As said if he is sincere make it compulsory that all his agents conduct fact find and that all recomendations meet the reasonable basis and NOT the crap like " client needs $500K but client is recommended $50K vivolife because client wants plan with cash value and has no budget for more coverage. Client is advised to buy more when they get bonus or when they have money". Who says client has no budget? Cleint has more than enough budget to buy a million dollar coverage with i-term. Why isn't the client advised to buy term? The truth is agent wants higher commission. This is the way they are trained...push only high API products.
Indeed honesty is the best policy.
He talked ....Cxxk.
The whistle blower.
I agree with the above...your head hancho says one thing and does another thing. The right thing for him to do is to ask his super duper/duping sales champions to do the right thing and then there is no need for this so called cooperative special offer for the low income earners.Unfortunately this management works hand in glove with the super sales champions to ensure their clients stay under insured so that they can continue to 'review' every year for new business. A $20k sum assured vivolife earns the super duper salesman more commission than a $500K i-term, do you know ? What can $20K do for the client? buy a coffin? send him off to ?????
ReplyDeleteIf the head hancho truly believes in inclusiveness that all , regardless of income, should not be left out then he should ensure that the clients of cooperatives their interest be put first above the commission. Then the slogan 'people before profit' is epitomised. But alas, it is all talk and wayang and deceitful marketing to fool the market that is it cooperative.. It is already dead...long time ago...look at the return, the bonus of their par products, be it wholelife or endowment. Worse , their single premium endwoment Growth has be adjusted to so low this product should be removed from the market but instead it is peddled to the unwary public with more cover up.Imagine creating wealth wiht negative real return. This is conjob and the army of sales champions are pushing more aggressively knowing fullwell it is rotten but for commission they do ANYTHING.
Please feedback to the head hancho.
Satan also says 'honest is the best policy'....there is nothing to lose so long it achieves his goal.
ReplyDeleteHe says people before profit but he tells the agents it should be huge commission before mission. This is how ntuc is made different.
ReplyDeleteSay one thing and do another thing.
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