How to read your own policy schedule

Most people file their policy away and read it properly for the first time when they need to make a claim. The policy schedule, usually the first page or two of the policy document, is the part worth reading now. It is a summary of your contract: who is covered, for what, for how much, and until when. This guide walks through each part and what to check while nothing is urgent.

Start with who’s who

A schedule can name up to three different people, and they are not always the same person. The policy owner holds the contract and pays for it. The life assured is the person whose life or health is insured. The nominee, recorded in a separate nomination, is the person who receives the money if the life assured dies. A parent who insures a child is the policy owner; the child is the life assured.

The basic plan and its riders

The schedule lists the basic plan first, then any riders attached to it, such as a critical illness, medical or waiver-of-premium rider. Each benefit has its own coverage amount and often its own end date. Riders can stop well before the basic plan does, so a policy that runs for decades may carry a medical rider that ends much sooner.

For each line on the schedule, it is worth noting four things:

• The coverage amount, sometimes called the sum assured
• The coverage term, and the date or age at which that benefit ends
• The premium term, which is how long you pay and can be shorter than how long you are covered
• The premium amount, and how often it is due

The dates that matter

Three dates do most of the work. The commencement date is when cover begins. The expiry or maturity date is when it ends. The premium due date is when payment is expected. If a payment is missed, policies allow a grace period, usually 15 days for monthly premiums and 30 days for other frequencies, during which cover carries on. After that a policy can lapse, and reinstating it may mean declaring your health again.

If you have a medical card

Medical and health policies have their own vocabulary. The annual limit is the most the policy pays in one policy year, and the lifetime limit, where there is one, is the most it pays over the life of the policy. A deductible is a fixed amount you pay yourself before the policy pays. Co-insurance is a percentage of each eligible bill that you share with the insurer.

Since September 2024, insurers and takaful operators in Malaysia have had to offer medical plans with a co-payment option alongside their existing plans, so two medical cards that look alike can work quite differently when a bill arrives. While you are reading, look for the daily room and board entitlement, and for any waiting period: some conditions are not covered until a set time after the policy starts.

Check the nomination separately

Who receives the money is usually not on the schedule; it is in your nomination. Under the Financial Services Act 2013, when a non-Muslim policy owner nominates a spouse or child, or a parent where there is no spouse or child at the time, the nomination creates a trust in their favour. The policy cannot then be surrendered or assigned without the trustee’s written consent. Muslim policy owners and takaful participants have different arrangements, such as hibah. A marriage, a birth or a death in the family is the moment to check that the nomination still says what you mean.

A schedule tells you what you bought. It does not tell you whether it still fits the life you have now.

D’Life client guidance

Questions worth asking yourself

• Would these coverage amounts still matter to your household at today’s costs?
• Does any rider end before you expect to need it?
• Are you paying for overlapping cover across two policies?
• Does the nomination name the people you would choose today?
• If you have a medical card, do you know its annual limit and any deductible or co-payment?

If something is unclear

Your insurer’s customer service team can explain any line on the schedule. A newly issued policy also comes with a 15-day free-look period from the day you receive it, during which you can cancel for a refund of the premium, less any medical examination costs. If you have a dispute that an insurer’s complaints unit cannot resolve, the Ombudsman for Financial Services is the independent body that hears it.

Or bring the schedule to us. A review costs nothing, covers any policy wherever you bought it, and does not require you to change anything.