As the COVID-19 vaccine distribution programme began its first phase in Malaysia, Sun Life Malaysia Assurance Berhad and Sun Life Malaysia Takaful Berhad (collectively Sun Life Malaysia), a life insurance and Family Takaful provider respectively, have further extended complimentary support measures for its Clients, who are affected by the pandemic, with two new funds – the RM500,000 COVID-19 Vaccine Complications Fund and RM1 million COVID-19 Medical Assistance Fund.
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As a conscious effort to provide direct support to Clients during the roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccine nationwide, these 2 new funds (refer to the Appendix on page 2 for details) deepens Sun Life Malaysia’s commitment of bringing brighter lives to them by ensuring necessary assistance to deal with any adverse side effects post-vaccination and coverage against rising hospital treatment costs due to the COVID-19 infection.
For Clients and their legal spouse who have received the COVID-19 vaccine, the RM500,000 COVID-19 Vaccine Complications Fund will protect them from adverse side effects as a result of the vaccine. The fund provides a medical assistance benefit of up to RM5,000 for treatments requiring hospitalisation and a special death benefit of RM7,500 following death due to serious Adverse Event Following Immunisation (AEFI).
Meanwhile, the RM1 Million COVID-19 Medical Assistance Fund will financially assist those affected by COVID-19 with reimbursements of hospital treatment costs in Malaysia for those diagnosed with the virus based on the hospital referral by the Ministry of Health (MOH) Malaysia. Catered for Clients with individual Hospitalisation & Surgical (H&S) policies/contracts, the Fund provides a reimbursement amount between RM 5,000 and RM 20,000 depending on the severity of complications for COVID-19 Category 3 to 5 as defined by MOH Malaysia.
Speaking on the 2 latest funds, Raymond Lew, CEO and President/Country Head of Sun Life Malaysia said, “After a full year of battling the pandemic together, the arrival of the COVID-19 vaccine has finally brought us to the next stage of recovery and Sun Life Malaysia strives to continue supporting our Clients throughout this process in line with our purpose of empowering them to achieve lifetime financial security and live healthier lives.”
“While there are naturally concerns over the vaccination’s efficacy, we are doing our part to ease these doubts by establishing the Vaccine Complications Fund to ensure Clients are more confident in taking the vaccine, knowing they are protected should any complications arise. At the same time, we know there are still many who are at risk of contracting the virus and our initiatives, through the COVID-19 Medical Assistance Fund, are in place to address those needs,” added Raymond.
These funds are in addition to the on-going RM1 million COVID-19 Relief Fund 2021, which has been extended until 30 June 2021 and provides RM1,000 cash benefit for Clients who are diagnosed with the virus along with a RM7,500 death benefit. To date, the two tranches of the COVID-19 Relief Fund, which were launched in 2020 and 2021, have paid out over RM1.3 million in special relief claims to 577 affected Clients and their loved ones that ensured they were fully protected during their hour of need.
Recognising the plight of its Clients after a difficult year in 2020, the announcement of the 2 Funds is also accompanied by an extension of payment deferment for premium/contribution to 30 June 2021.
“Through the extension of grace period for premium/contribution payment and our 3 COVID-19 funds totalling RM2.5 million, we want to address the immediate concerns facing our Clients impacted by COVID-19 by alleviating their families’ financial stress and hope this step will go a long way towards supporting them with a greater sense of protection. Similar to how we have been doing assisting our Clients throughout the years, we will do everything we can to safeguard Malaysians through these tough times and helping them towards a brighter future ahead,” added Raymond.
For more information on Sun Life Malaysia’s COVID-19 Medical Assistance Fund and the COVID-19 Vaccine Complications Fund along with other measures, please visit www.sunlifemalaysia.com/client-care/covid-19-updates/2021-additional-special-client-measures/ and also follow Sun Life Malaysia’s social media channels, Facebook at www.facebook.com/sunlifemalaysia and Instagram at www.instagram.com/sunlifemalaysia_my for the latest updates.
Source: Sun Life Malaysia (Press release)
