Health insurance is often seen as a financial safety net, especially when unexpected medical expenses arise.
However, one Malaysian insurance agent recently highlighted another side of the industry, claiming that clients who suddenly stop paying their monthly premiums can also affect an agent’s performance record.
Family allegedly stopped paying for 4 medical cards
In a post shared on Threads, an insurance agent using the handle Zaisoon78 said his persistency rate, or PR, suddenly dropped below 60%, reported mStar.
According to him, the drop was largely caused by one family who had signed up for medical cards for four children.
He claimed that the family initially agreed to pay close to RM900 every month and appeared financially capable of maintaining the commitment.
At the time, the client allegedly told him that their business was doing well and that they were even planning to open a restaurant.
However, the agent claimed that the monthly payments later stopped.
Whenever he followed up about the outstanding payments, he said the client would tell him that they needed to focus on setting up the restaurant first.
The agent expressed frustration over the situation, saying clients should carefully consider whether they can maintain the monthly commitment before signing up for a policy.
Other agents share similar experiences
The post prompted several other insurance agents to share their own experiences dealing with clients who stopped paying for their policies.
One commenter claimed they had previously spent RM3,000 of their own money in 2021 to improve their PR and keep other clients on their books.
Another agent said their PR had fallen below 70% after a client who initially claimed to earn RM50,000 a month later said their business had slowed down.
A separate commenter claimed they had a client who agreed to pay RM1,000 a month after saying they earned RM20,000 as a pilot.
However, the client allegedly only made three payments before asking to reduce their commitment.
The experiences shared in the comments were anecdotal and reflect the accounts of individual agents.
What is a persistency rate?
In insurance, a persistency rate generally refers to the proportion of policies that remain active after a certain period of time.
A higher rate indicates that more customers are continuing with their policies, while a lower rate means more policies have lapsed or been discontinued.
For agents, persistency may also be used by insurance companies as one of several performance indicators.
However, how it affects an agent’s income, incentives or performance assessment can differ depending on the insurer and the terms set by the company.
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