Insurance claims assessment in seconds soon a reality for Prudential Singapore PRUshield policyholders

Insurer trialing an intelligent machine learning-based solution that simplifies claims assessment 

Prudential Singapore (Prudential) is leading a step change in the way insurance claims are made with its trial of an industry-first, machine learning-based solution that assesses claims in seconds.

It sits at the core of a new customer e-claims platform which Prudential is making available to selected insurance policyholders on a trial-basis.

The first phase of the trial, set to commence in late November 2017, will focus on automating the processing of PRUshield pre- and post- hospitalisation claims from eight major hospitals. These form the bulk of the 14,000 paper bills and receipts that Prudential’s claims assessors review each month.

Prudential Singapore’s chatbot provides information specific to customers’ life insurance plans

Prudential Singapore’s industry-first intelligent chatbot provides information specific to customers’ life insurance plans

askPRU part of Prudential’s digital roadmap to transform customer experience


SINGAPORE, 31 August 2017 – As part of Prudential’s customer-centric approach, the life insurer has launched an industry-first chatbot that can provide its Financial Consultants with real-time information specific to their customers’ life insurance plans.

Named askPRU, the cognitive-powered chatbot is built on IBM Watson technology and integrated into Prudential’s backend systems. It is able to retrieve instantly data such as a customer’s policy cash value, policy premium due date and status of submitted claims, among others. As askPRU operates round the clock, Prudential’s Financial Consultants can communicate with the chatbot via a mobile application at any time of the day to obtain information pertaining to their customers’ insurance plans, enabling them to be more productive and more responsive.

Using IBM Watson’s Conversation Service, askPRU has been trained by NCS’ data scientists1 to understand non-scripted questions, probe users to get to the intent of their queries and deliver responses in a way that simulates human conversations.

Since the pilot launch of askPRU in July, more than half of Prudential’s 4,000 Financial Consultants have started to use the chatbot. Ms. Theresa Nai, Chief

Is there a critical illness insurance policy specially designed for men? Yes!

There are plenty of insurance plans designed specially with women in mind in the market. If you are looking for a insurance policy designed specially for males, yes, there is.

Singapore’s only standalone* male-focused critical illness plan was launched by Prudential to meet rising demand from customers.

PRUman

PRUman is the only standalone Critical Illness insurance plan designed for men that is available in the market today.

More 80% of respondents polled in a survey conducted by Prudential with 206 of its customers, shared that they would consider buying a standalone male-focused Critical Illness plan to protect their income in times of a health crisis. 

Prudential’s claims data also showed a continuous rise in diagnoses for male-specific illnesses, such as prostate cancer, which supported the need for a male-focused standalone policy such as PRUman.

Notably, the number of claims and total claim amount by Prudential’s male policy holders diagnosed with male-specific illnesses, have been increasing over the past five years. 

In addition, studies done by the Ministry of Health show 25% men are expected

She has 3 policies but no coverage article

A few key points to note if you came across the article.


Critical Illnesses definitions standardized by the Life Insurance Association of Singapore and General Association of Singapore

To avoid a situation like this, you may want to consider 


Prudential's PruEarly Stage Crisis Cover which is a insurance plan to cover illnesses before the critical illness stage.
May want to consider it to cover the gap for your insurance financial planning

Disclaimer

PRUearly Stage Crisis Cover

Should a critical illness strike, the earlier it is diagnosed, the easier it is to manage and the higher the chances of a full recovery. PRUearly stage crisis cover offers financial support right from the early stages of critical illnesses.

Covering a broad and extensive list of illnesses, PRUearly stage crisis cover helps reduce the financial burden resulting from selected early stage critical illnesses - and make it easier for you to concentrate on a full recovery. 

The first insurance policy of its kind to cover selected complications arising from diabetes, PRUearly stage crisis cover also offers additional reassurance with a $3,000 death benefit. 

Future premiums are waived after the first claim is made under the 50% Severity Payout.

Key Benefits

• Wide coverage with as many as 70 different medical conditions such as Cancer (at the non-invasive stage), chronic kidney diseases, severe asthma and severe Dementia
• Waiver of all future insurance premiums upon a successful claim under the 50% Severity Payout
• Allow second claim if the medical condition deteriorate or a different medical condition occur, PRUearly stage crisis cover will pay the balance of this benefit
• First insurance policy of its kind in Singapore to make payouts for selected diabetic complications. A payout of 20% of the sum assured will be made upon diagnosis of one of the covered Diabetic complications, up to a limit of S$20,000. Diabetic complicationscovered include Diabetic Retinopathy, Diabetic Nephropathy or amputation of part of limb due to gangrene
• Offers a one time claim for Angioplasty and other Invasive Treatment for Coronary Artery of 10% of the Sum Assured, up to a maximum limit of S$10,000

PRUearly stage crisis cover is available as a standalone product (PRUearly stage crisis cover) or supplementary benefit (Early Stage Crisis Cover).

Early Stage Medical Conditions (50% Severity Payout)	Intermediate Stage Medical Conditions (100% Severity Payout)	Critical Illnesses (100% Severity Payout)
Moderately severe Alzheimer's Disease or Dementia	-	Alzheimer's Disease/ Severe Dementia
Reversible Aplastic Anaemia	-	Aplastic Anaemia
Bacterial Meningitis with full recovery	-	Bacterial Meningitis
Surgical removal of pituitary tumour or Surgery for subdural haematoma	-	Benign Brain Tumour
Loss of sight in one eye	Optic Nerve Atrophy with low vision	Blindness (Loss of sight)
Coma for 48 hours	Severe Epilepsy for Coma for 72 hours	Coma for 96 hours
Keyhole coronary bypass surgery or Coronary Artery Arthrectomy or Transmyocardial Laser Revascularisation or Enhanced External Counterpulsation Device Insertion	-	Coronary Artery By-pass Surgery
Partial loss of hearing or Cavernous sinus thrombosis surgery	Cochlear implant surgery	Deafness (Loss of hearing)
Encephalitis with full recovery	-	Encephalitis
Liver surgery	Liver Cirrhosis	End stage Liver Failure
Severe Asthma or insertion of a Veno-cava filter	Surgery removal of one lung	End stage of Lung Disease
Hepatitis with Cirrhosis	-	Fulminant Hepatitis
Cardiac pacemaker insertion or Pericardectomy	Cardiac defibrillator insertion or Early Cardiomyopathy	Heart Attack
Percutaneous Valve Surgery	-	Heart Valve Surgery
HIV due to Assault, Organ Transplant or Occupationally Acquired HIV	-	HIV Due to Blood Transfusion and Occupationally Acquired HIV
Surgical removal of one kidney or Chronic Kidney Disease	-	Kidney Failure
Loss of Speech due to neurological disease	-	Loss of Speech.
Moderately severe burns	-	Major Burns
- Carcinoma in situ of specified organs - Early Prostate Cancer - Early Thyroid Cancer - Early Bladder Cancer - Early Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia - Early Melanoma	Carcinoma in situ of specified organs treated with Radical Surgery	Major Cancers
Facial reconstructive surgery or Spinal cord injury	-	Major Head Trauma
Small bowel transplant; or Corneal transplant	-	Major Organ / Bone Marrow Transplantation
Early Motor Neurone Disease	-	Motor Neurone Disease
Early Multiple Sclerosis	-	Multiple Sclerosis
Moderately severe Muscular Dystrophy	-	Muscular Dystrophy
Moderately severe Parkinson's Disease	-	Parkinson's Disease
Early Pulmonary Hypertension	Secondary Pulmonary Hypertension	Primary Pulmonary Hypertension
Early Progressive Scleroderma	Progressive Scleroderma with CREST syndrome	Progressive Scleroderma
Brain aneurysm surgery or Cerebral shunt insertion	Carotid artery surgery	Stroke
Minimally invasive surgery to Aorta or Large asymptomatic aortic aneurysm	-	Surgery to the Aorta

Table: Medical conditions covered under Special Benefit

	Claimable percentage of sum assured	Maximum limit
Angioplasty and other Invasive Treatment for Coronary Artery	10%	$10,000
Diabetic complications include Diabetic Retinopathy, Diabetic Nephropathy or amputation of part of limb due to gangrene.	20%	$20,000

Life Assured	Premium Term	Premium per day6
Male non-smoker age 30 years old at next birthday	45 years	$1.37
Female non-smoker age 30 years old at next birthday	45 years	$1.34
Male non-smoker age 40 years old at next birthday	35 years	$2.20
Female non-smoker age 40 years old at next birthday	35 years	$2.35

For more information, refer to the official Prudential Assurance PruEarly Stage Crisis Cover website.

Disclaimer