KUALA LUMPUR — Any hike in medical insurance premiums should be capped at less than 10%, a group of PKR lawmakers have said ahead of Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) announcement next week on interim measures to quell mounting unhappiness over proposed drastic increments of between 40% to 70%.
The lawmakers, led by Bayan Baru MP Sim Tze Tzin, said premiums should not be raised by more than 10% because increments to date do not appear to correspond with the rate of medical inflation.
While BNM in a recent briefing had stated that healthcare inflation in Malaysia is at 15%, complaints received from the public show that the increase is “as high as 78%”, the MPs noted.
“This is far different from the 15% healthcare inflation in Malaysia. We, PKR lawmakers, reject such a high premium increase.
“Therefore, we call on BNM to limit the increase in insurance premiums to less than 10% only.
“This is because not all contributors will ‘claim’ insurance, and is also in line with regional health inflation,” Sim and other PKR MPs said in a statement today.
The central bank must exercise its regulatory duties firmly “to correct the mess that is occurring in the MHIT (medical and health insurance) sector”, they added.
“We are proposing a reasonable increase because we want to ensure that insurance continues to be affordable for the M40 group. Insurance should not be an exclusive service for the super-rich.”
The MPs warned that public hospitals would be burdened, incurring additional costs for the government, if the M40 could not longer afford health insurance.
BNM held a briefing for government lawmakers on Dec 10, where it had told the MPs that Malaysia’s health inflation rate is at 15% . This is higher than other Asia Pacific countries which have recorded 11.1% in health inflation.
The other PKR lawmakers who signed the statement today with Sim are Tebrau MP Jimmy Pua, Segamat MP R Yuneswaran, Miri MP Chew Choon Mum and Senator Amir Ghazali.
They also welcomed Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan’s statement in Parliament yesterday that the ministry will announce interim solutions to the issue next week.
Amir when winging up senators’ debates in the Dewan Negara on the Supply Bill (Budget) 2025 at the policy stage yesterday, said there are several interim and immediate measures which are being refined by BNM.
These including setting price caps under diagnostic-relating groups to fix treatment costs, dismantling pharmaceutical monopolies so as to procure drugs more cheaply, and amending health-related legislation.
The 40% to 70% hike in medical insurance premiums was expected to take place next year, but DAP’s Bagan MP Lim Guan Eng revealed yesterday that BNM told MPs it had yet to approve insurance companies’ request to the hike. – December 13, 2024
