KUALA LUMPUR: A full house turned up at the second public hearing on the rise of health insurance premiums and hospital charges at the Parliament on Friday (Feb 21).
According to Public Accounts Committee (PAC) deputy chairman Teresa Kok, the public hearing in the Parliament saw the presence of about 550 individuals, while the first public hearing in Penang had 180 people.
“After this, the PAC will commence closed-door proceedings on the rise of health insurance premiums and hospital charges and its impact to public health, with the Finance Ministry, the Health Ministry and Bank Negara on Feb 24,” said Kok during a press conference in Parliament.
According to Kok, there will be 10 closed-door proceedings planned across three months for this issue and a report will be tabled in Parliament by the second half of the year.
“All statements obtained from public hearings will be included in the PAC report that will be tabled in the Dewan Rakyat,” said Kok.
Present in Parliament were PAC members Ku Abdul Rahman Ku Ismail (Kubang Pasu), Dr Halimah Ali (Kapar), Dr Richard Rapu (Betong) dan Sim Tze Tzin (Bayan Baru), who was moderating the public hearing.
According to Sim, public complaints mainly centred on the steep increase of insurance premiums and the exorbitant charges of private hospitals.
“They saw the difference between having a guarantee letter and self-payment. There is a big difference. They felt it was unfair and the rise in hospital fees caused their premiums to rise.
“So, some people could not afford their insurance premiums and they resorted to public hospitals, which caused long queues,” said SIm.
Sim stressed that healthcare is a basic human right and the public needs a good public healthcare system.
“That is why PAC started the ball rolling to solve this issue,” added Sim.
Sim said the closed-door proceedings will address various healthcare issues, including monopolies on medicine manufacturing, procurement of locally-produced medical equipment and among others.
“For example, in Bayan Baru, there are 30 companies manufacturing medical equipment and if they can export it overseas, they can also supply to local hospitals at a cheaper rate,” said Sim.
Sim also said the PAC will propose the amendments of several laws if there is a need to do so.
“We will look at which Act needs to be amended. There are many issues in this ecosystem, as not just private healthcare is involved, but also Bank Negara on the financial services act,” added Sim.
Dr Halimah, who spoke after Sim, said the turnout at the public hearing on Friday (Feb 21) was impressive.
“We hope the government will place an emphasis on this issue, because we don’t want one crisis after another.
“That is why we are holding 12 PAC proceedings and this is a signal that we are taking it seriously,” added Dr Halimah.
Many individuals were seen bringing along their hospital bills and they shared experiences of experiencing exorbitant medical charges.
Among those present were insurance agents, representatives of organisations, civil servants who had served in the healthcare industry and medical practitioners themselves.
The first PAC public hearing session was held in AC Hotel in Bukit Jambul, Penang on Feb 14.
It is the first time PAC is conducting a public hearing on any subject matter it is examining.
PAC will be holding closed-door sessions on the matter for the next three months and the issue of price surges in private hospitals and insurance premiums, and their impact on public healthcare infrastructure, are among the committee’s main agenda for 2025.
