‘It would be affordable for mid-income Malaysians’
KUALA LUMPUR: The government’s proposed MediAsas health insurance and takaful plan is expected to charge a basic monthly premium starting from RM65, says Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad.
Although the cost is not yet set in stone, he said the plan would be an affordable option for middle-income Malaysians.
He said the MediAsas plan will soon undergo a pilot proof-of-concept test to assess its effectiveness before it is introduced nationwide.
“The basic premium price range will start at around RM65, depending on the type of product.
“We will make modifications wherever needed but, in principle, it will be affordable,” he said.
The government is still determining the plan’s conditions, pricing structure and, inclusion and exclusion criteria, to ensure it meets the needs of Malaysians, he told the Dewan Rakyat during the Ministers’ Question Time yesterday.
Last Monday, the Finance Ministry announced that the new base medical health insurance and takaful (MHIT) plan would be known as MediAsas.
It said that MediAsas, which will see a nationwide rollout in January, is expected to provide protection for people up to 85 years of age.
This health insurance plan will go through a pilot phase involving six insurers together with selected private hospitals in the Klang Valley.
Dzulkefly said yesterday that the plan will integrate the payment mechanism based on Diagnosis Related Groups (DRG) in phases at private hospitals.
MediAsas, he said, is designed to complement, rather than replace Malaysia’s existing tax-funded public healthcare system.
“Everything is still in the process of being determined – the conditions, pricing and, inclusion and exclusion criteria.
“But it must be emphasised that the MediAsas plan will not replace but complement the public healthcare system, which will continue to provide universal health coverage for all Malay-sians,” he added.
Dzulkefly also said the government plans to further expand universal health coverage in Malaysia through improvements to other health care schemes.
This includes expanding the PeKa B40 healthcare scheme to cover the management of non-communicable diseases (NCD) as well, he said.
He also said that the Madani Medical Scheme and the
mySalam social health protection scheme will continue to run regardless if MediAsas is implemented or not.
The Madani Medical Scheme enables B40 patients to see acute primary care services at private clinics registered under the programme.
As for the mySalam social health protection scheme, it provides patients a RM8,000 once in a lifetime payment when the patient is confirmed to have one of the 50 critical diseases determined.
Dzulkefly was responding to a supplementary question from Shah Alam MP Azli Yusof on details of MediAsas’ basic premium price and whether all private hospitals would be involved.
