BNM, MOH TO ENSURE INCREASE IN MEDICAL INSURANCE PREMIUMS REASONABLE, NOT BURDENING - PM

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 10 (Bernama) -- Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today said that Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and the Ministry of Health (MOH) will establish controls to ensure that medical insurance premiums will not rise too steeply to the extent of burdening the people and leading to increase in inflation.

He said that BNM, together with the Ministry of Finance and MOH, is currently looking into it and will issue strict guidelines to ensure that medical and health insurance and takaful (MHIT) providers, as well as insurers and takaful operators (ITO), take several factors into account.

"The (inevitable) increase is due to the lower threshold in Malaysia, with high medical costs and expensive services, according to the explanation given by insurance companies.

"However, MOH and BNM are working closely to ensure that the increase is considered reasonable and does not burden the people," he said during Minister's Question Time at the Dewan Rakyat sitting today.

Anwar was replying to Suhaizan Kaiat (PH-Pulai) who wanted to know the government's measures to address the rise in medical insurance premiums by 40 to 70 per cent and the 12.6 per cent inflation rate in the country’s medical costs in 2023, more than twice the global average of 5.6 per cent.

The Prime Minister said that among the reasons for the increase in medical costs are the price of medicines as well as new medical equipment and the increasing wage and salary rates.

"So, now there is no control and, for decades, there has been a monopoly in the purchase of medicines, so that is why we will cancel several commitments to one or two companies.

"We have asked the MOH, as several countries have done, to travel to several countries to obtain cheaper and more affordable generic medicines. These generic medicines are more popular in Brazil, India and China, for example, which are studied and not necessarily tied to the United States or Europe, which are too costly," he said.

Anwar gave the example of a large company that sells medicines for RM5,000 to Malaysia due to monopoly and lax control but then sells the same drug in Thailand for only RM1,500.

Therefore, he said the government would introduce guidelines on standardising costs known as diagnosis-related groups (DRGs) regarding reasonable costs such as for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or computerized tomography scan (CT Scan) besides amending the Private Healthcare Facilities and Services Act 1998 (Act 586).

The Prime Minister said the MOH was also implementing the Rakan KKM (MOH Partners) programme in collaboration with government-linked investment companies (GLICs) where patients could choose from a number of additional facilities at minimal cost.

In reply to Datuk Dr Ahmad Yunus Hairi (PN-Kuala Langat) on whether the government would control private hospital medical charges, Anwar said he accepted a reasonable rate of increase in charges, but it should be controlled so that there is no excessive profit.

However, Anwar said in general, the cost of treatment in Malaysia is still competitive compared to neighbouring countries with private hospitals receiving an increase in patients from abroad.

-- BERNAMA