Govt To Study Portability Of Medical Insurance, Takaful Products - Lim
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 5 (Bernama) -- The government will study the feasibility of the proposed portability of medical and health insurance/takaful (MHIT) products to ensure continuous and effective access to care, said Deputy Finance Minister Lim Hui Ying.
She said that among the criteria required for the proposal are data sharing mechanisms such as sharing policy records, with accurate and up-to-date information on policyholder’s claims history, waiting periods passed, and benefits collected.
“This sharing mechanism is supported by adequate technological infrastructure such as a database to enable insurance companies and takaful operators to verify and transfer policyholder information securely,” she said during a question-and-answer session at the Dewan Rakyat today.
She was replying to Datuk Mumtaz Md Nawi’s (PN-Tumpat) question about the need for takaful medical and coverage card consumers to change their takaful operators without having to recalculate the waiting period.
Lim said MHIT products are different from mobile phone numbers, whereby the products involve long-term risk accumulation and strict consumer behavioural requirements.
The waiting period is intended to prevent fraud or abuse, namely to prevent policyholders newly diagnosed with a medical condition from taking advantage of insurance coverage without first contributing to the risk pool.
This (abuse) could exacerbate the cost of claims and premiums/contributions, thereby affecting the affordability of other policyholders and the continuity of the MHIT products, she said.
-- BERNAMA