Materia Medica Malaysiana

Affordable Health Care For Low Income Group Under Insurance Fund

KUALA LUMPUR, May 19 (Bernama) -- The poor and the lower income group will continue to have access to affordable health care from government hospitals even when the proposed National Health Insurance Fund is implemented under the ninth Malaysian Plan, a senior Health Ministry official said Thursday.
Its Evaluation, Planning and Formulation Unit Head Dr Rohaizat Yon said the present system where everyone pays RM1 to get treatment at government hospitals was no longer acceptable as it could be easily abused while the cost of medicine had gone up.
" We are still working on the details for the fund, but one of the founding principles for the fund is that it is based on community risk factor rather than individual risk factor which is practiced by the insurance companies," Dr Rohaizat told reporters at a conference on medical law here.
Under the community risk factor, every individual pays the same amount no matter what his health status is, unlike the individual risk factor where the insurance premium is based personally on the individual health risk, he said.
But the proposed health insurance fund came under fire at the conference attended by non-governmental organisations and medical practitioners.
Malaysian Medical Association President Datuk Dr N.Arumugam said many doctors as well as government officials were still in the dark about the proposed fund, how it would be carried out and how it would eventually benefit the people.
"The proposal should be open to discussion first and not be implemented overnight. Many people are unhappy about this," he said.
Malaysian Trades Union Congress secretary-general G. Rajasekaran said the proposed fund would only be an "additional and unnecessary burden for the workers".
"These days workers in the private sector no longer depend on the government. The private sector is already paying for the health insurance of their workers, the only difference is that different companies give different insurance coverage," he said.
Azizah Talib, an economist with the Malaysian Employers Federation, said currently 98 percent of private companies provided medical benefit for their workers.
Dr T. Jayabalan from the Consumer Association of Penang told the conference there was no reason for the government to complain about the rising cost of medical care.
"For decades, the total expenditure for health care has remained at three per cent of the Gross Domestic Product, while in other countries, the percentage has increased," he said.
Dr Jayabalan also disagreed with the government contention that the present health care system was open to abuse where the rich could also seek government hospital treatment at the expense of the poor.
"Who would want to wait the whole day just to get treated, unless those who cannot afford it," he said referring to the notorious long queues at most government hospitals.
Retired headmaster Lum Kin Tuck said that the elderly suffered the most as most government hospitals lacked doctors.
Lum, who is president of the National Council of Senior Citizens' Organisations also wondered how the unemployed elderly could fit into the proposed fund.
Dr Rohaizat welcomed the concerns expressed at the conference and said the proposed fund was still being studied and nothing had been finalised yet.
He disputed claim that most private sector employees already had insurance coverage.
He backed this up by saying that up to 80 per cent of government hospital admissions was actually not government employees.