MI SUNGAI PETANI, May 24 — The Health Ministry will hold discussions with insurance companies and managed care organisations (MCOs) to co-ordinate charges for private medical services in the near future.Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said the discussions aimed to protect patients from being charged excessively, especially those with insurance coverage cards.
He said the discussions would also involve the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) as he needed to know their views on such issues so that a comprehensive solution could be achieved.
“We received a lot of complaints from the public on the difference in charges for private medical treatment. For example, patients paying by cash for treatment would pay less compared to the rate for those using insurance coverage cards.
“Such practices should be stopped immediately so that it would not have any impact on patients because sometimes the insurance coverage was bought according to the type of protection and had a certain limit,” he told reporters after attending a MMA dinner here last night. — Bernama
