KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 6 — mySalam has paid 75,000 beneficiaries RM75 million as of October 31, just 10 per cent of funds received by the government health protection scheme.
Finance Minister Senator Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz said in the tabling of Budget 2021 in Parliament that 56,000 mySalam beneficiaries received RM64 million in claims for hospitalisation and critical illness, while 19,000 individuals received RM11 million in claims for Covid-19.
“To improve this programme, the government will expand mySalam coverage to include the cost of medical devices, such as stents for the heart or prosthetics,” Zafrul said.
The RM75 million pay-outs as of October 31 this year comprises just 10 per cent of the estimated RM733 million contributed by Great Eastern to the mySalam fund since the launch of the scheme in January 2019.
The Singapore-based insurance company is meant to contribute RM2 billion to mySalam over five years, or RM400 million a year since 2019.
Besides an RM8,000 lump sum cash for critical illness diagnosed from January 1, 2019, mySalam also gives beneficiaries from the B40 group a maximum of RM700 per annum for up to 14 days’ hospitalisation (RM50 per day) for any condition.
mySalam is applicable at all Ministry of Health (MOH), public university, and army hospitals. The health protection scheme was also expanded to middle class Malaysians since February this year, who are eligible to get RM4,000 cash if diagnosed with a critical illness.
