KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 28 — A cancer patient decided not to renew his medical insurance policy last August after his premiums surged by 262.5 per cent, said Bayan Baru MP Sim Tze Tzin.
The government backbencher – who is leading a campaign along with a few other Members of Parliament from PKR against the rise in health insurance premiums and private hospital charges – disclosed the complaint by the cancer patient to his team’s email address at aduan.pkr.hospital.insurans@gmail.com.
“Because of a burdensome premium increase of over 262 per cent, he was unable to afford such expensive insurance, leading him to cancel his insurance policy,” Sim told a press conference in Parliament yesterday.
“I pity him – he was loyal to one insurance company for 15 years. In the end, the premium increase caused a cancer patient to drop his insurance, and now he will have to go to a government hospital.”
Sim’s office told CodeBlue that the complainant, who was previously admitted to a private hospital, would now seek treatment at a public hospital if he fell seriously ill again.
At his press conference, Sim cited another complaint of a person’s sibling being charged RM200,000 at a private hospital for treatment after getting into an accident. But because the procedures “didn’t go right”, the patient was sent to Hospital Canselor Tuanku Muhriz UKM, a university hospital, that charged RM60,000.
“I want to show that excessive charging does occur,” Sim said.
Citing a letter by an insurance company to a policyholder, Sim said those aged 46 to 50 now face a 50 per cent increase in medical insurance premiums from RM1,133 to RM1,699 annually since last July 1. Policyholders in other age groups are also subject to premium hikes.
“If the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living (KPDN) can investigate ‘excessive profiteering’ on an increase of 10 sen for eggs, why can’t Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) investigate increases of tens to hundreds of per cent for insurance premium hikes? Why can’t the authorities investigate if a rise in private hospital charges is ‘excessive profiteering’?”
The government MP told BNM, which regulates the insurance industry, not to dismiss the increase in health insurance premiums as a “business decision”.
Sim added that his team has received 71 complaints to date after launching their campaign against the increase in insurance premium and private hospital charges.
Since last September 1, BNM mandated insurers/ takaful operators (ITOs) offering medical and health insurance and takaful (MHIT) products to offer at least one product with a minimum 5 per cent copayment and/or an RM500 deductible. Any new medical reimbursement insurance/ takaful product designed must come with the minimum 5 per cent copay.
Both the central bank and insurance industry have claimed that copayments are necessary to curb medical inflation in Malaysia that hit 12.6 per cent last year. They also believe that people will choose copay policies with lower premiums than non-copay plans, instead of completely abandoning insurance coverage.
