KUALA LUMPUR, March 25 — PKR lawmakers today told Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) to intervene, after Prudential Malaysia announced an increase in medical insurance premiums from next month.
The group of legislators led by Bayan Baru MP Sim Tze Tzin claimed that the insurer’s notice to policyholders, as reported by Free Malaysia Today last Sunday, breached the interim measures announced by the central bank last December to cap premium hikes to 10 per cent annually for three years until the end of 2026.
Prudential’s notice to policyholders justified the increase in medical insurance premiums by citing a 19.6 per cent average increase in the number of claims compared with a year ago.
Seventy-four out of 1,000 policyholders made claims under their PRUHealth plan, up from 62 a year ago. Each claim saw an average increase of 3.9 per cent, or from RM14,113 to RM14,664.
“We hope that Prudential will issue a statement to explain the matter,” said Sim, as well as Senators Prof Mohd Redzuan Othman, Amir Md Ghazali, Abun Sui Anyit, Bob Manolan Mohamad, and Dr Ahmad Azam Hamzah, in a joint statement today.
“If true, Bank Negara must intervene in this issue. After BNM announced the interim measures, ITOs (insurance/takaful operators) must follow them.”
BNM’s December 20 statement on interim measures to curb rising health insurance premiums does not specifically mandate ITOs to limit premium increases, due to medical claims inflation, to less than 10 per cent.
The central bank’s statement merely states that the interim measures were “agreed with the insurance and takaful industry.”
BNM does not have the power to regulate the quantum of medical insurance premiums, just like how the Ministry of Health (MOH) lacks the statutory authority (“punca kuasa”) to regulate private hospital charges, aside from doctors’ fees.
Sim and his PKR colleagues reiterated their calls for the government to regulate hospital supplies and services (HSS), noting that only 30 per cent of hospital bills are regulated.
The lawmakers cited a complaint they received from a cancer patient about being charged RM305 just to fill up a two-page critical illness insurance claims form, comprising RM285 categorised as “doctor’s consultation” and an RM20 “administrative fee”.
“This is an example of an unregulated HSS,” they said. “This case proves that private hospitals charge unreasonable and excessive charges on patients.”
The PKR lawmakers also expressed support for the reform measures recommended by BNM for the health and insurance sector, as listed in the central bank’s 2024 Annual Report.
“We PKR MPs urge the Health Ministry to begin the legislative process to regulate HSS.”
