Recently, Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad suggested that Malaysians should use their Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) savings to buy health insurance. On the surface, it might sound reasonable.
The idea goes like this: make sure everyone has enough in their EPF to pay for insurance, then with insurance, people can access private hospitals, which might help ease the crowding in public hospitals.
But the more I thought about it, the more uncomfortable I felt. Is this really the best we can do?
This isn’t just a financial issue — it’s a moral one. Whose interest are we really protecting here? The rakyat’s, or the health care industry’s?
Let’s take a step back and look at the whole picture. If people use their EPF to buy insurance, who really benefits? Big insurance companies like AIA, Prudential, and Great Eastern. And if they use it to pay directly for treatment at private hospitals? Then it’s Sunway, KPJ, Columbia Asia — massive health care corporations already thriving in the city centres.
It feels like, instead of fixing what’s broken in the public system, we’re just handing over our retirement savings to private companies hoping they’ll pick up the slack.
That’s what bothers me. Why are we using our retirement money to keep their business model alive?
I’m about to start housemanship. During med school, I spent years rotating through public hospitals. I’ve seen how overwhelmed the system is. Long queues, not enough staff, outdated machines. Patients wait hours just to be seen. Surgeries delayed. Investigations postponed.
Meanwhile, private hospitals are sparkling, efficient, and pricey. A lot of their staff — doctors, nurses, specialists — were trained in the public system. We pour time and money into building this workforce, but the private sector swoops in with better pay and working conditions.
Why? Because they can afford to. Private hospitals charge high fees, and with more insurance coverage, they can charge even more. It’s a business model — not a public good.
Most people don’t go to private hospitals because they want fancy lobbies or five-star service. They go because they can’t afford to wait. Because they’re afraid something will get worse while they’re stuck on a waiting list. That’s not a choice — that’s desperation.
Now, the government wants people to dip into their retirement just to escape a system that’s supposed to take care of them in the first place?
That’s not just unfair. It’s a failure of policy.
Instead of sending EPF money into the pockets of private hospitals and insurance firms, why not use it to strengthen public health care?
Use it to pay our health care workers better so they stay. Use it to build more hospitals and clinics in rural and underserved areas. Use it to upgrade our equipment, shorten waiting times, and bring dignity back into public health care.
Here’s what’s really happening: the more people rely on private care, the more the public system gets ignored. The worse it gets, the more people leave it. And the cycle continues. And now, we’re being asked to fund that cycle with our retirement savings?
EPF is meant to protect our future, not to cover hospital bills in a system that the government hasn’t properly invested in. Using EPF like this doesn’t solve the problem. It just shifts the burden onto the people who are already struggling.
Let’s stop asking Malaysians to pay twice — once through taxes, and again through their retirement fund. We can do better. We deserve better. Fix the system. Don’t ask us to fix it with our savings.
- This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of CodeBlue.
