National Health Insurance Fund

Affordable Health Care For Low Income Group Under Insurance Fund

KUALA LUMPUR, May 19 (Bernama) -- The poor and the lower income group will continue to have access to affordable health care from government hospitals even when the proposed National Health Insurance Fund is implemented under the ninth Malaysian Plan, a senior Health Ministry official said Thursday.

Its Evaluation, Planning and Formulation Unit Head Dr Rohaizat Yon said the present system where everyone pays RM1 to get treatment at government hospitals was no longer acceptable as it could be easily abused while the cost of medicine had gone up.

" We are still working on the details for the fund, but one of the founding principles for the fund is that it is based on community risk factor rather than individual risk factor which is practiced by the insurance companies," Dr Rohaizat told reporters at a conference on medical law here.

Under the community risk factor, every individual pays the same amount no matter what his health status is, unlike the individual risk factor where the insurance premium is based personally on the individual health risk, he said.

But the proposed health insurance fund came under fire at the conference attended by non-governmental organisations and medical practitioners.

Malaysian Medical Association President Datuk Dr N.Arumugam said many doctors as well as government officials were still in the dark about the proposed fund, how it would be carried out and how it would eventually benefit the people.

"The proposal should be open to discussion first and not be implemented overnight. Many people are unhappy about this," he said.

Malaysian Trades Union Congress secretary-general G. Rajasekaran said the proposed fund would only be an "additional and unnecessary burden for the workers".

"These days workers in the private sector no longer depend on the government. The private sector is already paying for the health insurance of their workers, the only difference is that different companies give different insurance coverage," he said.

Azizah Talib, an economist with the Malaysian Employers Federation, said currently 98 percent of private companies provided medical benefit for their workers.

Dr T. Jayabalan from the Consumer Association of Penang told the conference there was no reason for the government to complain about the rising cost of medical care.

"For decades, the total expenditure for health care has remained at three per cent of the Gross Domestic Product, while in other countries, the percentage has increased," he said.

Dr Jayabalan also disagreed with the government contention that the present health care system was open to abuse where the rich could also seek government hospital treatment at the expense of the poor.

"Who would want to wait the whole day just to get treated, unless those who cannot afford it," he said referring to the notorious long queues at most government hospitals.

Retired headmaster Lum Kin Tuck said that the elderly suffered the most as most government hospitals lacked doctors.

Lum, who is president of the National Council of Senior Citizens' Organisations also wondered how the unemployed elderly could fit into the proposed fund.

Dr Rohaizat welcomed the concerns expressed at the conference and said the proposed fund was still being studied and nothing had been finalised yet.

He disputed claim that most private sector employees already had insurance coverage.

He backed this up by saying that up to 80 per cent of government hospital admissions was actually not government employees.

-- BERNAMA

It looks like we are allowed another peek at the National Health Financing Scheme [NHFS] or is it the National Health Insurance Fund [NHIF]? Or is it a National Health Financing Scheme which will be funded by a National Health Insurance Fund. What we do know from the BERNAMA report is that the NHIF will be based on community risk factor rather than individual risk factor. A senior MOH official said that under the community risk factor, every individual pays the same amount no matter what his/her health status is, unlike the individual risk factor where the insurance premium is based personally on the individual health risk. Wonder what he means by everybody paying. Those who have to pay would certainly have to be defined. What about the unemployed, the retired, those who are handicapped etc etc?
The 9th Malaysia Plan [9MP] is not far off and we are still very much in the dark regarding this NHFS/NHIF, which is it going to be. There is as yet no mentioned of the quantum those to have to contribute will have to foot out. Will the amount paid be per person or per family unit?
The gomen has kept harping that it is spending more and more on health care and will very soon not be able to do so. But is this true. The absolute figures in terms of ringgit may have gone up but all the time we are only spending about 3% of our GPD on health. For developing countries like ours, WHO recommends 5% of the GDP be spent on health care. So when is the gomen going to spend the remaining 2% or so? Hopefully, the public won't end up the loser when the NHFS/NHIF is implemented and the public is saddled with lower standards of the health services while the middlemen laugh all the way to the bank. This appears to have happened with the hospital support services which were pivatised in the recent past.
The MINIster of Health has a duty to inform us about the NHFS/NHIF in advance before it is implemented and we should be allowed to make our imputs and he should not shroud the NHFS/NHIF in secrecy. Is there something to hide?