Malaysia: Finance ministry says national health insurance scheme is non-profit
Source: Asia Insurance Review | Sep 2019
In a statement, the MoF said all government-paid premiums, if not used to pay claims to beneficiaries, would be placed in the mySalam Trust Fund.
MySalam is targeted at those aged between 18 and 55 who form the bottom 40% of the population in terms of income. It was started this year with MYR2bn ($479m) provided by Great Eastern Insurance and Takaful.
The ministry said, “It should be reiterated that there is no element of profit for Great Eastern Holdings nor Great Eastern Takaful (GET) through the mySalam scheme.
“Therefore, there is no incentive for GET to be a mySalam takaful manager, not to be able to issue any payments for eligible claims.”
The statement was made following a complaint that a critical illness claim from a 48-year-old lorry driver, with fourth stage colon cancer, had been rejected. The ministry said the driver failed to submit a copy of a medical report issued by a government hospital.
Under MySalam rules, any patient who has been diagnosed, at a government, university or military hospital in Malaysia, with any of the 36 critical illnesses covered by the scheme can submit a medical report to qualify for a one-time claim of MYR8,000. A