Malaysia urged to boost healthcare funding to spare patients pain of costly private treatment

Malaysia’s government must substantially boost funding of public healthcare to avoid driving patients into the arms of costly private treatment, civil society groups have said, as Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim warned health insurance firms against “unjustified” increases of premiums.

The government has imposed a 10 per cent annual cap on rises in premiums following public outcry over plans by insurance operators in Malaysia to raise fees by as much as 70 per cent this year.

Insurers say the sharp rise is needed to keep pace with rising private healthcare expenses of an ageing society and surging global costs of medical instruments.

But Anwar on Saturday admonished the industry.

“If I am not convinced that the increase is reasonable, I will not support or allow it,” he was quoted as saying by national newswire Bernama at the launch of a new block of a private hospital in his home state of Penang.

Medical cost inflation grew by 12.6 per cent in 2023, more than the double average of 5.6 per cent that year, the Association of Private Hospitals of Malaysia said last month.

Insurance companies are expected to abide by the government’s limit on increasing medical premiums, but face uncertainty “as to whether medical costs and claims can be contained”, according to Maybank Investment Bank in a client note on Monday.

The root of the problem, however, lay in the lack of funding and chronic shortages of doctors and nurses in government hospitals already struggling with overcapacity, said Marimuthu Nadason, president of the Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca).