PUTRAJAYA: The Health Ministry is seriously considering to introduce a healthcare insurance scheme which is run and supported by the government to address the weaknesses in the private healthcare system.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S.Subramaniam said the government health insurance scheme would be voluntary and an alternative to the private healthcare system currently used by over 50 per cent of Malaysians.
“There will be no private player and no profit motive. The government health insurance scheme will evolve according to time.
“It is too early for me to give details such as the structure the scheme and so on. I am just throwing it as a concept and let the relevant party discuss it,” he told reporters here, today.
The move to introduce the government healthcare insurance scheme did not mean that the government plans to stop the current public healthcare delivery system.
“The government is still responsible to the public in providing the public healthcare system that everyone is utilising now. The public healthcare delivery will still continue and will not change.”
Subramaniam said, the ministry has been studying the government healthcare insurance scheme concept for the past few months and analysing the challenges involve in implementing such a scheme.
“Once we are confident, we will offer it to the public,” he further said.
The ministry came up with the idea of introducing the government healthcare insurance scheme as it was aware that one of the challenges for Malaysians was paying for healthcare services.
“Such a situation can get people into financial catastrophe. The government healthcare insurance scheme may just be the answer.”
He said Malaysia hosted delegates from 27 countries who attended the Joint Learning Network Global Meeting which is initiated by the World Bank.
Themed ‘Building Strong Health Systems to Achieve Universal Health Coverage’ the meeting held in Putrajaya began Wednesday and ended today.
The meeting is a platform for countries to share views, opinion, problems and challenges which they faced in delivering healthcare system. --BERNAMA