KUALA LUMPUR: The Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy today called for the setting up of a parliamentary inquiry and an independent commission to look at and regulate the fees and charges imposed in private healthcare facilities.
Its chief executive, Azrul Mohd Khalib, said the parliamentary inquiry should have the power to summon government and non-government representatives and require them to provide statements, present evidence, and data on this issue.
"It should be mandated to provide recommendations. The parliamentary inquiry's hearings and findings should be made publicly accessible," he said in a statement.
As for an independent statutory commission, Azrul said it should have a similar role and powers to the Malaysia Competition Commission (MyCC).
"If the Private Healthcare Facilities and Services Act (PHFSA) 1998, which currently regulates only doctor and procedure fees, cannot be adequately amended for this purpose, new legislation should be introduced to enact a Private Healthcare Commission.
"The commission could be mandated to independently review charges and fee increases. If the commission finds a rate increase to be unjustified, excessive, or unfairly discriminatory, it should be considered unreasonable and would need to be subjected to review and publicly disclosed.
"Currently, caps and thresholds on insurance premiums and hospital charges appear to be determined by the industry rather than regulated," he said.
It was reported that medical insurance premiums are expected to rise between 40 and 70 per cent next year, following notices sent by insurance providers to policyholders citing the rising cost of medical care in private hospitals as the primary reason.
Meanwhile, a statement by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) yesterday, which required insurance and takaful operators (ITOs) to review their current repricing strategies for more reasonable increases in medical insurance premiums, was described as disingenuous, cosmetic, and overdue.
"This response only came about in response to public backlash and numerous reports that people were terminating their policies in the face of double and even triple-digit percentage increases in their health insurance premiums.
"The horse has already left the stable. It was pointed out in July by the Galen Centre that Bank Negara's direction on this issue was problematic and likely to cause increased economic and medical hardship, large out-of-pocket payments, patients to delay seeking medical treatment, and people to terminate their insurance policies altogether.
"It would also fail to address the problem of high healthcare inflation," said Azrul.
He also highlighted the negative impact on policyholders, many of whom, facing exorbitant premium hikes, have opted to cancel their policies due to unaffordability.
He warned that this could lead to more people becoming uninsured and burdens on the public healthcare system.
He said that the responsibility for controlling medical inflation should lie with regulators, not policyholders, and called for greater oversight of the charges imposed by private healthcare providers.