LETTERS: An increasing number of people are badly affected by the unreasonable spike in medical fees charged by private hospitals.
This has prompted the insurance industry to follow suit and raise their medical insurance premiums, forcing people to cancel their policies and turn to government hospitals.
Thus, it is ironic that while people pay their premiums faithfully, the insurance giants and private hospitals have now started to blame each other for the rising cost of healthcare.
It is therefore also unfair for Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) to blame "overconsumption", giving the impression that the guilty ones are those in desperate need of healthcare services.
Though private hospitals and the insurance industry claim that the costs for their businesses are unsustainable, large businesses in both industries have recorded increased profits this year.
According to a recent report by Code Blue, a prominent hospital group was said to have recorded a net profit of RM623 million for the second quarter of this year, more than double a year earlier.
Meanwhile, a well-known insurance company was said to have recorded the group's profit after tax of about RM1.1 billion for the six months ended June 30, representing an impressive 33 per cent higher revenue than the same period last year.
That being the case, how can both industries then claim that their businesses may not be "sustainable" because of increasing costs?
The Health Ministry should be regulating private hospitals by not allowing them to charge as they like, while BNM shouldn't be buying the narrative put forth by the insurance industry.
JEYAKUMAR JOSEPH
Ayer Keroh, Melaka
* The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times