The fundamental issue at the core of Malaysia’s healthcare crisis is the uncontrolled escalation of medical costs and our increasingly unsustainable dual system — the public healthcare sector is way overstretched while the poorly regulated private sector is profiting from the lack of transparency. We fail to see how introducing a new MHIT product that allows low-middle-income families to withdraw from their EPF savings to pay for the premiums — so that more can switch from overstretched public healthcare to private hospitals — addresses any of the underlying problems.
We have written extensively on Malaysia’s evolving healthcare and medical insurance crisis, and particularly how it is worsening the financial strain being placed on struggling middle-income families. We had no intention of doing a follow-up article. However, after reading about the government’s most recent proposed solution — a new voluntary basic medical and health insurance and takaful (MHIT) product, to be paid for from our Employees Provident Fund (EPF) savings — we felt compelled to write this article. Does this solve the underlying problem with our healthcare system? Absolutely not. Indeed, this saying probably sums up our feelings: “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”
