Medical Insurance/Takaful Inflation Re-Pricing - A Wrong Focus on Health Care Priorities?

 

        New Straits Times, 14th December 2024, p.5

Medical Takaful/Insurance Re-Pricing Not Final

It seems that this issue of Medical Takaful/Insurance re-pricing is still being debated. The Takaful and Insurance Operators, it appears to have settled the re-pricing process and everything seems to move towards that. Even one of the certificate holder as reported below already received a notice from the company on the increased premium. Naturally many people are not happy with this increase which has been viewed by as outrageously high and frequent. Under pressure, particularly where the question was raised by several MPs in the Parliament on the matter, the Finance Ministry agree to review the hike. The news was reported in a Malay papers and did not not make the way to one of the English new papers that I subscribe. It seems to be something of a great concern to the government as the Prime Minister himself has to make a statement. Not sure what the outcome of this review will be. I am sure, the re-pricing will still increase the price but less than what has been proposed previously.

  

Medical Insurance "Repricing" a.k.a. pay more

The term repricing here is on the increase of premium that the policy holder has to pay in the coming years as the result of the rising of medical cost inflation up to more than 50 percent since 2021. Three main factors have been identified to this increase. (1) rising cost of medical treatments (2) use of new technologies (which is in my view supposed to be cheaper? but in medical terms, the prime purpose, I suspect, is to cure illness rather than to reduce cost) and (3) increase demand for the use of private medical services (not sure whether this medial tourism where Malaysia is famous for in one of the reason for this increase). The recent implementation of co-payment option of insurance or co-takaful medical plan can help maintaining the pricing of the premium. In respect of Takaful to my knowledge the existing takaful certificate holders may not be affected by this repricing unless there is a mechanism to do so, such as mutual agreement or provision of the effective contribution based on ceiling rate etc. Anyhow the best way to avoid additional cost to your health care is to stay healthy.