PETALING JAYA: An independent committee must conduct a sincere and open review of the MySalam scheme, said a health think tank.
Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy chief executive Azrul Mohd KhaIib said the committee could make recommendations to the government which could help facilitate increased awareness and understanding of the scheme, improve inclusion of potential beneficiaries and ensure that the process is easier to apply.
“Unfortunately, despite the good intentions of the MySalam insurance scheme, people are being left behind. This is due to its design which is too similar to that of a for-profit critical illness insurance coverage, rather than one which has been designed to meet the specific needs and concerns of the B40 group,“ he told theSun.
He was responding to Parti Sosialis Malaysia chairman Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj, who said that the MySalam scheme was not benefitting the people, as only about RM1 million had been paid out, despite the RM400 million paid to an insurance company to carry out the scheme.
Jeyakumar also said the promised RM2 billion can be channelled to the Health Ministry to help patients with their co-payments required of them in government hospitals.
Azrul said the reasons why fewer people from the B40 were applying for the scheme was because of the exclusion of diagnosis made before Jan 1, the age prerequisite of 18-50 years, the requirement that only medical reports from government hospitals are accepted, and omission of key non-communicable diseases and illnesses which disproportionately affect the B40 such as diabetes and mental health.
“Though slightly more than 100 people have successfully claimed the RM8,000 benefit so far, the numbers should be closer to more than a thousand at this point.
“Tens of thousands of applications should have been received. People are being excluded and left out of MySalam coverage,“ he said.
