A group of PKR lawmakers is pushing for scrutiny over the alleged discrepancies in how much private hospitals charge insured patients compared to those who are uninsured.
In a joint statement today, they said the charges - as briefed to lawmakers by Bank Negara Malaysia and the Health Ministry - could be up to four times higher for insured patients.
"(MPs) were informed that some medical charges were different and not transparent.
"For example, a dengue patient who has a guarantee letter (GL) (from an insurer) has to pay RM4,978 while a pay and claim patient only pays RM1,288," they said.
Other examples cited are an insured pneumonia patient being charged RM6,859 while an uninsured patient paid just RM2,654, and cataract treatment costing RM6,000 with insurance and RM3,000 for those without.
The push for scrutiny comes amid an attempt by insurers to increase premium payments by between 40 to 70 percent - citing increased cost of private healthcare.
Intervention from Bank Negara and the government, however, will see the increased cost spread out over a minimum of three years - with 80 percent of policy holders expected to only experience a hike of less than 10 percent per year.
Pricing of ‘consumables’
Besides discrepancies in charges to insured patients, the PKR MPs also raised the flag on lack of regulation on the price of "consumables" charged by hospitals.
Consumables are single-use items such as gloves, masks and syringes.
To tackle the problem, the MPs are urging those who believe to have received unreasonable hospital bills to contact them at aduan.pkr.hospital.insurans@gmail.com.
The MPs who signed the statement are Sim Tze Tzin (Bayan Baru), Jimmy Pua (Tebrau), Taufiq Johari (Sungai Petani), Chiew Choon Mun (Miri) and R Yuneswaran (Segamat).
PKR senator Bob Manola also signed the statement. - FMT
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