MP to push for open hearing on private hospital charges

 

Bayan Baru MP Sim Tze Tzin said a line must be drawn between profitability and profiteering in fees charged by private hospitals.

KUALA LUMPUR: 

A member of the parliamentary watchdog Public Accounts Committee has pledged to move for an open hearing into rising medical costs and medical insurance, paving the way to set up a regulatory body on private hospitals.

Bayan Baru MP Sim Tze Tzin of PKR said the public hearing would involve a town hall session open to the public, and hoped concerned citizens would come forward to provide their opinions to the government.

Sim said he would discuss with committee chairman Mas Ermieyati Samsudin about summoning private healthcare stakeholders, including the management of private hospitals and private insurance companies.

He said some MPs are pressing for a body to regulate the charges and fees of private hospitals “because there aren’t any frameworks monitoring them”.

“I think this should be addressed,” he told reporters after a forum on rising medical costs, held at Universiti Malaya today. “We will begin with having the PAC summon stakeholders, including private healthcare and insurance companies, NGOs and concerned citizens.”

Sim said although private hospitals and insurance companies are profit-driven organisations, a line must be drawn between profitability and excessive profiteering.

During the forum, Sim cited Bank Negara Malaysia’s data showing that private hospital patients with insurance guarantee letters were charged fees several times higher than those who paid out of their own pockets.

“There are no (comprehensive) regulations for private hospitals. They can charge whatever they want. For example, they charged RM20 for a pair of gloves that can be bought at RM50 a box,” he added.

Azrul Khalib of the Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy said a regulatory body is needed to look into the prices of items listed on private hospital bills.

He said industry research showed that only 30% of medical bills are regulated such as fees for specialists and drugs, while the rest are unregulated.

“Private hospitals are sometimes billing for things that do not need to be charged, such as the use of wheelchairs,” he added.

Private health insurance and takaful operators have been ordered by BNM to spread out an expected increase in premiums over a minimum of three years. Health insurance premiums are expected to increase by 40% to 70%.

The central bank said Malaysia’s medical inflation reached 15% this year, much higher than the global and Asia-Pacific average of 10%.

BNM’s measures were described by economist Geoffrey Williams as short-term policies; he called for an independent oversight body to be set up, to prevent any unethical rise in medical costs leading to higher insurance premiums. - FMT