Perhaps with disruption and competition from social health insurance which caps payouts to private healthcare providers at more reasonable and transparent levels, can the escalating healthcare costs be finally brought under control.
It is unfortunate that there was no announcement of the development of a long-term solution to healthcare financing such as a social health insurance scheme for all.
There has been no move to earmark the revenue collected for the purpose of health, specifically and directly funding non-communicable disease (NCD) prevention, control and treatment.
Supporting healthcare innovation helps ensure that there is motivation and incentive into the treatment of less common ailments such as rare diseases. People with these diseases should not be left behind.
A national health insurance scheme could be a game changer to catapult the entirety of Malaysian healthcare into the 21st century, rather than piecemeal, as it is today.
With charges between RM1 and RM5 for outpatient and specialist care respectively, Malaysians are able to access high quality treatment and care at government clinics and hospitals.