Public Health #27: Lessons from 1Care

Insurance providers in Malaysia are set to increase premiums as much as 30% for medical policies this year, due to factors like medical inflation, rising hospitalisation costs and increasing number of patients. If healthcare costs continue to rise unchecked, measures like these will be inevitable and will further disadvantage our population that is already struggling to cope. There is no doubt that healthcare financing reform is urgently needed for Malaysia, and the Ministry of Health is looking at their proposed Sihat Bersama 2030 as the solution. But what do we need to learn from the failed example of 1Care, that was first mooted back in 2009? Prof Dato' Dr Syed Mohamed Aljunid, Professor of Health Economics and Public Health Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia joins Azrul Mohd Khalib, CEO of Galen Centre for Health & Social Policy for this discussion.