Govt to table health insurance scheme for B40 during budget sitting in September

IPOH, Aug 5  (Bernama) -- The Health Ministry is in the final stage of drawing up a health insurance protection scheme for those in the B40 group to help them obtain health treatment at government and private hospitals.

Deputy Health Minister Dr Lee Boon Chye said the proposed insurance protection scheme would be tabled in Parliament during the 2019 budget sitting in October.

He said a minimum rate that could be afforded by the B40  would be set as premium payment for the insurance coverage.

As an example, the government will provide insurance protection of between RM10,000 and RM20,000 a year per family for their hospital bills, he told reporters after opening the 25th anniversary celebration of the Perak Thalassaemia Society at Tow Boo Keong Temple here today.

He said this in response to a suggestion by a former health director-general, Tan Sri Dr Mohd Ismail Merican, for the government to introduce a mandatory health insurance scheme  to cover increasing healthcare cost.

-- BERNAMA