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Prevent another 1Care fiasco by consulting stakeholders, gov't told
Published:  Jul 28, 2016 9:28 AM
Updated: 2:23 AM

An opposition lawmaker has called upon the government to hold consultations with various stakeholders before introducing another national healthcare insurance scheme.

Serdang MP Ong Kian Ming in a statement said this is necessary to prevent a repeat of public backlash when the 1Care national healthcare insurance was proposed in 2011, and the plan eventually had to be cancelled.

He added given that healthcare and healthcare financing is a complicated issue and there are many options available on the table for countries to adopt, it was astounding that the government continued to take the top down approach in coming up with a plan and then announcing its introduction to Malaysians.

"The consequence of this top-down decision making process is that there will be a lot of misinformation and speculation as to the underlying motivation for introducing this healthcare insurance scheme when it is announced.

"This will make it all but impossible to have a rational and fact-based discussion and debate on this issue," said Ong.

The MP asked why stakeholders had not been included in the study phase of the scheme.

Ong pointed out a health economist from Harvard University, professor William Hsiao, has been working with the government to design the proposed healthcare insurance scheme.

This is aside from the recent Joint Learning Network for University Healthcare Access global meeting held in Putrajaya in partnership with the Health Ministry, the World Bank and other NGOS.

"I am sure that interested stakeholders including Malaysian members of parliament with background in the health sector would have benefited from being briefed by professor Hsiao and also attending the JLN meeting in Putrajaya.

"And yet, this has not been done, as far as I know," he said.

Ong was responding to Health Minister Dr S Subramaniam, who last week reportedly said the proposed scheme would be voluntary and an alternative to private healthcare.

The minister also said the ministry had been studying the government healthcare insurance scheme concept for the past few months and had been analysing the challenges involved in implementing such a scheme.

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