Providing medical care to company staff in Malaysia will cost an additional 17.3 percent this year compared to 2015, a survey has found.

Professional services firm-linked research body Mercer March Benefits expects Malaysia to experience the second largest jump among the 11 countries polled in Asia.

"Heart disease, cancers and respiratory disease continue to drive up healthcare costs," Mercer March Benefits said.

Malaysia is second behind Vietnam, where the cost for companies to provide staff with medical care is expected to jump 19.3 percent this year compared to 2015.

At just over 17 percent, the expected rise in cost of providing medical care to staff in Malaysia is close to double the global average rise of 9.8 percent. The regional average is 11.5 percent.

In Asia, most medical care claims are for circulatory system diseases, cancer, respiratory conditions and gastro-intestinal diseases.

The Mercer March Benefits survey was done on 180 insurers in 49 countries from Feb to May 2016.

The government targets at least 75 percent of Malaysian households to be insured by 2020, in the midst of cuts in government health spending.

Medical inflation has also seen an increase in accident, health and life insurance rates of up to 10 percent last year.

In 2013, the insurance industry paid out RM8.42 billion in medical claims and bonuses.