FEB 9 — After weeks of disconcerting disclosures about the 1 Care health scheme and angry comments from doctors and the public, Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai has finally come out to say something about the 1 Care scheme. Shockingly, he has indirectly confirmed that there is indeed a proposal to make it mandatory for employees to contribute 10 per cent of their monthly salary to the 1 Care scheme. He told online news portal The Malaysian Insider that “nothing is final, even the 10 per cent salary (mandatory contribution) is a proposal... It hasn’t come to the policy stage yet”.
What Malaysians are outraged about is not whether anything is finalised but the shroud of secrecy surrounding the discussions and consultations on the 1 Care scheme. Apparently, doctors who were consulted were even forced to sign a pledge to keep the information confidential. Why is there no transparency and no participation from the public on such a drastic change to the healthcare system that will affect almost every Malaysian?
From the bitter experience in the past, Malaysians are justified in being concerned that by the time the 1 Care scheme is finalised to the policy stage it will be too late for us to object to it. The Peaceful Assembly Bill was pushed through Parliament in indecent haste despite our protests, the RM1.5 billion housing loan scheme using EPF funds is being bulldozed through without any consultation at all and a temporary operations licence was hastily granted to Lynas for its rare earth processing plant despite more than 1,000 submissions objecting to the plant. Although extremely foolhardy on the part of the government in an election year, it is quite possible that the 1 Care scheme will be similarly bulldozed through for implementation.
What is worrying is that the health minister is still not forthcoming about the status of this scheme. He said that the 1 Care scheme is still in its “infancy” but according to disclosures online, the Health Ministry’s deputy director told the Malaysian Pharmaceutical Society (MPS) at a seminar in January that “the 1 Care transformation proposals are now in the final stages.”
What is more shocking is that there is actually a proposal to force employees to contribute 10 per cent of their monthly salary to the 1 Care scheme. That is almost equivalent to what employees contribute to the EPF! And what do we get for paying this extortion rate to the health scheme? Six visits per year to an assigned general practitioner (GP) who will prescribe only cheap generic medicine. You want better medicine? Too bad you have to pay yourself. By the way, what do we pay our taxes for? Part of taxpayers’ money is already being used to finance the public healthcare system. Why do Malaysians have to pay an additional 10 per cent of their salary to the 1 Care scheme with no additional health benefits?
Although many Malaysians may not be aware of it, our current public healthcare system is working fine. There is no need to replace the whole system. In fact, our public healthcare system has been acknowledged to be one of the best in the world! Many countries have sent delegates to learn from our public healthcare system. Of course, there is room for improvement especially in proper financial management but it is not in such a state that a total revamp is required.
Malaysians must join in to voice their objections to the 1 Care proposals and to call on the government to concentrate on improving our current healthcare system instead. Otherwise, our future generations will be saddled with an additional financial burden that will not necessarily bring any additional health benefits but will more likely bring handsome profits to some parties and companies.
* A Better Malaysia reads The Malaysian Insider.
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication. The Malaysian Insider does not endorse the view unless specified.
