There are several factors that may contribute to higher medical insurance premiums.

    a. The rising cost of medical treatment or “medical inflation”

Medical procedures, hospital equipment and pharmaceuticals are improving to treat serious illnesses more effectively but all these improvements come at increased costs. Medical inflation refers to the increase in the average cost for treatment of illnesses.

    b. Current trends lead to greater needs

A rise in chronic, lifestyle illnesses like diabetes, high cholesterol and obesity requires regular and long-term treatment for a growing percentage of the population. This and a weak currency environment in our country makes the importing of hospital equipment, supplies and medicine to result in higher medical costs.

    c. Ageing population

As we get older, the likelihood of falling ill or getting injured will also increase which will mean more medical insurance claims. With more medical insurance claims, insurance premiums will increase to ensure that we can provide protection for as many people as we can.

In Malaysia, it currently stands at an average of 9% to 13%* every year. 

*Source: Willis Tower Watson 2021 Global Medical Trends Survey Report

Our medical insurance premiums are regularly reviewed based on data, statistics and current events such as medical inflation. 

The insurance industry has formed a joint task force to have on-going discussions and engagements with healthcare providers to examine rising medical costs and how all parties can work together to keep medical costs reasonable and affordable.

You can do your part by avoiding unnecessary medical insurance claims by:

a. understanding the necessity of recommended procedures and tests and availability of alternative treatments and procedures. Consult your doctor if the recommended procedure can be done as an outpatient or day surgery, meaning that hospitalisation is not required.

b. checking and comparing medical costs across our hospital network.

c. requesting for itemised bills from the hospital to verify that the billing is correct.

By doing so, you may preserve your annual/lifetime limits and help yourself and us to keep medical insurance claims low.

Insurance is based on the concept of sharing risks by pooling funds to help those who are in need. The funds from the pool are used to pay for medical costs incurred by contributors of the pool. When the number of insurance claims increases, the pool will not have enough to support the rest of the contributors as time goes on, which means that insurance premiums will need to be increased to maintain support for the contributors.

There are a number of options that you can consider to take control of your medical insurance premiums.

a. Review your benefit limits. The higher the benefit limits, the more medical insurance premiums you must pay. Higher benefit limits encourage higher utilisation resulting in higher medical claims.

b. Where available, consider a reimbursement plan where you pay the medical expenses incurred upfront and seek reimbursement from us later. This option will result in a premium reduction.

c. Where available, choose a plan with a deductible where you will share a certain amount of the hospitalisation expenses. For example, if you can afford a deductible of RM1,000, in a medical insurance claim of RM10,000, you will bear RM1,000 and we will pay RM9,000. Choosing a plan with a deductible will result in a premium reduction.

d. Where available, choose a plan with co–payment. This is where you pay a portion of the claimable hospitalisation expenses amount. Co-payment is usually expressed as a percentage, for example a 5% co-payment in a medical insurance claim of RM10,000 means you will pay RM500 as a share of the final amount, while we pay the remaining RM9,500.   

e. Some plans offer a combination of the above. For example, in a plan that you have agreed to both deductible and co-payment, you will need to pay RM1,000 deductible and RM450 (5% co-payment) after a deductible for a medical insurance claim of RM10,000.  

If you cancel your existing medical insurance plan with us, you will lose the continuity of your medical insurance coverage. You can choose to purchase from another insurance company but you may be imposed with new policy terms and conditions, such as completing a 30-day waiting period, additional waiting period for specified illnesses and/or any other conditions imposed by the new insurance company.

We will inform you by mail, email or SMS when the increase takes place at least 30 days before your policy expiry and advise you of the options available.