Call For More Info on 1Care Plan
PETALING JAYA: Netizens are calling for more information on the 1Care for 1Malaysia healthcare reforms as debate about the scheme picks up.
Online protests against the plan have been mounting although the Health Ministry has yet to released its details.
However, the “supposed details” of the plan posted by a group of citizens and medical professionals who called themselves the Citizens’ Healthcare Coalition (CHC) on various social media platforms since last month claim that Malaysians would have to make a compulsory contribution of up to 10% of their monthly income to finance the new healthcare system.
The CHC has also claimed that the people would only be allowed a maximum of six visits to their designated primary health care provider (PHCP) a year, and that they would only be allowed to obtain treatment for one problem during each visit.
This prompted health deputy director-general (medical) Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah to join in the discussion on their #taknak1care Facebook page to clarify that the 1Care plan is only at its conceptual stage.
Student Aerie Rahman, who first got to know about the plan through online sources, tweeted, “Waiting to hear the Govt’s clarification about 1Care before making comments. A bit miffed that I found out about it from alternative sources.”
So far, official documents by the Health Ministry have only outlined the general concept of the plan.
A copy of presentation by Health deputy director-general (Research and Technical Support) Datuk Dr Maimunah A. Hamid in 2010 said that the 1Care system would integrate the current public and private healthcare systems.
It will be financed by a single fund managed by a Government-run National Health Financing Authority that would be accountable to the Health Ministry.
2nd,Feb., 2012
This fund pools together collections through general taxation, a new social health insurance and co-payments should a person require medication or treatment outside the list of benefits covered under the 1Care system.
Both employers and employees are expected to contribute to this.
In terms of healthcare delivery, the entire population will be registered to specific general practitioners or primary healthcare providers (PHCP). They will have to see their PHCP to get a referral if they need specialist care.
However, if they want to see a specialist without visiting their PHCP, they would need to pay an additional fee themselves or with their private health insurance.
Since the 1Care plan was announced last year, the ministry has been conducting consultations with doctors through their professional associations.
It has also sought public comments through a post on its official blog (http://blogmoh.moh.gov.my/?p=653), which saw just eight comments since July two years ago.
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