1Care: Another round of 'piratisation'?

While the mooted 1Care health system may have some benefits, taxpayers are finding it difficult to trust the government with billions of ringgit in funds that the reform will create through taxation, said Dr Xavier Jeyakumar, the Selangor exco member in charge of health.

The government, Jeyakumar said, is already dipping its hands into the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) for RM1.5 billion to finance its low-cost housing loan scheme and there is no guarantee that it will not do the same in the case of 1Care.

"How big is this fund? This fund is huge. It can go on an equal standard of the EPF over the years because it goes into the billions (of ringgit) every year, that's how big it is," he told a 1Care healthcare reform forum in Petaling Jaya yesterday.

Under 1Care scheme, employees and employers will be taxed for a social health insurance scheme with no option to opt out, but the government will also contribute to the fund.

Jeyakumar said that the country's abysmal record on privatisation is not inspiring confidence in the government's sincerity to reduce healthcare cost with 1Care.

"We have such a poor track record of privatisation because cronyism came in, and privatisation became ‘piratisation’," he said.

Giving an example, Jeyakumar said drugs that cost five sen a tablet are being sold to public hospitals at 25 sen each by private companies, with which the government has signed a contract for 15 years.

"If you are sincere about bringing change to the healthcare system in this country, we welcome it, but we want you to be transparent, we want you to be open and hold discussions with all stakeholders," he said.

Critics have complained that the scheme is shrouded in secrecy, but Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai said last Saturday that the plan is still in its infancy.

"The public wants information, but we can't give any because we don't have it. So only when the committee finishes the discussions will the matter be open to the public," he had reportedly said.

Criticism of the scheme has largely revolved around a concept paper prepared by the Health Ministry in 2009 which is publicly available.

‘Increase budget allocation’

Federation of Private Medical Practitioners Association of Malaysia committee member Ng Swee Choon defended activists against accusations from the government that they were fabricating numbers.

"This is in the concept paper... The issue of taxing 10 percent of income is a hot issue. At first they (government) said we're making up the numbers, then now they say it's about that but it hasn't been finalised," he said.

Quoting from the foreword of the healthcare chapter in the Economic Transformation Programme guide, he criticised Liow for describing healthcare as a "wealth creator".

Ng said the concept paper has already acknowledged that the present healthcare system is "excellent", and noted that the government should "not fix something that isn't broken".

"All the government needs to do is to increase healthcare expenditure by an extra two percent of GDP," he said, explaning that most developed nations had an average of six percent compared to Malaysia's four percent.

Also present was Citizen's Health Coalition spokesperson T Jayabalan, who stressed that the government should not try to absolve itself from its responsibilities.

"Healthcare is a right, so the government cannot pass the buck to the rakyat," he said.

Ministry representatives did not attend the forum although an invitation had been sent.