Insurance products will be affected by any move to extend the three-year interim measures imposed by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) to address rising medical insurance premiums, says the finance ministry.
Deputy finance minister Lim Hui Ying told the Dewan Rakyat that the interim measures were introduced last December as a short-term solution to stabilise premium increases.
“Extending these interim measures beyond three years would affect the long-term sustainability of health insurance products,” she said in the lower house.
Lim was responding to a supplementary question from Roslan Hashim (PN-Kulim Bandar Baharu) on whether the government planned to extend the interim measures and what long-term initiatives were being considered to address medical inflation and ensure the stability of the private health insurance system.
Under the interim measures, BNM imposed a 10% cap on premium increases for most policyholders over a three-year period.
The central bank, which regulates the insurance industry, also said that policyholders who cancelled or allowed their policies to lapse in 2024 due to premium hikes could reinstate their coverage without additional costs.
Lim said recent data showed that since the measures were implemented, 90% of policyholders experienced premium adjustments of less than 10% in the first year, outperforming BNM’s initial target that 80% of policyholders would see increases below that threshold.
“For a small number of policyholders who faced higher adjustments, these involved products that had not seen price revisions for an extended period,” she added.
