Introduction

Introduction

Over the last five decades, Malaysia has enjoyed a steady increase in economic growth and social development and is projected to become a high-income country in the next 5 to 8 years. In the Southeast Asia region, Malaysia has one of the strongesthealthsystems,havinglongprovideduniversalhealth coverageforallMalaysianswithaccesstoqualityandaffordable healthservices.

However, in the context of rising medical inflation, chronic diseases, and aging and migrant populations, current health financingmeasuresarestrainingtomaintainthebalanceofhighquality andaffordable healthcare for all people. The Malaysian government has enacted a series of measures to address the growingdemandformorecostlyandchronichealthservicesand to mitigate the burden of chronic diseases on the average household.

In Malaysia, almost 38% of healthcare payments are out-ofpocket.89 This means Malaysians spend an average of RM1700 perpersonpayingout-of-pocketfortheirhealthcareservicesin 2017alone.Thiscanbeextremelytaxing,especiallyforthosein the B40 (bottom 40thpercentile)income group and even M40 (41st percentile to 80th percentile) income group. Apart from that,only22%ofMalaysiansownmedicalinsurance.90 Henceit is not surprising to know that a series of initiatives were launchedbythe government of Malaysia totarget the B40and M40populations. Atthefederallevel,PeKaB40hasbeenestablishedtohelpB40 Malaysianstogetaccesstomedicaldevices.91 Thisinitiativealso intendstoincreasehealthcarescreeningamongthispopulation. Furthermore, it even provides a transport incentive and

treatment completion incentive for the B40 Malaysians to increase their adherence to healthcare treatments. Similar incentives have also been established by various state governmentstohelptheB40individualsintheirstatessuchas the Peduli Sihat scheme which was developed by the state of Selangor.92 This similar strategy of allocating funding for preventiveandprimarycarehasbeenwidelyemployedinother countries93 and is seen as an important strategy to minimize patients ending up in hospitals for much more expensive treatments.94

Despite these strategies, much more still needs to be done to helpMalaysians,especiallytheB40andM40Malaysians.Inthis series of articles, consultant Dr. Nasir Ismail, explains how fintechforhealthcansupportthefinancialburdenofhealthcare costswhenpublicsectorresourcesarenotenough.Hehighlights anewconceptthattheFintechforHealthprogramisexploring –theuseofinvestmentvehiclestosave(withstrongerreturns) onhealthcareexpenses.AcasestudyonMerchantradeAsia,one ofthelargesthomegrownremittanceprovidersinMalaysia,also details the role the company is playing in providing financial protectiontotheB40andmigrantpopulations.

Topics

1. M40 Households: The forgotten group in Malaysian healthcare financing 2. Investing for health? Time to change the paradigm in

Malaysia 3. The rising out-of-pocket healthcare expenditures in

Malaysia; opportunities for collaboration between fintech companies and the healthcare sector don’