Govt to consider raising age eligibility limit for mySalam health scheme

KUALA LUMPUR: The government is to consider a proposal to enable people older than 55 years of age to benefit from the mySalam national health protection scheme now available for people between 18 and 55, the Dewan Rakyat was told yesterday.

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said eligibility in the private sector is for people between 18 and 55 but since mySalam is a government initiative, the government will consider the proposal to raise the eligibility limit in terms of age.

The mySalam national health protection scheme is an initiative of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government that aims to provide 3.69 million B40 (bottom 40 per cent of income earners) individuals aged between 18 and 55 years and their spouses with free takaful health protection.

Lim was replying to a supplementary question during the Ministers’ Question Time from Maria Chin Abdullah (PH-Petaling Jaya) who had wanted to know whether the government proposed to raise the age limit for the mySalam cover as many people suffer from diseases such as Alzheimer’s after 55 years of age.

Replying to Maria Chin’s original question on what happens to the unclaimed mySalam funds, Lim said the surplus will be returned to the mySalam scheme.

The minister said a trust fund was established to manage the contributions from the insurers and takaful operators to the scheme.

Elaborating, he said the mySalam initiative was implemented with the collaboration of the insurance company, Great Eastern Holdings, which contributed an initial fund of RM2 billion to the mySalam trust fund.

To begin with, he said, the scheme is offered through Great Eastern Takaful Berhad, a takaful operator registered under the Islamic Financial Services Act 2013 and regulated by Bank Negara Malaysia.

The scheme provides for a one-time payment of RM8,000 to an eligible individual diagnosed with any of 36 critical illnesses, including cancer and heart disease, he said.

It also provides for a RM50 per day income replacement for a maximum period of 14 days, or RM700 annually, to those receiving treatment at any government hospital, he added.