EXPANDED MYSALAM TO BENEFIT 8M PEOPLE

PUTRAJAYA: The government has expanded the public health protection scheme – mySalam – to cover nine more critical illnesses including polio. The scheme now covers 45 illnesses. Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said the scheme, effective Jan 1, also involves an increase in the age limit of applicants, from 55 to 65, including Bantuan Sara Hidup (BSH) recipients who are single and disabled persons and has been extended to the M40 group earning an annual gross income of RM100,000 and below. The scheme provides for a one-off payment of RM4,000 and daily hospitalisation allowance of RM50 for a maximum 14 days for those admitted to a government hospital, university medical hospital or army hospital, he said. “The government expects the expansion of the scheme to benefit some eight million individuals by year-end,” said Lim at the launch of the extended scheme yesterday.