KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 13): A think tank has urged the government to review its plan to roll out a healthcare insurance scheme catering for the bottom 40% (B40) income group, claiming that it is not sustainable.

Citizen Health Initiative (CHI) also argued that the plan contains "built-in forces" that will escalate the healthcare cost, which is increasing at an annual rate of 10%.

"Our concern is over the proposal to introduce voluntary health insurance and then move to social health insurance.

"Basically, (this is an) insurance-based healthcare system, which has built in forces to escalate the healthcare cost," said CHI representative Dr Mary Suma Cardosa.

Cardosa, a former president of the Malaysian Medical Association, was speaking to reporters after a 30-minute meeting with the five-member Council of Eminent Persons.

The proposed health care insurance for the B40 group is at the finalisation stage and will be tabled in Parliament during the October sitting. It was mooted by the former director-general of health Tan Sri Dr Mohd Ismail Merican, with the aim of reducing the gap in healthcare services between the government and private sector.

Cardosa said CHI feels the government's solution to implement the health insurance does not address the imbalances between the public and private healthcare services.

"There is a need to redress the imbalance in the healthcare systems such as patient workload to personnel and the healthcare expenditure for the amount of output," she said.

Instead of rolling out the proposed insurance scheme, Cardosa said the government should improve the current healthcare system, which is tax-based and efficient in controlling the healthcare cost.

"With the tax-based system, as opposed to the insurance scheme, the government will have the means to control the healthcare cost," she added.