Health Care Plan for all Malaysians

With the escalating cost of living and the ever rising medical fees in the country, health care becomes a very essential issue for every citizen to consider. Most of the retired Malaysians have some kinds of saving with the employees provident fund (EPF) which is made available for withdrawal upon reaching the retiring age. To me, most of the retirees should somehow able to make their ends meet if they do not face major critical health problems. Therefore it is imperative that the government should think of a way to take care of this concern. With the historic breakthrough under President Obama that the US congress had passed the health care bill, it is a big boost for the President popularity and also provides a safety net for the Americans at large who could ill afford the exorbitant price of paying health insurance. It is doubtless that there is a price to pay for a country to embark on nationwide health care for every citizen, but it is all for the good cause compared to spending money on  building missiles, sending troops to war on the lands of other countries etc.. Some critics were saying that the subsidy from the  government to run the health care program somehow will have to recoup somewhere from the pockets of every citizen; it might even cause the cost of doing business in Malaysia becoming high. This is because employers would have to foot portion of the health bills whether they like it or not. Despite all these, I would say in a country like Malaysia, instead of subsidizing on gasoline, sugar and flour, let us have subsidy in health care instead, which is more meaningful. The government must have some strategies or creative thoughts to overcome this, so that we could be all aligned and work towards the direction of a developed nation with health care plan in its blueprint. Could we not think about utilizing portion of the EPF fund for individuals to pay on those health care plan instead of a full subsidy? That would be perfect for everyone. It is also a good way to allow the contributors to make use of the fund the rightful way!

I am all for the nationwide health care plan for every Malaysian!