If your medical insurance premium has been repriced and you cannot afford to continue, your insurer is legally required to offer you an alternative product at the same or lower premium. This is a formal mandate from BNM, implemented through PIAM’s Interim Measures for MHIT Policyholders. No additional medical underwriting is required, and no switching fees apply. This is a right you have right now — you do not need to wait for the Base MHIT plan in 2027 to access it.
What the BNM Mandate Actually Requires
Under the PIAM Interim Measures for MHIT Policyholders, every insurer operating in Malaysia must:
- Offer at least one alternative MHIT product at the same or lower premium as your current repriced plan
- Make this product available by end of 2025 — if they did not already have one, they were required to create and launch one
- Process the switch without additional underwriting — this means no new medical declaration, no health questionnaire, no waiting periods on conditions already covered under your existing plan
- Charge no switching fees — there is no administrative cost to you for exercising this option
What “same or lower premium” means in practice: you should be able to find a product from your current insurer that costs no more than what you are currently paying, or less. The trade-off is that the alternative product will typically involve a co-payment, a deductible, or both — you take on a larger share of the cost at the point of claim in exchange for a lower monthly outlay.
Why This Mandate Exists
The premium repricing wave that began in earnest in 2024 and 2025 has been significant. Some policyholders have seen increases of 30% to 70% in a single repricing cycle — driven by medical claims inflation running above 16% per year across the industry.
For many Malaysians, especially those in their 50s and 60s when premiums are already highest, these increases have pushed coverage to unaffordable levels. The result: approximately 340,000 Malaysians surrendered their medical insurance between 2024 and mid-2026.
BNM and PIAM introduced the interim measures specifically to prevent this exit from private coverage. The mandate ensures that policyholders who cannot absorb a repriced premium have a structured, low-friction way to move to a more affordable product without losing coverage altogether or being subjected to fresh underwriting that could leave their conditions excluded.
What the Alternative Plan Looks Like
The alternative product your insurer offers will typically be a restructured version of your current plan that includes either:
- A co-payment element: you pay a fixed percentage of each bill, and the insurer pays the rest. For example, a 20% co-payment on a RM 10,000 hospital bill means you pay RM 2,000. You can read more about how co-payments work.
- A deductible element: you pay a fixed amount per admission before coverage kicks in. A RM 500 or RM 1,000 deductible per hospitalisation is common. More detail on how deductibles work.
- A combination of both: a deductible plus a co-payment on amounts above the deductible.
The benefit of these structures is a meaningfully lower monthly premium. The cost is that you absorb more at the point of claim. For someone who is hospitalised infrequently and has modest savings to cover a deductible or co-pay, this trade-off is usually financially sensible.
What the alternative plan should preserve:
- Coverage for your existing declared conditions (no new exclusions can be applied without fresh underwriting, which is prohibited under this mandate)
- The same insurer and policy number continuity (in most cases)
- Access to the same hospital panel
How to Exercise This Right
The process is straightforward, but you need to initiate it — insurers are not required to automatically move you to a cheaper product. They must offer one when asked.
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Contact your insurer or your agent — call the customer service line or reach out through your agent. Ask specifically for “alternative MHIT products available under the BNM interim measures” or “cheaper plan options following my repricing.”
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Request a written comparison — ask for the premium, deductible, co-payment terms, and annual limit of each alternative product side by side with your current plan. This makes the trade-off visible.
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Check what conditions remain covered — confirm in writing that your existing declared conditions will not be subjected to new exclusions on the alternative plan.
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Make the switch before your renewal date — the switch typically takes effect at your next policy renewal. Do not let the repriced premium auto-renew if you intend to move to an alternative.
If your insurer refuses to offer an alternative product, or claims they have none available, you can escalate to:
- BNMLINK: 1-300-88-5465
- PIAM (Persatuan Insurans Am Malaysia): for general insurance takaful operators
- The Financial Mediation Bureau for formal dispute resolution
What This Means for Your Policy Review
The existence of this mandate makes a policy review more valuable now than it has ever been. A proper review looks at:
- Whether your current plan is still fit for purpose or has been significantly repriced beyond what you need
- Which alternative products your insurer offers under the BNM interim measures and how they compare
- Whether a deductible or co-payment plan actually suits your health history and financial situation — for some people, it is an excellent trade; for others, the out-of-pocket exposure at claim time is too high
- Whether staying with your current insurer is better or worse than exploring other options in the market
The key decision is not simply “cheaper vs more expensive” — it is whether the alternative plan’s structure matches how you actually use healthcare. Someone who sees a specialist quarterly for a chronic condition will calculate this very differently from someone who has been hospitalised once in the last decade.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does my insurer have to give me a cheaper plan even if I have pre-existing conditions?
Yes. The BNM mandate specifically prohibits insurers from requiring additional underwriting when switching you to an alternative MHIT product under the interim measures. Your pre-existing declared conditions must carry over to the new plan without new exclusions.
What if the cheapest plan my insurer offers still costs more than I can afford?
If no alternative product meets the “same or lower premium” requirement, escalate to BNMLINK at 1-300-88-5465. The mandate is clear: the insurer must have a product available at your current premium level or below. If they cannot demonstrate this, BNM wants to know.
Will switching to a cheaper plan affect my no-claims history or loyalty standing?
In most cases, no. The switch is treated as a product change within the same insurer, not a new application. Confirm this in writing with your insurer before switching, as policy continuity terms vary slightly between providers.
Can I switch to a cheaper plan even if I have not received a repricing notice?
The BNM interim measures were designed primarily for policyholders facing repricing, but the underlying principle — that insurers must offer alternative MHIT products — applies broadly. Even if you have not received a formal repricing notice, you can ask your insurer about alternative products at any time. There is no rule that prevents you from requesting a product comparison.
Is the Base MHIT plan in 2027 separate from what my insurer must offer me now?
Yes. The BNM Base MHIT plan (expected from early 2027) is a separate, standardised product that all insurers will be required to offer. The current interim measures are a bridge — designed to keep policyholders in coverage right now, before the standardised plan is available. You do not need to wait for 2027 to get a more affordable option.
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