17th August 2026 - 3 min read
Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) has launched a pilot of MediAsas in the Klang Valley ahead of its nationwide rollout in January 2027. The pilot runs until October 2026 and is open to Malaysian citizens with a valid MyKad, BNM deputy governor Aznan Abdul Aziz said.
MediAsas comes in two tiers, each offering a different level of annual coverage. MediAsas Teras provides annual coverage of about RM100,000, automatically increasing to RM150,000 for policyholders aged 60 and above. MediAsas Fleksi offers a higher annual limit of RM300,000, but requires a deductible of RM10,000 to RM15,000.
Teras’s lower limit was designed around what most people typically need, not very high limits that could push premiums higher for everyone. Aznan said RM100,000 would cover 99% of treatment episodes across common medical conditions in a year, based on 2024 claims data from Insurance Services Malaysia (ISM).
Applicants will still need to disclose their health history through a questionnaire during the application process, and MediAsas does not cover pre-existing conditions, similar to most private medical insurance today.
Only Malaysian citizens with a valid MyKad can join during the pilot phase, while permanent residents and foreign residents can apply once the plan launches nationwide. The basic plan is expected to start from around RM65 a month.
Aznan said MediAsas is meant to complement, not replace, Malaysia’s public healthcare system, and forms part of the government’s wider RESET strategy to address rising medical costs. He cited a World Bank finding that rising healthcare utilisation accounted for about 70% of cost growth, while higher average costs per claim contributed about 25%.
Other RESET measures include medicine price displays, published price ranges for common procedures, and a shift toward bundled hospital payments instead of itemised billing, intended to reduce cost variation across hospitals.
Aznan said future premium increases would be guided by data and reviewed by an independent governance board, though the board’s full membership has yet to be finalised.
It is not yet confirmed whether Malaysians who sign up for MediAsas during the pilot phase will keep their pricing once the nationwide version launches, or be moved onto new terms. BNM’s own FAQ on the pilot states that a policy issued during this phase can be replaced by the final approved version later, without specifying how that would affect premiums already being paid.
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Iman writes about personal finance with curiosity. She is interested in the stories behind money, the hesitation around big decisions, and the small habits that shape financial futures. Off the clock, she is either dissecting a film or climbing her way up the leaderboard in her favourite games.
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