PUTRAJAYA: The B40 National Protection Scheme, which will provide free health insurance and takaful protection, is expected to benefit 4.1 million individuals aged between 18 and 55 within the B40 households.
Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said yesterday the scheme, which will kick off on Jan 1, 2019, with an initial fund of RM2 billion, would also provide eligible recipients free medical coverage against 36 critical illnesses for five years.
He said the scheme would be offered to qualified low-income individuals within the B40 households to help them cope with hardship arising from their health issues, critical illness and hospitalisation which could affect their households’ flow of income.
“The recipients will receive a maximum of RM8,000 which will be disbursed within a period which will be announced later.
“The scheme will also provide income replacement in the event of hospitalisation at RM50 per day for a maximum period of 14 days or RM700 a year,” he said.
Lim said coverage under the scheme would commence on Jan 1, 2019, and the scheme’s registration and customer support services would be in operation from March 1, 2019.
“Registration can be made electronically over the internet without the use of paper forms and no medical examination is required for qualification checks.
“All qualified recipients will be notified through short messaging system (SMS). Further information on the mechanism and implementation of the scheme would be elaborated when it is launched early next year,” he said.
Among the critical illness covered under the scheme are Alzheimer, bacterial meningitis, blind/full vision loss, cancer and chronic aplastic anemia. – Bernama
