James Bong
KUCHING: The National Association of Malaysian Life Insurance and Family Takaful Advisors (Namlifa) appeals to the government to waive Goods and Services Tax (GST) on medical insurance.
President of Namlifa James Bong said medical insurance ‘is a necessity and that no party should benefit or profit from medical insurance’.
“Namlifa is appealing to the government to waive GST on medical card.
“Many countries in the world do not impose GST on non-life insurance,” he told a press conference here yesterday.
Bong asserted the proposed GST waiver on medical insurance would also benefit the government as government hospitals and clinics would see less patients if more Malaysians have medical cards.
He claimed that many Malaysians surrendered their insurance policies in the last couple of years due to the six per cent GST.
Quoting the latest statistics released by Bank Negara Malaysia, he said 325,396 individuals surrendered their insurance policies in 2013, and the figure kept increasing to 531,444 in 2014, 610,771 in 2015 and 639,018 last year.
“We believe that they gave up their policies because they could no longer afford medical insurance when GST was imposed.”
Bong said the industry ‘did not enjoy any additional benefits or incentives for years’ and also urged the government to review the personal income tax relief for life insurance and Employees Provident Fund (EPF) contribution.
He proposed that the government separate EPF contribution from life insurance for tax relief of up to RM6,000.
“If one contributes RM5,000 to EPF, it means that there is only RM1,000 left for life insurance. We want the government to separate the two,” he said.
He also called upon insurance agents to enhance their professionalism and productivity to help boost the growth of the industry.
“Namlifa supports the Balance Score Card initiative by the Bank Negara to raise the standard of professionalism among insurance agents as this is important for the industry,” he added.