The Malaysian Takaful Association (MTA) hopes the government will offer an affordable and adequate takaful protection plan for the B40 and M40 income groups in Budget 2024.
Chief executive officer Mohd Radzuan Mohamed said there is an insurance protection gap for certain segments that needs attention post-COVID-19 pandemic.
“The segments include the B3 and B4 subgroups in the B40 group as well as the M1 and M2subgroups under the M40 which are highly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and need assistance in terms of takaful protection.
“Most of them are gig workers and young parents. If they were to be involved in accidents, they would lose their source of income; hence they need adequate protection at affordable prices,” he told Bernama.
The B3 subgroup has a household income ranging from RM3,171 to RM3,970 while B4 is from RM3,971- RM4,850. The M1 subgroup’s income range is RM4,851- RM5,880 and M2’s is RM5,881-RM7,100.
The government previously introduced the Perlindungan Tenang insurance protection, which was offered by nine takaful operators and covered death, permanent disability, medical expenses, critical illnesses and badal haj.
The government also introduced the RM75 Perlindungan Tenang Vouchers (PTV) by collaborating with insurance and takaful service providers, and this was launched on Sept30, 2021.
However, the PTV was discontinued as the social protection scheme’s claim rates were too low. Only 490 individuals or 0.01 per cent benefited from the programme which was given a RM354 million allocation.
Meanwhile, Life Insurance Association of Malaysia (LIAM) vice president Khoo Ai Lin hopes the government could provide sufficient allocation to support Perlindungan Tenang.
“We hope the budget will offer some form of incentive to support Perlindungan Tenang so that we can all collectively reach towards a 75 per cent insurance penetration rate in Malaysia,” she said.
Mohd Radzuan said the government should also look at having a takaful scheme for the agriculture industry to ensure all parties involved in the industry are protected.
“The government has put a significant amount (of resources) into flood prevention due to climate change, but they can potentially work with insurance and takaful industry to provide protection for the agriculture industry,” he added.
