MediAsas is in pilot, not on sale. BNM's repricing cushion expires end-2026. What Malaysian medical card holders should understand before deciding anything.
If you hold a medical card in Malaysia, two things are happening at once and they are connected.
The first is that the cushion is running out. When medical repricing hit in late 2024, Bank Negara Malaysia and the industry introduced interim measures — most importantly, spreading premium increases arising from medical claims inflation over a minimum of three years, so that at least 80% of policyholders would see annual adjustments of under 10%. Those measures were never permanent. They are in place until the end of 2026.
The second is that the replacement architecture is being built in public. MediAsas — the government-designed base medical and health insurance plan — began a Klang Valley pilot at the end of July, running through October, with six insurers and takaful operators and a set of selected hospitals. Nationwide rollout is targeted for January 2027, timed deliberately to coincide with the expiry of those interim measures.
So the honest summary is this: the thing that has been softening your premium increases ends this year, and the thing designed to follow it is not on sale yet.
What we know about MediAsas
Enough to plan around. Not enough to decide on.
- Two tiers. MediAsas Teras is the standard plan; MediAsas Fleksi is the standard-plus option.
- Indicative pricing of roughly RM60 to RM550 a month for individuals joining up to age 70. The Health Minister put the basic entry point at around RM65 in Parliament in July.
- Wider entry than most private plans. Entry up to age 70, with cover to age 85 — notably more generous at the older end than much of what is on the market.
- Indicative annual limits. BNM's earlier white paper on the base plan pointed to RM100,000 for the standard tier and RM300,000 for standard-plus. Not yet confirmed as final.
- Controlled pre-existing conditions, including mental health conditions, are expected to be covered — a meaningful departure from conventional plans.
- A switching right that matters. The government has indicated that policyholders facing repricing will be able to switch to the base plan with their current insurer without new medical underwriting. For anyone whose health has changed since they first bought their card, that is the single most valuable sentence in the whole programme.
What is genuinely not known yet
This is the part most coverage skips.
Waiting periods have not been specified. The participating hospital list has not been published. Final pricing will only be confirmed after the pilot. And it is not clear whether people who buy during the pilot are repriced at the January 2027 rollout.
Until those four gaps close, nobody — including us — can responsibly tell you whether MediAsas is better or worse than the card you already hold.
A warning worth putting plainly
MediAsas is not on sale. There is no sign-up channel, no application form and no way to reserve a place.
If anyone contacts you offering to register you for MediAsas, pre-book you, secure an early rate or take a deposit, that is not an early-access opportunity. Treat it as a scam and report it. This pattern follows every major insurance announcement in Malaysia, and it works because the announcement is real.
Should you cancel your medical card and wait?
No — and the reasoning matters more than the answer.
An existing policy carries its own underwriting history. If you were underwritten at 32 in good health, you hold something you cannot buy back at 47 with a diagnosis in your file. Cancelling to wait for a product that is not yet purchasable means going uninsured through a period where the only certainty is that hospital bills continue, and then re-entering the market on whatever terms your current health supports.
The switching right described above is designed to let people move from an existing repriced policy to the base plan. Dropping the existing policy first may put you outside the mechanism you were hoping to use.
What to do between now and January 2027
1. Find out what your renewal actually does. If your policy anniversary falls in the first half of 2027, that is the first renewal without the three-year spreading behind it. Ask your insurer or adviser what that means for your specific plan, in ringgit.
2. Separate the two kinds of increase. Adjustments arising from medical claims inflation and increases from moving into a higher age band are different things, and only the first was covered by the interim measures. Knowing which one you are looking at changes the conversation entirely.
3. Check whether an alternative already exists. Under the interim measures, insurers were required to offer appropriate alternative plans at the same or lower premium to policyholders who did not wish to continue on a repriced plan, without additional underwriting or switching cost. Many people who complained about a repricing letter in 2025 never asked this question.
4. Review the plan against the family you have now. Panel hospitals, annual limit, room and board, whether a deductible or co-pay structure would suit your budget better. Our piece on what to check in your medical card works through this in order.
5. Do not decide from a headline. Including this one.
Where we stand
AMANA's medical plans are arranged through our licensed AIA life agency, and AIA Berhad is one of the six participants in the MediAsas pilot. We will publish an update to this article when the pilot concludes and real terms are available. Until then, the responsible position is that this page tells you what is confirmed, what is indicative, and what nobody knows yet — and we have tried to be clear about which is which.
This article is general information, not a recommendation to purchase, cancel or replace any policy. MediAsas details are indicative and subject to change pending completion of the pilot. Product availability, underwriting and coverage terms apply.
Before your next renewal letter arrives, it is worth knowing exactly which benefits you hold and what the end of the interim measures means for your plan specifically. Review Medical & Health insurance with AMANA — comparison first, no obligation to change anything.