Anwar Ibrahim suggests removing health care subsidies from the rich to impose higher charges on them in public health care facilities. The PM also wants sugar subsidies scrapped to reduce diabetes cases, saying the savings can fund diabetes treatment.
A 33mil population is not a small market. Plus if ASEAN could get their act together and negotiate en bloc the way the EU does, you can go a long way in negotiating for more competitive pricing. The one good thing from the Trans Pacific Partnership being blown up by Trump to me in this matter was the fact that US Big Pharma-negotiated clauses with regards to market access got blown up too.
Anwar’s populism only sounds nice but it would eventually doom poor people and the working class most of all. Where’s the taxation reform? The budgeting reallocation? Why is the conversation not at all considering increasing investment in our healthcare system? We’re not poor (yet).