Market Overview

• The insurance market in Malaysia is projected to remain stable throughout the year 2019.
• "General insurance premiums rose 1.8% to MYR17.6 billion (US$4.3 billion) in 2018 after a mild contraction the year before, supported by growth in the motor, as well as medical and personal accident segments."
• "The personal accident and health segment accounted for 4.2% of the industry's direct written premium in 2015." The segment also has great growth prospects for the year 2020.  
• "Asia-Pacific is expected to grow at the highest rate during the forecast period in the health insurance market; this is attributed to availability of expensive health facilities and increase in demand for health insurance policies in high populous countries such as India and China, and the availability of low- and middle-class economy groups in these countries that currently are not insured is expected to provide health insurance market opportunity."
• "Asia-Pacific region would exhibit the highest CAGR of 4.9% in the health insurance segment during 2019-2026." 

Challenges & Trends

• The continued increase in healthcare costs is one of the core challenges faced by the Malaysian health insurance market.
• Health insurance companies in the country are expanding their product portfolios, particularly because of a rise in diseases like cancer, diabetes, and respiratory disorders.
• "The demand for healthcare services is expected to rise in tandem with growing urbanization, an aging population and the increasing prevalence of non-communicable diseases; while health insurance is expected to grow three-fold by 2020 to about RM16.5bil, 20%-30% of the target population does not have any form of health insurance."