After 80pc hike in insurance premiums for foreign students, DAP claims price-fixing

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 13 - The DAP called today for an investigation on Education Malaysia Global Services’ (EMGS) open tender process in selecting AXA-Affin as its insurance agent, as its annual insurance premium for foreign students rose by a whopping 80 per cent since 2008.

DAP strategist Dr Ong Kian Ming said that government-linked company EMGS - which requires foreign students to buy medical insurance from just one company, AXA-Affin - charges RM500 a year for very similar coverage to AXA-Affin’s medical insurance policy for foreign students in 2008, that only cost RM280 annually back then.

“This is despite the fact that AXA-Affin does not have to pay a commission to insurance agents because these policies are channelled directly via EMGS,” Ong told reporters at DAP’s headquarters here today.

“I call upon the Competition Commission to undertake a comprehensive investigation into the monopolisation of the provision of medical insurance to foreign students by AXA-Affin,” he added.

News portal Free Malaysia Today quoted EMGS CEO Mohd Yazid Abd Hamid last month as saying that AXA-Affin was selected as EMGS' insurance agent as it offered the lowest price out of more than a dozen companies in an open tender.

Ong, however, questioned if EMGS was profiting from giving AXA-Affin a monopoly over the medical insurance market for foreign students.

"I call upon the Competition Commission to investigate EMGS and AXA-Affin for infringements under Section 4 of the Competition Act," he said, referring to the law that prohibits price-fixing.

The Serdang MP noted that the EMGS basic (Silver) medical insurance plan was almost the same as AXA-Affin's 2008 policy, except that the government hospital daily cash allowance has been reduced from RM80 to RM60, the medical report fees claim has decreased from RM80 to RM60, and the accidental death and disablement claim has decreased from RM30,000 to RM20,000.

Only the emergency medical evacuation and repatriation benefit increased from RM20,000 in 2008 to RM100,000 in the current EMGS plan.

"In addition, I have heard that the service being provided by AXA-Affin in terms of processing claims is less satisfactory compared to that being provided by individual insurance agents under the previous system," said Ong.

Ong has previously called for the abolition of the EMGS to end its monopoly of medical packages for foreign students.