MediAsas is the government’s new basic medical plan, launching in January 2027, and it carries the first direct subsidy an SME has been offered for staff medical cover: for companies with fewer than 75 employees, the government pays RM200 of the first-year premium per worker, capped at 50 workers per company. Prime Minister and Finance Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim set it out when tabling Budget 2027 in the Dewan Rakyat on 9 October 2026, and the Prime Minister’s Office published the same words in the speech text.
The detail matters more than the headline, because RM200 is a contribution rather than the whole premium. This article sets out who qualifies, what the cap does to the arithmetic, and what an SME still has to fund from January.
Last updated: 19 October 2026. Figures are taken from the Budget 2027 speech as published by the Prime Minister’s Office and as reported by Bernama, the New Straits Times and Utusan Malaysia. Where a number is our own arithmetic rather than a stated figure, we say so.
MediAsas Malaysia: who qualifies, and what RM200 actually buys
Two thresholds decide the money, and both are headcount tests on the company rather than on the individual employee.
| Rule | As announced | What it means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| Company size | Fewer than 75 employees | At 75 or more, the subsidy does not apply. If you are near the line, your headcount at the point of enrolment is the number that will matter, not your payroll at some other time of year |
| Subsidy per worker | RM200 for the first-year premium | It is a first-year contribution, so the second year is funded by the company. Budget for a step up, not a permanent discount |
| Cap | Up to 50 workers per company | A 60-person firm is subsidised on 50 people. The maximum benefit per company is RM10,000 in year one, which is our arithmetic, not a stated figure |
| Who pays the rest | Not stated in the announcement | The premium above the subsidy, and the mechanism for claiming it, have not been published. Do not budget on the assumption you pay nothing |
Terms as stated in the Budget 2027 speech, 9 October 2026. Source: Prime Minister’s Office, Speech: The Fifth MADANI Budget 2027, pmo.gov.my; and Bernama, Budget 2027: Affordable Medi Asas Plan To Be Launched In Jan 2027, 9 October 2026, bernama.com.
Kuala Lumpur Hospital. MediAsas is a basic medical plan whose hospital charges will be set by diagnosis and treatment category rather than by itemised billing. Photo: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. This photograph is illustrative and is not connected to the scheme. Source: Wikimedia Commons, commons.wikimedia.org.
How the plan itself works
Three design features are worth knowing before an SME decides whether to enrol staff.
Charges are set by category, not by item. Under the plan, hospital charges are based on diagnosis and treatment categories so that costs are better controlled and more predictable. For an employer used to itemised private hospital bills, that is the part that changes budgeting: a procedure has a category price rather than a running total.
EPF members under 55 can pay premiums from Akaun Sejahtera. The Prime Minister said EPF members aged below 55 will be permitted to pay MediAsas premiums using savings from their Sejahtera Account. Read that carefully: it is the member choosing to fund a premium from their own retirement account, not an employer entitlement and not a company cost. If you present it to staff as a benefit, describe it accurately.
It sits alongside, not instead of, existing cover. Nothing in the announcement replaces an employer’s group hospital and surgical policy. What it changes is the floor: the plan is described as basic medical cover at an affordable price, with the SME subsidy applied to the first year.
What an SME should put in the budget now
The announcement gives you a subsidy figure and a start date. It does not yet give you a premium schedule, a claims route or an enrolment window. That gap is the planning problem, and it is manageable if you separate the known from the unknown.
- Count heads at the threshold, not on average. Confirm whether the company is under 75 employees, because that single number decides eligibility for the whole subsidy.
- Take the 50-cap into your arithmetic. Multiply RM200 by the lower of your headcount and 50. That is the first-year contribution, and it is capped regardless of how many people you employ.
- Budget the premium you still owe. Until the premium schedule is published, model a full premium and treat the subsidy as an offset. If the premium comes in higher than RM200 per head, the difference is yours.
- Plan for year two. The subsidy is first-year only. A renewal budget that assumes it continues will be wrong by roughly RM200 per head.
- Ask before you promise. Do not put a MediAsas figure into an employment offer or a staff communication until the premium and the claim mechanism are published.
- Separate the EPF option from the company benefit. If staff ask whether they can use Akaun Sejahtera, the answer is that the member may choose to; it is not something the employer can direct.
Bernama’s report of the tabling, captured 19 October 2026, showing the RM200 per worker subsidy for SMEs with fewer than 75 employees. Source: Bernama, Budget 2027: Affordable Medi Asas Plan To Be Launched In Jan 2027 — PM Anwar, 9 October 2026, bernama.com.
The other healthcare measures in the same announcement
Four adjacent measures were tabled in the same speech and matter to an SME with staff, though none of them carries a subsidy you can claim.
| Measure | What was announced |
|---|---|
| Private hospital billing | From 2027, private hospital bills adopt standardised, transparent fee categories, so patients can see each charge and price distortions are reduced |
| Electronic medical records | Expanded on a one individual, one record principle, with MCMC investing RM1 billion to intensify the national electronic medical record rollout |
| e-CKAPS licensing portal | Being developed so private healthcare facility licensing is fully online from 2027, targeting a processing-time reduction of up to 65% |
| Outsourcing allocation | Raised to RM200 million to shorten patient waiting times, expanding public-sector use of private facilities including operating theatres |
Measures announced in the same Budget 2027 speech on 9 October 2026. Source: Bernama, Budget 2027: Affordable Medi Asas Plan To Be Launched In Jan 2027 — PM Anwar, 9 October 2026, bernama.com.
What we could and could not confirm
Confirmed from the speech text and from named outlets reporting it: the January 2027 launch, the under-75-employee threshold, the RM200 per worker first-year subsidy, the 50-employee cap, and the expectation of up to 200,000 SME workers benefiting.
Not confirmed, and we are not going to estimate them: the premium schedule, whether the subsidy is claimed by the employer or credited at source, the enrolment window, and whether the subsidy applies to part-time or foreign employees. None of that is in the announcement.
One number deliberately left out. The speech and Bernama report different totals for MySalam claims since the scheme began, so we print neither: when two official sources disagree by more than a factor of two, the honest option is to say so rather than pick the friendlier figure.
Frequently asked questions
What is MediAsas?
A basic medical plan the government will launch in January 2027, with hospital charges set by diagnosis and treatment category so costs are more predictable. It offers affordable premiums rather than free treatment.
Which SMEs get the RM200 per worker?
Companies with fewer than 75 employees. The government subsidises RM200 of the first-year premium per worker, capped at 50 workers per company, which is a maximum of RM10,000 per company in year one by our arithmetic.
Is the subsidy paid to the company or to the insurer?
Not stated. The announcement gives the amount and the eligibility test, not the delivery mechanism. Treat it as an offset to budget for, and wait for the published process before you promise staff anything.
Can I use my EPF to pay the premium?
EPF members under 55 may pay MediAsas premiums from their Akaun Sejahtera. That is the member’s own choice about their own retirement savings, not a facility the employer can direct or fund.
Does this replace our company medical insurance?
No. The plan is described as basic medical cover. Nothing in the announcement replaces an employer’s existing group hospital and surgical policy, and the subsidy is limited to the first-year premium.
When does the money start?
January 2027, when the plan launches. Budget for a second year at full premium, because the subsidy is first-year only.
Sources
These are the documents we read, with the date of each.
- Prime Minister’s Office, Speech: The Fifth MADANI Budget 2027 by YAB PM, tabled 9 October 2026 (the MediAsas launch, the diagnosis-based charging, the EPF Akaun Sejahtera provision, the under-75-employee test, RM200 per worker, the 50-employee cap, and the 200,000 worker estimate, all in the speech text) — pmo.gov.my
- Bernama, Budget 2027: Affordable Medi Asas Plan To Be Launched In Jan 2027 — PM Anwar, 9 October 2026 (the report of the tabling, including the quoted passage and the adjacent healthcare measures) — bernama.com
- New Straits Times, MediAsas health plan to be launched in January, 9 October 2026 (independent confirmation of the RM200 subsidy, the under-75 threshold and the 50-employee cap) — nst.com.my
- Utusan Malaysia, Pelan MediAsas dilancar Januari 2027, 9 October 2026 (independent Malay-language confirmation of the same terms) — utusan.com.my
- Wikimedia Commons, Hospital Bersalin, Hospital Kuala Lumpur, CC0, and Kuala Lumpur Hospital.JPG, CC BY-SA 4.0 (the two illustrative photographs; neither is connected to the scheme) — commons.wikimedia.org
- Own capture, 19 October 2026: the Bernama report of the tabling, retrieved over HTTPS and cropped to the headline and lead. Read-only. Note: the Prime Minister’s Office page blocks automated capture, so the speech is cited as a document rather than shown as an image.
BD Media is the editorial desk of Big Domain. This article reports the Budget 2027 speech as published by the Prime Minister’s Office and as reported by named Malaysian outlets. It is not financial or insurance advice, and no premium figure here is a quotation: the premium schedule has not been published.
