KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 7): Malaysia’s out-of-pocket (OOP) healthcare spending more than tripled from RM7.14 billion in 2006 to RM23.15 billion in 2020, with 43% of OOP spending last year going to outpatient services.

Health news portal CodeBlue on Tuesday (Dec 7) said that by percentage of gross domestic product, OOP expenditure on healthcare increased from 1.2% to 1.6% over the period, while by share of national expenditure on health, OOP’s portion rose from 32% in 2006 to 35% in 2020, according to the Ministry of Health’s National Health Accounts Steering Committee’s Nov 3 presentation, as sighted by CodeBlue.

The report said about RM9.88 billion or 43% of OOP spending on healthcare last year was spent on outpatient services, a 3% decline from RM10.23 billion spent in 2019.

It said this was followed by inpatient services at RM5.76 billion or 25%, pharmaceutical at RM3.39 billion (15%), education and training at RM1.53 billion (7%), and all other functions at RM1.35 billion (6%).

OOP spending on medical appliances and non-durable goods amounted to RM773 million (3%) in 2020, while OOP expenditure on traditional complementary and alternative medicine (TCAM) stood at RM475 million (2%).

CodeBlue said outpatient services dominated OOP spending from 2006 to 2020, rising from RM3.64 billion to RM9.88 billion over the period.

It said the bulk of OOP expenditure in 2020 went to private hospitals at RM10.37 billion or 45% of total OOP spending for the year.

It said this was followed by private medical clinics at RM4.87 billion or 21%, pharmacies at RM3.39 billion (14%) and all other providers at RM2.79 billion (12%).

Meanwhile, private dental clinics made up RM1.1 billion (5%) of OOP spending in 2020, while TCAM providers collected RM626 million (3%).