We had an interesting experience this week with Mahkota Medical in Melaka. Last week, we took our niece to Mahkota Hospital to have an operation to remove a pin from her leg. Her mother provided us with her Prudential Medical Insurance Card and, when we arrived, this was accepted, although we had to pay RM450 deposit. Fair enough so far. We paid the deposit using a Debit Card.

The op was successful but she was kept in hosiptal until Thursday (op was Monday) and we got her out (eventually!). My wife's sister told us earlier this week that the Pru had accepted the claim and we should go to the hospital where there is an insurance payments counter to get our refund. Here comes the crunch!

We presented the receipt and asked for the refund to be credited back onto the Debit Card, only to be told that it will take "between 3 and 4 MONTHS" for it to be refunded. Needless to say, I then entered into the debate by pointing out to the young lady that when I made the payment, it was instantaneous (well, the cash was taken out of our account within 2 hours). She remained adamant and, to be honest, I'm not sure whether it was my comment about "Malaysia trying to be a First World country, but in banking terms it remains firmly in the Third World" that prompted a bit of action or not!

I did also point out that as I am an accountant (and have actually worked on an IT project implementing SAP software in Malaysia), and know how banking proceudres work pretty much world-wide, I found it incredible that they could think they could hold on to our money for such a length of time. After a wait (in total) of around 30 minutes, we were told that the hospital would refund us in cash (less some obscure amount shown on the receipt as "paid from deposit"). Oh, and the lady made of point of telling me that the hospital would pay the commission on the Debit Card charge!!! I didn't prolong her agony (as I could have) by pointing out to her that there should not be a charge for using a Debit Card anyway (unless Malaysia works in a different way to the rest of the World! although that wouldn't surprise me!).

MORAL: Don't let them con you when trying to get a refund on a Debit Card!

The lady at the counter must be new. I am representing the above company ...

Yes, upon discharged, you can get the deposit MINUS any excess or deductibles or anything that is not covered by the medical card. For instance if the beer in the fridge looks tempting during your stay there.

Do also note that prior to her being admitted to the hospital and if she had seek treatment from any clinic, those bills are also claimable (30/90 days pre hospital, depending on the plan).

After getting discharged, she might be required to be going for the post followup 90 days (based on reimbursement basis).

In short, just keep all the bills, make a copy of it and pass it to the agent to file a claim for those items based on reimbursement basis.

Without a medical card, the deposit would be somewhere in the range of Rm5k for surgical procedure.