Willingness to Pay for National Health Insurance: A Contingent Valuation Study Among Patients Visiting Public Hospitals in Melaka, Malaysia.

Background: The Malaysian public healthcare system is tax funded, with healthcare costs highly subsidized by the Government. The current health financing is not sustainable to cover all the healthcare resources. Introducing a national health insurance (NHI), a prepayment method, would protect the population from financial hardship by reducing out-of-pocket payment, minimizing the barrier to accessing health and achieving equitable healthcare.