JEDDAH, 4 June 2007 — In order to issue and renew iqamas (residence permits), the Passport Department has begun demanding documents to prove that health insurance cover is provided to expatriate workers by their employers. Analysts believe that the move will not only help the country’s eight million expatriates and their dependents receive good health care but also boost the Kingdom’s growing insurance market. Most insurance companies are now busy with health insurance services, they said. Health Minister Dr. Hamad Al-Manie said the cooperative health insurance scheme would cover all expatriate workers as well as Saudis working in the private sector this year. “It will be applied later to all Saudis,” he said.
The Council for Cooperative Health Insurance has already instructed companies to provide health insurance cover to all employees. They have also been asked to furnish details of health insurance policies and the iqama numbers of beneficiaries and their dependents to the insurance companies.
The government has recently licensed many insurance companies to meet the growing demand for insurance service, especially in the health sector. The health insurance market has picked up momentum with many hospitals and polyclinics either being set up or expanding their existing capacity.
Abdul Kareem Sait, business development manager of Arabian American Insurance in Alkhobar expects that the health insurance market will witness considerable growth as a result of the new measure. “At present the market is nascent and companies are offering different premiums. I believe that in time the market will be streamlined and the rates will be standardized,” he told Arab News. Sait described the mandatory health insurance for expatriates as a “very good move” on the part of the government to ensure the welfare and well-being of expatriate workers. Advanced countries introduced such schemes many years ago, he pointed out.
The Passport Department in the Eastern Province introduced the link between iqamas and insurance a few weeks ago. “The first thing we do now when an expatriate worker is recruited is complete the procedures for getting a medical card for him in order to apply for his iqama,” said P.J.J. Antony, human resources administrator at AYTB in Jubail. He emphasized the importance of having medical insurance cards to receive good health care in the Kingdom. He asked authorities to make sure insurance companies provided coverage for chronic diseases and expensive surgeries. Expatriates in the Makkah region are now required to produce their medical cards in order to get their iqamas renewed.
