The Ministry of Health has rejected media reports claiming it has approved a national health insurance scheme for citizens, saying the matter is still under study.
Khalid Al-Mirghalani said yesterday that when the proposal came before the Council of Ministers in 2011, it was referred to the Council of Health Services (CHS) for further discussion on how the scheme would be implemented. “At present, the matter is being studied by the CHS in coordination with the Council of Cooperative Health Insurance (CCHI) and will subsequently be presented to the Council of Ministers again,” Al-Mirghalani said.
The proposed scheme will not be a burden on citizens, he said, adding that the CHS will explore ways and means of funding health service providers through the insurance scheme.
He said the Kingdom's insurance scheme for expatriates provides comprehensive medical care without any financial obligations on them.
Earlier, the Ministry of Health signed a SR 13 million deal with a foreign company to implement an electronic services system for the health insurance scheme.
The online scheme helps insurance companies and health service providers to communicate in an efficient and quick way. It also provides instant information to the CCHI that will help it achieve its organizational goals and monitor oversight of private health insurance companies.
The services include registration and verification of the accuracy and legitimacy of the insurance cards issued to policyholders, and a comprehensive database of all operations of the health insurance sector.
Payment of claims and approval of medical treatment by insurance companies will be processed by the policyholder at the touch of a button.
There are about 8,000 health service providers catering to more than 30 insurance companies in the Kingdom.
Recently, the CCHI gave a two-year time frame for all health insurance companies and health service providers to implement a new medical coding system.
The system is based on the Australian Modification of the International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision (ICD-10-AM). According to CCHI Secretary-General Abdullah Al-Sherief, the system would also act as an effective health-information exchange mechanism.
The ICD-10-AM is considered the most important information exchange system worldwide, and is widely used in other parts of the world.
National health insurance scheme isn’t ready yet
