92% of over 2,000 insurance complaints settled

RIYADH: The number of complaints submitted to the Council of Cooperative Health Insurance over the last year has reached 2,381, according to the council spokesman, Yasser bin Ali Al-Maarik.
He said the complaints recorded against health care service providers reached 59, adding that this number formed just two percent of the total complaints submitted to the Council, while the number of complaints against the owners reached 234, or a total of 10 percent of the complaints.
Al-Maarik stressed that the council was able to settle 92 percent of the total complaints by customers through the Council’s Service Management department, while about eight percent are still in the process of being dealt with by the Council or other relevant authorities.
He reported that Riyadh region topped the list of areas for the level of complains, as the number of complaints reached 1,098, which was 46 percent of the total, followed by Makkah with 602 complaints and then the eastern region with 411 complaints.
The spokesman said the council is aware of the important role they play in the health insurance industry. With this in mind, the General Secretariat has provided a number of official channels through which it can receive comments, suggestions and complaints in Arabic and English which offers online information on the health insurance system.
He pointed out that there are programs that target customers, record and receive their complaints and suggestions and respond to all inquiries and questions, in addition to the portal, which provides all information related to health insurance, the terms of qualifying for health insurance companies, and the adoption of the health facilities, as well as all relevant contract numbers.
He said the secretariat is working on preparations for a range of awareness brochures about health insurance that will be handed out to the employees of the insurance parties, in addition to holding open meetings regularly with health insurance companies and health care providers to respond to all inquiries, receive proposals and review the latest developments in the health insurance market.