2.5 million Saudis have fake medical insurance policies

Manipulation by private sector companies have resulted in 2.5 million Saudi workers being covered by fake medical insurance policies, the Council of Cooperative Health Insurance has revealed.
The council said some private companies ignore employment standards that guarantee workers’ rights.
Mohammed bin Salman Al-Hussein, CCHI secretary-general, said the council plans to combat these fake medical insurance policies, especially as a requirement for renewal of residence permits, by July.
He said that there are several initiatives to create mandatory medical insurance for all Saudis working in the private sector and their families.
However, the council has started with the Ministry of Labor and the General Organization for Social Insurance to exempt Saudi workers in the private sector who have no medical insurance from counting in the Nitaqat program, according to local media.
“We started in coordination with the Ministry of Interior to develop a plan to close all offices that sell fake medical insurance policies to expatriates who want to renew their residence permits (Iqama). However, the plan is not clear and details will be announced soon,” he said.
“There are 200,000 expatriate sons of Saudi mothers who were recorded with Saudi medical insurance. All Saudis will be medically covered under the umbrella of the Health Insurance Council, within two years,” he said.
“At the same time, it is expected that the insurance industry’s value will exceed SR60 billion by 2020. The number of people who are covered by medical insurance increased from 4.9 to 5.5 million during last four months,” he added.
Some Saudis earn salaries from employers who need to hire any Saudi for Nitaqat, and then stay home without working. In this case, employers prefer to create fake medical insurance policies for Saudi employees who do not work.
“Some private companies manipulate standards in the employment of Saudis. Companies with fake Saudization prefer to create fake medical insurance policies to avoid the high cost of their Saudi employment,” Ali Al-Rabaee, director of an insurance company told Arab News.
“However the Ministry of Labor must stop recording Saudis who have fake medical insurance policies in the Nitaqat program. This step will help reduce the rate of fake Saudi employment, while employers can dismiss Saudis, who would earn monthly salaries and stay at home, to avoid their high cost of employment,” he added.
Meanwhile, the secretary general of the Health Insurance Council also revealed that the council is currently seeking approval to make medical insurance compulsory for all domestic workers, and there are a number of options in terms of insurance for these workers in coordination with a number of insurance companies.