UAE: Dubai extends health insurance to more citizens
Source: Middle East Insurance Review | Jul 2015
The Dubai government has launched a health insurance plan targeted at citizens who currently do not benefit from any other government-funded health programmes, such as the Enaya insurance plan covering all nationals working in the government sector.
The scheme is expected to reach 130,000 people, offering them healthcare at 23 private hospitals and more than 500 medical clinics in and around Dubai. Using the Emirates ID card instead of a conventional insurance card, Saada, which means happiness in Arabic, will offer a comprehensive mandatory preventive care programme.
The programme focuses on mandatory prevention and early detection of diseases, with premium for each subscriber touching AED500,000 (US$136,123) annually.
Elaborating on the programme, Dr Haidar Al Yousuf, Director of Health Funding at the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) told Gulf News: “Saada as a smart insurance programme is very unique because it has been designed to focus on preventive health screening. While all claims can be settled through our e-claim portal, the insurance will have a special feature wherein it will send out reminders for preventive screening to all registered users periodically.
“Those enrolled must go for their regular diabetes, hypertension, oncology screenings depending on the conditions they are prone to, based on their medical and family history.” Those failing to go for these screenings will have problems renewing their insurance, he added.
NEXtCARE has been appointed as the scheme’s third-party administrator.