UAE: DHA extends grace period for mandatory health insurance scheme
Source: Middle East Insurance Review | Jul 2016
A grace period of six months is being offered by the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) before it enforces the final stage of its mandatory health insurance scheme for all residents that was due to be implemented in June.
“Individuals, their families and their employees - such as maids, cooks etc - will be given a grace period until the end of the year. We urge everyone to abide by the law, which aims to protect not only their dependents but also the sponsors,” said Dr Haidar Al Yousuf, Director of Health Funding at DHA.
The DHA will also organise workshops and roadshows to show companies how to provide the basic insurance package needed by the law.
“Having your dependents insured will not only protect and save their life in the case where they might need urgent medical intervention; it also protects the sponsor,” said Dr Al Yousuf.
“If the sponsor insures the employee they will only have to pay around AED500 (US$136) to get him/her medically covered for a whole year. However if their employee was not insured and suddenly entered the ICU and required surgery, the employee will have to cover the medical costs, which can reach up to hundreds of thousands of dirhams.”
The mandatory insurance plan is currently in its third phase, which covers companies with 100 or fewer employees and includes domestic workers and dependents of employees. Dr Al Yousef revealed that 30 to 40% of those who fall under the third phase have already been covered. The first phase was introduced in 2014 covering employees with at least 1,000 employees.
AED1 = US$0.27