Saudi Arabia: Health insurance covers 11.5m nationals
Source: Middle East Insurance Review | Sep 2023
The number of Saudis who have enrolled in health insurance schemes reached 11.46m as of the end of June 2023, up by 5% twelve months previously, according to the latest figures released by the Council of Health Insurance (CHI).
CHI executive director of empowerment and supervision Nasser Al-Juhani said that the proportion of health insurance beneficiaries is expected to reach 90% of the population this year, up from 73% in 2021 and 85%, reported Arab News.
Higher growth is set to be driven by robust tourism and an inflow of pilgrims and Umrah performers, Dr Al-Juhani said in an interview with Al-Ekhbariya TV channel on 31 July 2023.
He said that digital transformation is central to Saudi Arabia’s medical services, exemplified by the implementation of the National Platform for Healthcare Information Exchange Services. Launched in April 2022, the platform is designed to unify patient care records for healthcare providers and optimise insurance services.
Health insurance is the largest line of insurance business in Saudi Arabia. In 2022, health insurance premiums surged by 26.8% year on year to SAR31.8bn ($8.5bn). This accounted for 59.7% of the insurance industry’s overall premiums of SAR53.4bn in 2022, data from the Saudi Central Bank indicate. M