Insurance companies have reached an agreement with the Jordan Medical Association (JMA), in cooperation with the Ministry of Health and the Central Bank of Jordan to resolve a dispute related to doctors’ fees and confirm the parties’ commitment to implementing the agreed-upon protocol.
The pact will take effect in March 2024, reported Ammannet. This would be after the agreement is submitted to the Prime Minister through the Ministry of Health. It is to be approved by the government and published in the Official Gazette.
The agreement was reached after a series of intensive meetings and discussions among these parties.
The JMA announced in August 2023 that its members would cease accepting medical insurance starting 2 September and instead provide cash-only services. The suspension was to apply to all cases except medical emergencies and cancer and kidney failure patients. Following intervention by the government, the JMA postponed the suspension of services to health insurance policyholders until 2 December for a solution to be found.
Explaining its position, the JMA alleged that insurance companies had refused to adhere to a 2021 fee scale for doctors and continued to apply a 2008 scale. The JMA also alleged that insurers had been reluctant to engage in talks about increasing doctors’ fees.
Doctors had been providing medical services based on the 2008-approved fee scale, despite changes in medical procedures and the increased cost of living. On their part, insurers said that fee hikes would affect working-class citizens.
JMA board member Maha Fakhoury told Ammannet that the agreement would be the basis for gradually improving doctors’ remuneration, stressing that it will not affect health insurance subscribers, whose number exceeds 700,000.
One of the most important terms of the agreement, according to Dr Fakhoury, is the activation of the Doctors’ Cooperative Fund, which will exempt doctors from the contractual discounts of around 35% that insurance companies impose on them.
Under the agreement, there will be an increase of 20% for the year 2024 in medical fees, 20% for the year 2025, and 20% for the year 2026, after which fee hikes will be calculated in line with inflation rates. The medical services covered are based on a list agreed upon in 2008.
For medical treatment procedures not included in the 2008 pricing, the agreement indicates that they will be taken from the 2021 pricing list with discounts ranging between 40% and 45%.
It was also agreed to implement a revised fee scale within two years, adding 60% and eliminating the contractual discount, which might reach 25%. M