Iran: Row over payment of medical expenses of those injured in motor accidents
Source: Middle East Insurance Review | Apr 2018
State-owned Iran Insurance Company (IIC) has argued that the Ministry of Health is obliged under the law to accept unconditional and free admission and medical treatment of those injured in motor accidents.
Mr Mohammad Mehdi al-Ala’i, IIC’s Deputy Director of Development and Management, said this in response to statements made by the Health Ministry that it would have to collect payments from traffic accident victims who are covered by insurance and that their treatment would no longer be free, according to local media reports.
Mr Reza Rezaei, Director of the Budget and Credit Department of the Ministry of Health, had said that commercial insurers, including Iran Insurance, owed the Ministry an aggregate of more than US$1,000 billion. He said that, under an arrangement made with insurers, the latter would pay a percentage of premiums on travel, motor third-party liability insurance and surpluses to the Health Ministry which, in turn, would offer free medical treatment to those injured in motor accidents. However, many insurers had not adhered to the arrangement, he said.
In his response, Mr al-Ala’i also said Iran Insurance had announced that it was prepared to give the Ministry Treasury Bills received from the government to settle its payables, a proposal which has not yet been accepted by the Ministry.
He added that the company had not stopped paying its debts to the Ministry. In the past month, Iran Insurance had paid about $50 billion to the Ministry, the reports said, adding that the insurer was prepared to iron out the issue with the Ministry. M