Saudi Arabia: Call for improvements in health insurance
Source: Middle East Insurance Review | Apr 2016
Saudi Arabia needs to strengthen regulation and supervision of the health insurance sector to improve its performance, according to Dr Tawfik Khoja, Director General of the Executive Board of Health Ministers’ Council for the Gulf Cooperation Council States.
Dr Khoja, making several recommendations to the Saudi Ministry of Health, said that health insurers in the Kingdom should offer a full range of health insurance products that meet the needs of all segments of society through new and innovative programmes which include health evaluation and follow-up.
He said that some health policies currently do not cover all stages of life from conception to birth, childhood, adolescence, young people, adults and the elderly, according to local media reports.
He also called for coordination between healthcare institutions and insurance companies in research showing patterns in the use of medical insurance, to reveal abuse if any, as well as to assess the quality of medical services and the extent of customer satisfaction.
He stressed the need to find solutions to ensure evidence-based treatment and to set up performance measurement indicators.