Kuwait: First phase of health insurance scheme to start in 1Q17
Source: Middle East Insurance Review | Dec 2016
The DHAMAN project, which is Kuwait’s health insurance scheme for foreigners working in the private sector, will be carried out in two phases, the CEO of Health Insurance Hospitals Company, Dr Ahmad Al-Saleh, has said.
The first phase will begin during the first quarter of 2017 in primary healthcare centres and the second phase will begin by end of 2019, reported the Arab Times Kuwait.
Dr Al-Saleh said: “The total number of expatriates who will benefit from this project will be about two million excluding those categorised as housemaids.”
Under the health insurance scheme for expatriates, each person is to pay an annual premium of KWD130 (US$427). At the moment, expatriates in Kuwait pay an annual health insurance fee of KWD50 and get partially subsidised charges for certain medical procedures, while the country provides free medical services to all citizens.
Separately, Assistant Undersecretary for Private Sector Health Services Dr Mohammad Al-Khashti said that the Health Insurance Hospitals Company will soon build three hospitals in three governorates — Jahra, Farwaniya and Ahmadi, which are part of its plan to offer health services to expatriates through a total of 15 healthcare centres.
When the new hospitals are completed, foreigners will have to purchase the health insurance policy from DHAMAN in order to have access to medical services at the three hospitals. Whether these expatriates would be given the choice to purchase policies from other insurance companies is not yet known.
One of the goals of DHAMAN is to reduce the healthcare burden on government hospitals, and consequently, public coffers, in the wake of the oil price decline since 2014.
KWD1 = US$3.29