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What are the regulatory drivers of health insurance in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Iran, Turkey, Jordan and Egypt?
Hello! Thanks for your question about the regulatory drivers of health insurance in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Iran, Turkey, Jordan, and Egypt. In short, the regulatory drivers varied across the countries, as did the specific structures of their insurance markets. The regulatory drivers found were a desire to reduce travel for healthcare and the desire to bring more revenue into the health care market. While we provide a thorough review, there is no uniformity as to what details we could provide. Below you will find a deep dive of my findings.
METHODOLOGY
We searched academic databases, corporate websites, industry reports, government reports/databases, regulatory filings, trusted media sites, user forums and review sites.
Saudi Arabia
"Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 economic blueprint aims to replace medical treatment abroad with treatment at home," as reported by the International Medical Travel Journal (IMTJ). This appears to be the main regulatory driver of health insurance in Saudi Arabia.
According to Albilad Capital, the improvement in the regulatory environment and enforcement of compulsory insurance within the insurance market have played a role in the market's rapid expansion over that last few years.
The Health Insurance Council "began enforcing the compulsory health insurance system for non-Saudi workers in the private sector in late 2006, then on Saudi employees in the private sector in 2010," as reported by Albilad Capital.
Compulsory health insurance is now fully in place for all private sector Saudi employees and their families. The timeline was as follows:
Not only are employers required to cover employees and their families, they are not allowed to limit the number of covered children.
UAE
The main regulatory driver in the UAE health insurance was Dubai's compulsory medical insurance scheme implemented by the Dubai Health Authority (DHA). This drove growth in the insurance market, which required increasing regulation.
According to the U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council, "The U.A.E. has a number of healthcare regulators at both the Federal and Emirate levels, each with their particular geographic or functional purviews. U.A.E. healthcare regulation has recently been marked by two trends: (1) an expanding remit for the Ministry of Health and Prevention and (2) increasing coordination among regulatory authorities."
The timeline compulsory medical insurance implementation was as follows:
- June 30, 2016 for companies with 100 or less employees, however, this was extended firs to December 31, 2016 and again to March 31, 2017.
Iran
Iran's insurance regulator, Central Insurance of Iran, and the country's leading insurers provide only limited data to the public. According to reports, the country has a large, but underdeveloped, insurance market, due in large part to international sanctions in place.
Turkey
Turkey has universal, government provided health care. Regulatory changes allowing for complementary private insurance in 2010 drove the expansion of the private health insurance market in Turkey. The driver of these regulatory changes appears to be the desire to bring more revenue into the health care market. According to Allied Insurance, "From 2005 to 2011, the private health insurance market grew at a CAGR of 14.1%, insurance companies issued 2.2 million units of related policies in 2011." The introduction of private insurance brought revenue into the health care market by allowing private hospitals to charge higher surcharge amounts to private insurers above government payouts.
Jordan
The insurance market in Jordan is unclear. The country does not have universal health care, nor does it have a private insurance market. This is an ongoing issue being studied by Jordan's government. In 2016, the government issued an RFP "...to issue an international tender to carry out a study of comprehensive health insurance "Road map towards the achievement of comprehensive health insurance coverage in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan."
Egypt
According to the IMTJ, "By 2030, Egypt expects to implement a system of universal health insurance for every Egyptian. The system seeks to create a separate body to disburse payments that replace the direct payment of patients to providers." This will require heavy regulation, as the IMTJ further notes, "Raising wages, guarding safety, improving services and instituting universal health care will not amend the systemic faults — such as administration, structuring, and graft — in Egypt's health care system."
CONCLUSION
To wrap it up, while the publicly available data found for each country varied, the regulatory drivers found were a desire to reduce travel for healthcare and to bring more revenue into the health care market. Thanks for using Wonder! Please let us know if we can help with anything else!