Saudi Arabia insists private employees be given health insurance cover
The country’s health insurance regulator has issued a statement calling for all private employers to cover their employees and their employees’ immediate family members
According to local media outlet Arab News, the Saudi Council of Cooperative Health Insurance (SCCH) has stated that private sector employees should not be paying for their own health insurance or that of any member of their family covered by the system (including wives, and children up to the age of 25).
The regulator stressed that when an employee moves to another company, the new employer is responsible for insuring the worker from the very first day of work. While it is not explicitly stated whether this also extends to overseas employees, it’s fair to assume that this is also implied – recent regulations that came into effect in the kingdom, which removed several key restrictions on foreign workers in the private sector (the Vision 2030 and the National Transformation Programme), aimed to attract overseas talent and increase job market mobility. And, currently, foreign workers make up about one-third of the Saudi Arabia's population.
IPMI providers – and their respective brokers – should look to this market for increased product distribution options.
Elsewhere in the Middle East, global health tech firm Philips has opened sleep disorder treatment centres at SHG Group hospitals the region.