CMA implementing mandatory health insurance in Oman
In a recent interview with Muscat Daily, Peter Hodgins, who is a partner at international law firm Clyde & Co, said that the Capital Market Authority (CMA) is currently preparing regulations for the implementation of mandatory health insurance in Oman for all workers. “What we heard is that the CMA is working seriously on preparing regulations. Recently, it has restructured all the five departments under the supervision of the insurance sector team at the CMA. As a part of this restructuring exercise, it has created a health insurance supervision department under the CMA. So, it has created a team of specialists to study, understand and prepare detailed regulations for the sector.”
In a recent interview with Muscat Daily, Peter Hodgins, who is a partner at international law firm Clyde & Co, said that the Capital Market Authority (CMA) is currently preparing regulations for the implementation of mandatory health insurance in Oman for all workers. “What we heard is that the CMA is working seriously on preparing regulations. Recently, it has restructured all the five departments under the supervision of the insurance sector team at the CMA. As a part of this restructuring exercise, it has created a health insurance supervision department under the CMA. So, it has created a team of specialists to study, understand and prepare detailed regulations for the sector.”
According to Hodgins, that implementation of mandatory health insurance may take some time, due to challenges related to regulation that first need to be addressed. “I think it will be a challenge to implement mandatory health insurance as it is a very complex area. And I think preparing legislation, setting up a mechanism for grievances, and addressing and finalising other regulations will take a certain amount of time,” he said. “We have some statements saying that mandatory health insurance in Oman may commence as early as January next year. I can’t say whether it is viable or not as many things would depend on what is already being done in the background. But I can say that it sounds like a very ambitious target. Given the Council of Ministers’ announcement in September last year only, certainly there is lots of work which needs to be done first, such as basic policy frameworks, developing systems and controls, along with other measures to ensure that access to healthcare is available to everyone in the country.”