Wednesday Academic Dialogue (17)

Medical Insurance Reform in Saudi Arabia

Model  & Structure

Full Text

Mohd Ma’Sum Billah, PhD

Professor

Islamic Economics Institute, King Abdul Aziz University, Saudi Arabia

profdrmasumbillah@yahoo.com / www.drmasumbillah.blogspot.com

Wednesday 15-02-2017 (18-05-1438H)

Abstract

Health-care is among the prime concern of life. Everyone is equal as to one's physical suffering and pain regardless of one's status or background. A proper health–care requires money as at today. The rich may afford to care about health subject to own available resources, but not the poor, except as depending on own limited resources or common facility or cooperation from others in some exceptional cases. Medical insurance scheme may be a prompt solution to health-care for everyone. Thus, medical insurance is made compulsory in many developing countries to ensure a healthy life for each citizen besides educational and economic wellbeing. In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the health insurance has not been taken as a mandatory level yet. Several insurance companies offer the health insurance product and services in the kingdom, but only 3.11 million Saudis (30 % of the total population), while 7.85 million (79 %) of the total expatriates have coverage[1]. Furthermore, the importance, policies, perception, products and services of health insurance may be required to be more attractive by an appropriate reform and structure. Thus, an attempt is made in this paper to share a possible reformed model and structure of medical insurance appropriate for the Kingdom's environment.


[1] As per report of the Council of Cooperative Health Insurance (CCHI), ARAB NEWS (Saturday 19 December 2015)



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3/16/2017 11:11:48 AM