What employers should know about the new health insurance law that came into force in Dubai this year? The recently published Employer’s Information Pack (September 2014) outlines main objectives, responsibilities and implementation procedures, as in the key passages below:
- Access to and quality of healthcare
Initiated by the Dubai Health Authority ( DHA), the law establishes that all Nationals and expatriate residents (“Residents”) of Dubai have access to healthcare and that healthcare provision must be of the highest quality relevant to the needs of the population. The law applies to all economic areas of the Emirate of Dubai including Free Zones
- Coverage for Nationals and Residents
Dubai Government will fund the program for Nationals registered with DHA and nationals employed in the public sector.
Nationals working in the private sector can choose to be in either the employer’s scheme or can choose to join the Nationals program. The employer cannot exclude the national employee if he or she chooses to join the employer’s scheme.
For employed Residents, it will be the responsibility of the employer to put in place and to pay the costs of private health insurance plans. The employer is not compelled to pay for coverage for spouses and dependents but as a matter of good human resource practice and to ensure security for its workforce DHA encourages employers to cover spouses and dependants.
Implementation timelines
- Nationals
Registration began in Q2 2014 and it is expected that all nationals being served by DHA will be enrolled by end of September 2015.
- Residents
Implementation will be split into three phases:
• Workers at companies employing more than 1000 employees must have coverage in place by end October 2014;
• Workers at companies employing between 1000 and 100 employees must have coverage in place by end July 2015;
• All other workers (including domestic staff), spouses and dependents must be covered by end June 2016. The definition of size of workforce will be at the Trade License level.
What type of health insurance plan must an employer or other sponsor provide?
- Essential Benefits Plan (EBP)
DHA has specified a minimum level of benefits that must be provided in any health insurance plan offered in the Emirate of Dubai.
- Enhanced products
Any health insurance plan which offers benefits that are significantly more comprehensive than those required by the EBP is known as an enhanced product. The enhancements may come in the form of, among the others: Lower coinsurance; Additional benefits such as dental or optical coverage; Greater geographic coverage; Higher annual aggregate cover limits; Fewer exclusions.
Who can provide health insurance cover?
- Dubai Health Insurance Permit (HIP) holders
Only those insurance companies who have been granted the Health Insurance Permits (“HIP”) in the Emirate of Dubai are allowed to offer health insurance plans. The award of a HIP by DHA is not an endorsement or certification of the quality of products or services offered. It simply confirms that the insurance company has met minimum financial, operational and technical requirements.
- GEB’s local partner, Oman Insurance Company, is among insurance companies awarded HIP.-
- Participating Insurer (PI) status holders
A small number of companies have met additional requirements and have been awarded Participating Insurer (“PI”) status. This allows them to sell what is known as the Essential Benefits Plan (“EBP”). Only these companies can provide health insurance solutions for the pool of lower salary workers. These are defined as those workers with a gross salary of 4,000 AED per month or less.
References: For more information please consult the official Employer’s Information Pack published on the Insurance System for Advancing Healthcare in Dubai (ISAHD) website.