1. Insurance Business Group in association with Insurance Business
& Professional Council
Presents
http://www.isahd.ae/Home/Video
PRESENTED BY:
AFTAB HASAN
SECRETARY GENERAL
INSURANCE BUSINESS GROUP (IBG)
DUBAI - U.A.E.
“Overview of Dubai’s Mandatory Health Insurance”
SUNDAY, 5TH JUNE 2016

2. PRESENTATION OUTLINE
• What is the objective of the new health insurance law of Dubai?
• Implementation Timeline
• Who will pay for coverage?
• What type of health insurance plan must an employer or other
sponsor provide?
• Who can provide health insurance cover?
• Where can employers buy health insurance?
• Conclusive Remark
• Q & A

3. WHAT IS THE OBJECTIVE OF THE NEW
HEALTH INSURANCE LAW OF DUBAI?
His Highness Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al
Maktoum, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and
Ruler of Dubai approved the Dubai Health Insurance Law
No. 11 of 2013 that came into effect from January 2014
to ensure that every national, resident and visitor in
Dubai has essential health insurance coverage and
access to essential health services which roughly means
approximately 3.8 million people who are on Dubai
Residence visa will be covered. Around 75% of the Dubai
population already have Dubai Visas that have
mandatory health insurance and it is expected that
almost 95 per cent of resident with Dubai visas will have
to come under the mandatory health insurance cover.

4. IMPLEMENTATION TIMELINE
Whilst the Law came into effect on 1 January 2014, the provision of health
insurance cover will only become mandatory for:
Nationals
Registration started in Q2 2014 and actual scheme enrolment commenced at
the beginning of Q3 2014. All Nationals being served by DHA were enrolled by
end of September 2015.
Residents
Implementation plan was split into three phases.
 Workers at companies employing more than 1000 employees were
instructed to have coverage in place from end October 2014;
 Workers at companies employing between 1000 and 100 employees were
ordered to have coverage in place by end of July 2015;
 All other workers (including domestic staff), spouses and dependents must
be covered by end of June 2016.
The mandatory insurance plan is currently in its third phase, which covers
companies with 100 or less employees and includes every resident, including
domestic workers and dependents of employees.

5. IMPLEMENTATION TIMELINE
Important Message:
 Individuals will be given a grace period until the end of the year.
 While the deadline for the mandatory Dubai health insurance plan is June
30th, Dubai Health Authority (DHA) has recently confirmed that penalties
will not immediately be imposed on individual sponsors who fail to insure
themselves, employees and dependents.
 Individuals, their families and their employees such as maids, cooks etc. will
be given a grace period until 31st December 2016 not to incur any fine for
not having the mandatory health insurance cover.
 The above does not mean that the insurance cover is extended till 31st
December 2016 . However, as an example if your visa renewal is due in July
2016, the GDRFA-Dubai will not renew your visa without a valid Health
Insurance cover. Hence, please do not wait till 31st December 2016 rather
look to your date of visa renewal which will be your effective date.

6. WHO WILL PAY FOR COVERAGE?
Nationals
Members of the new Nationals program
Dubai Government is funding the program for Nationals registered with DHA.
Nationals working for Dubai Government and related entities
This population is normally part of the Enaya scheme open to all Dubai Government
employees or part of other Government employee schemes funded by Dubai
Government.
Nationals working in the private sector
Where a National works for a private sector employer has to cover under the employer’s
scheme, the premium will be met by the employer just as for Resident employees.
Nationals can choose to be in either the private sector employer’s scheme or can choose
to join the Nationals program. The private sector employer cannot exclude the National
employee if he or she chooses to join the employer’s scheme.

7. WHO WILL PAY FOR COVERAGE?
Residents
Employed residents
For this group, it is 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 do so.
Spouses and dependents
As stated, DHA encourages employers to cover spouses and dependents. Where an
employer does not pay for coverage, the spouses and dependents can still be included
within the scheme as a separate category with the insurer collecting the premium from
the employer and the employer then deducting the premium from the employee’s pay.
Where spouses and dependents are not covered within an employer’s scheme, it is the
responsibility of the employee to arrange for insurance coverage with an insurance
company and to pay the premiums directly.
Domestic workers
Where a person employs domestic workers on their sponsorship, whether the sponsor is
a National or a Resident, the sponsor must arrange and pay for insurance coverage.

8. WHAT TYPE OF HEALTH INSURANCE PLAN MUST AN
EMPLOYER OR OTHER SPONSOR PROVIDE?
Types of coverage
Essential Benefits Plan(EBP) - DHA has specified a minimum level of benefits that must
be provided in any health insurance plan offered in the Emirates 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:
 Lower coinsurance;
 Additional benefits such as dental or optical coverage;
 Significantly greater geographic coverage;
 Higher annual aggregate cover limits;
 Higher sub limits;
 Fewer exclusions;
 Significantly wider healthcare provider networks.

9. WHAT TYPE OF HEALTH INSURANCE PLAN MUST AN
EMPLOYER OR OTHER SPONSOR PROVIDE?
Employees earning gross monthly salary of AED 4,000 or below
For these lower salary employees the employer or other sponsor has to purchase a plan
that meets the Essential Benefits Plan minimum levels of cover.
For this segment of the population, these plans can be purchased only from insurance
companies who have qualified as Participating Insurers. Participating insurers have
exclusive access to this segment but in return they cannot deny coverage or impose
special conditions.
Other employees
The employer is free to seek insurance coverage for other employees from any
insurance company that has been granted a Dubai Health Insurance Permit including the
Participating Insurers.
For this segment of the population, insurers are free to set whatever benefit levels they
choose (subject to meeting or exceeding the EBP benefits), to underwrite applicants, to
set special conditions and to set their premiums in relation to the risk presented.
However, they still cannot deny coverage.

10. WHO CAN PROVIDE HEALTH
INSURANCE COVER?
Dubai Health Insurance Permit (HIP)holders
Only those insurance companies granted permission to transact health
insurance business in the Emirate of Dubai are allowed to offer health
insurance plans to buyers in the emirate. Those insurance companies who have
been awarded Health Insurance Permits (“HIP”) are only allowed to offer
health insurance plans in Dubai.
In order to acquire the HIP, insurance companies are required to meet many
requirements covering financial, licensing, customer service and data security
as well as meeting many technical requirements in relation to claims
processing and reporting via the DHA electronic platform.
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.

11. WHO CAN PROVIDE HEALTH
INSURANCE COVER?
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 AED 4,000 per month or less.
There are only 9 qualified Participating Insurers for the current year which are
as follows:
1. Axa Insurance
2. MetLife
3. National Health Insurance Company (Daman)
4. Oman Insurance Company
5. Orient Insurance Company
6. RAK Insurance Company
7. Takaful Emarat
8. National General Insurance (NGI)
9. Dar Al Takaful

12. WHO CAN PROVIDE HEALTH
INSURANCE COVER?
Preamble
In September 2014 Health Funding Department (HFD) of Dubai
Health Authority (DHA) announced that it would be registering
and regulating companies involved in the “activity” of advising
upon, marketing and selling health insurance in the Emirate of
Dubai pursuant to Health Insurance Law (No 11 of 2013) of the
Emirate of Dubai.
After an extended and lengthy process to identify all entities
operating as intermediaries in health insurance in Dubai and to
bring the majority of these up to the level of meeting minimum
standards of professionalism DHA have now completed the
evaluations of 136 insurance agents, brokers and consultants.

13. WHERE CAN EMPLOYERS BUY
HEALTH INSURANCE?
Directly from insurance companies
An employer may seek advice directly from an insurance company holding a Dubai Health
Insurance Permit. Employers should understand that whilst a representative of an insurance
company may offer a comparison of his or her company’s products with those of other
insurance companies, he or she will only be able to sell the products of the company that
they represent.
Using an insurance intermediary
There are various types of intermediary that is companies or persons who facilitate the
establishment of health insurance plans between an employer and an insurance company.
The best recommended is to take the assistant of a knowledgeable Insurance Broker who can
help and assist in suggesting the best available medical insurance scheme befitting
individual’s & corporate’s need taking into consideration of all factors required.
Insurance brokers
Insurance brokers are independent of insurance companies. As such they can provide
comparisons between many insurance companies’ products to assist the employer in
selecting the most appropriate one. All firms of insurance brokers must be licensed by the
Federal Insurance Authority.

14. WHERE CAN EMPLOYERS BUY
HEALTH INSURANCE?
Insurance agents
Insurance agents are similar to sales representatives of insurance companies in that
they can sell the products of only the one insurance company for whom they act as an
agent. However, insurance agents are not employed by the insurance company but
trade on their own account. All insurance agents must be licensed by the Federal
Insurance Authority.
Insurance consultants
Insurance consultants provide advice to clients on arranging insurance contracts
between the client and an insurance company. In return for this service they are
remunerated by way of a fee paid by the client.

15. The new health insurance regime in Dubai looks to
be considered and timely step in the movement for
universal health care throughout the Gulf region.
Although there have been questions raised as to the
lack of standardization of the various establishments,
it may well be the better strategy to allow time to
show which proves the most efficient before
attempting to create a single, consistent system for
the entire region.
CONCLUSIVE REMARK

16. MyspecialappreciationgoestoDHA
fortheirextraordinaryeffortsin
implementingthemandatoryhealth
insuranceinDubai.
QUESTIONS?