Large firms have 2 weeks to provide health cover

All Dubai companies with 1,000 or more staff have until the end of the month to provide them with health insurance cover.

DUBAI // Hundreds of companies in Dubai must provide health cover for staff by the end of this month.  
The first phase of the mandatory health insurance scheme will affect the 200 or so companies in Dubai's mainland and freezone that have more than 1,000 employees, said Dr Haider Al Yousuf, director of health funding at the Dubai Health Authority.
All companies of this size have been told that they must provide health cover for staff before the end of October - and this plan is on track, said Dr Al Yousuf. 
"We are moving well," he said. "Because we are talking to larger companies, the number of these companies is not very large.
"We are talking to them one by one and hand-holding them through this. There is a lot of good response. There are a few companies we still need to reach, but they are responding well. 
"They are all talking to insurance companies, finalising things and it is moving well."
The new law requiring compulsory health insurance for all Dubai residents formally went into effect in February. 
In phase two, companies with 100 to 999 employees will have until the end of July next year to comply. Companies with fewer than 100 workers have until the end of June 2016 to provide cover.
The Dubai scheme is based on the Abu Dhabi model, the only other emirate to have mandatory health insurance, as well as international best practice
"We looked at regional models and international models," said Dr Al Yousuf. "We then customised the model to the environment of Dubai. We tried to balance that. There are some areas we have chosen to suit our climate."
Dr Al Yousuf said the past few months have been busy for those at the DHA responsible for implementing the scheme known as Insurance System for Advancing Healthcare in Dubai, or Isahd, meaning happiness in Arabic. "There are always challenges," he said." It is a huge mandate and requires collaboration from all companies, all stakeholders, all providers.
"But overall there has been a lot of cooperation - everyone sees this as a good thing and Dubai is looking to be one of the best health insurance systems out there. Everyone is believing in this."
The insurance scheme will help boost Dubai's plans to attract more medical tourists. 
"I think this fits in nicely with Dubai's goal of being a centre of medical tourism because this brings in a lot of investment to the health sector in general," said Dr Al Yousuf.
"There is space for more providers to come in and more variety."
The decision to implement the mandatory health insurance in stages was to ensure the long-awaited scheme is done right, said Dr Al Yousuf. 
"The key component of the health insurance mandate in Dubai is that it does not focus solely on access. Access is one of the main by-products, but it also focuses on quality and it builds in all the tools of monitoring and improving the quality of the healthcare system. 
"Once universal coverage is achieved, it is not only universal coverage but also coverage with services of a higher quality and that is a major difference from insurance systems in the region."
According to the law, companies are required only to cover the cost of health insurance for their employees and not the employees' dependants. The cost of health coverage for the workers' families will be borne by the worker.
The government will be responsible for providing health insurance for Emiratis.
Employers who fail to provide health insurance face fines between Dh500 and Dh150,000.
Repeated breaches carry a maximum fine of Dh500,000.
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