The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has announced that it will be introducing mandatory insurance at the start of 2025.
Earlier this week the UAE cabinet approved the establishment of a health insurance system for registered employees in the private sector, including domestic workers who do not have existing health insurance coverage.
An official news release from the UAE government said: “According to the new system, employers in private sector companies along with employers of domestic workers in the UAE will be required to pay for the health insurance coverage for their registered workers upon issuance or renewal of their residency permits.”
The decision will be enforced as of 1 January 2025.
The UAE Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation will be responsible for carrying out essential awareness campaigns and programmes about the policy.
It is not yet known exactly what the mandatory insurance will cover.
Mandatory insurance was already in place for Abu Dhabi and Dubai, but the new law will apply across the Emirates. The other five Emirates include: Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah.
The UAE has a total population of about 9.4 million people. Dubai with 4.2 million people and Abu Dhabi with 2.8 million have the largest populations.
But with 2.3 million people Sharjah (pictured) is not far behind Abu Dhabi. The other Emirates are considerably smaller – Ajman (500,000), Ras Al Khaimah (400,000) and Fujairah (250,000). Umm Al Quwain is the smallest Emirate, with 72,000 people.
The introduction of mandatory health insurance has been a bit of a trend in the Middle East in recent years, with several other countries introducing similar policies.
Health & Protection reported in October about a similar development in Bahrain where a new mandatory healthcare initiative for expats was set to be introduced.
It was thought to be unlikely that the development would have any direct impact on the international private medical insurance (IPMI) market there.