RIYADH, 22 January — An emergency meeting of the committee responsible for the cooperative health insurance scheme is to discuss complaints made by a number of private companies.
The complaints focus on the SR1,000 rate set as the lowest annual premium to be charged for each worker — but paid by the company — for health insurance.
The Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry has already found in favor of the complainants.
In a meeting of businessmen and the secretary-general of the health insurance council, the businessmen requested that the council consult with them when it takes any decision that will affect the future of business in the Kingdom.
"Fixing a lower limit for the insurance premium contradicts the principles of the free market economy," Abdul Rahman Al-Jeraisy, said chairman of the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry and deputy chairman of the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
He added that clause 36 of the insurance statutes dealing with the minimum premium "did not come under the jurisdiction of the council of health insurance according to an order issued by the Council of Ministers."
He claimed that the Cabinet only gave the insurance council the authority to fix the highest limit.
Contractors will be worst hit if this clause is implemented because the 71,245 contracting firms in the Kingdom employ the highest number of laborers, said Ibrahim Al-Akkas, chairman of the contractors’ committee in the RCCI.
Nasser Al-Motawe, chairman of the board of directors of the Samama Group of Companies, which employs 13,000 workers, said the council of insurance has stepped beyond its jurisdiction by fixing the minimum limit.
Bandar Al-Saleh, another leading businessman, said in the event of implementing the floor level for health insurance, the economy will lose SR6 billion as there are 6 million laborers in the Kingdom.
According to official studies, the health insurance market in the Kingdom is set to grow by 25 percent annually once health insurance becomes mandatory for expatriates by June this year.
The health insurance market will reach $3 billion (SR11.25 billion) once the scheme is applied in the first phase to the Kingdom's nearly seven million expatriates before extending it to Saudis.
Statistics released by the Ministry of Health show that 3.58 million expatriate are treated annually at government hospitals.
