Insurance firms clueless amid rising MERS cases

Medical insurance companies in Saudi Arabia said they have not yet received any instruction from the Health Ministry to provide insurance coverage to patients suffering from the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).
The deadly coronavirus has infected 339 people, including expats, and has claimed 102 lives in the Kingdom.
However, a senior insurance executive, who requested anonymity, said that medical insurance companies are liable to providing insurance coverage to conditions such as MERS, dengue and swine flu as long as the government does not declare them epidemics.
“Any health condition that does not fall under policy exclusions and exceptions is covered as per policy terms, conditions and limits,” he told Arab News. He said the government has not yet declared MERS as epidemic and life in the Kingdom goes normal.
Another executive from a prominent insurance company told Arab News that they are awaiting instructions from the Health Ministry on dealing with MERS cases. “We have not reached at a clear-cut policy on this matter and we are waiting for government instructions,” he said.
“Transferring advanced cases to government hospitals such as King Fahd Hospital and King Abdul Aziz University Hospital in Jeddah may not always be possible if the cases have progressed considerably,” he said.
“It may be true that some hospitals have asked for a SR10,000 guarantee from patients since many are unsure as to whether insurance companies would cover such cases,” he said.
Insurance companies usually wait for government directive to deal with cases like MERS, he said.
Meanwhile, a senior executive at a Jeddah polyclinic told Arab News that his management has decided to transfer suspected MERS cases to the King Fahd and King Abdul Aziz hospitals.
However, he said the clinic would provide treatment for MERS symptoms such as cough, fever and pneumonia as long as they are covered by medical insurance.