Government | Tuesday 28 February, 2017 7:23 am |

More than 11.8 million people, including 2.5 million Saudis, have health insurance coverage in the Kingdom, according to the secretary-general of the Council of Cooperative Health Insurance (CCHI).

Muhammad Al-Husain pointed out that the CCHI is organizing and supervising the health insurance provided to 38 percent of the Saudi population.

He added that there are 27 insurance companies that serve individuals who are treated by 4,543 health service providers, including hospitals and polyclinics.

The total value of the Saudi health insurance market was estimated at over SR18.6 billion in 2016, he said.

Al-Husain said the CCHI is keen to work with all parties to develop the Saudi health insurance sector as more sections of the population are being targeted for health insurance coverage. The secretary-general also said the council is working on improving supervision and monitoring methods to control the health insurance market and to protect the rights of people seeking insurance.

He said they have set a strategic plan for 2020 and have line up 24 projects in order to develop the sector.

The general secretariat of the council on Sunday held a meeting with the health service providers to address issues in the sector and to discuss ways of improving the health insurance market in accordance with the Vision 2030.

Officials discussed ways to encourage investment in the sector and methods to increase the number of public sector projects that can be added on the health insurance list. They also discussed increasing the number of insurance companies and health service providers in the private sector.

Al-Husain said the council will organize workshops for private hospitals, polyclinics and insurance companies to discuss collaborative efforts, reduce the challenges that face them, unify the prices of health services that are approved under the umbrella of health insurance and to address the issue of domination of the market by certain insurance companies.