Health accounts for 32% of Saudi insurance market

Riyadh: Health insurance constitutes about 32 per cent of Saudi Arabia's insurance market and its volume exceeds 2.7 billion riyals, according to an official at a local insurance company.

Raed Al Tamimi, deputy chief executive for medical insurance at the National Company for Cooperative Insurance, said health insurance in the kingdom jumped 62 per cent in the past two years.

Health insurance was introduced to working expatriates in 2006. The system is being implemented in three phases.

The first phase covers companies that employ more than 500 employees while the second is for companies employing between 100 and 500 people and the third phase covers all working expatriates.

The rate of health insurance coverage varies from one company to another and according to the medical coverage within the insurance scheme. It ranges from 850 riyals to 2,000 riyals annually.

Health insurance caters to some three million people in Saudi Arabia.