Abu Dhabi: In the emirate of Abu Dhabi, a mandatory health insurance policy established in 2008 has seen nearly 98 per cent of the emirate's 2.3 million residents covered by health insurance schemes.
While Emiratis have insurance for inpatient and outpatient health care under a plan called Thiqa, expatriates are insured either under the subsidised basic plan provided by The National Health Insurance Company (Daman) or enhanced insurance plans with varying degrees of access.
The insurance plans for expatriate residents are paid for by employers, according to Law No. (23) of 2005 Concerning Health Insurance in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the Implementing Regulation. According to this mandate, employers must also provide insurance for an expatriate employee's wife and three children below the age of 18 years.
Following these regulations, 2010 statistics revealed by the Health Authority Abu Dhabi (Haad) reported that there were more health insurance contracts in the emirate than residents — specifically 2.7 million.
When asked why around 2 per cent of the population remained uninsured, a Haad representative said it was because either workers or employers had failed to renew their health insurance on an annual basis.
"While residency visas have to be renewed every two years, health insurance must be renewed annually and in some cases, this does not happen. There is obviously a risk for the resident; however, since renewing a residency visa is subject to having valid health insurance, a resident must necessarily have paid for health insurance at least before renewing the residency," the representative said.
