Whether a resident of Dubai or Abu Dhabi, health insurance is made mandatory in the UAE. Take care of yourself and stay protected.

UAE has always been the place where dreams can be fulfilled. All move to the UAE with the aim of taking care of their family back home, improving their financial conditions, elevating their careers at a global level and so on. During this process of living their dream or objective, they come across many hurdles. One prominent among them which can be a hindrance to their financial status would be their health condition if they end with any chronic/deteriorating health conditions which require medical assistance. We have seen people in the past spend their savings and take treatments. We all plan for our future after retirements, but we never calculate the uncertainty of a medical necessity that might come to us or our family members.

Regulators

With the introduction of HAAD (Health Authority of Abu Dhabi) and DHA (Dubai Health Authority), their primary steps along with improving the healthcare facilities in the region were to ensure care for the Expat population and the local residents. The introduction of mandatory health insurance by every employer, providing Medical insurance to their employees was something that secured expat lives and gave them stability about their uncertainties resulting due to health in the future. This helped Employers also do not incur any losses financially as both the regulators released budgeted plans through various insurers in the region at nominal prices to accommodate for their insurers. The majority of the organizations in the region have Medical Insurance as a part of their remuneration package after the regulators have made Medical Insurance mandatory.

The above has been regulated with the proper mandate as the same is linked with visa regulations; the Expat needs to have medical insurance in order to have their visa stamped. The employer will have to pay fines in case the medical insurance is not provided on time to their employees/dependents.  The employers would provide the insurance to their employees but sometimes not to their dependents as per the regulator norms.

In that case, the liability of the insurance falls on the sponsor, and they have to provide the insurance for their dependents. An Expat who is on his company visa is provided with the insurance by his company. He has his mother here under his sponsorship the insurance has to be provided to her by his son who is the sponsor.

The insurance guideline for the dependents is the separate per regulator and the same needs to be followed.

Health Insurance Products

The Health insurance products are provided by the insurers who are registered with the Insurance authority in the UAE and the regulator HAAD and DHA. The plans of HAAD and DHA vary on the benefits and network and can be customized as per Employer requirements. There are Basic plans and also comprehensive plans and would vary on the pricing of the product, benefits and networks. The products are designed on the basis of the salary bands of the employees for both Group medical insurance and Individual medical insurance. Blue-collar staffing will be provided basic products of the regulators and as the salary band increases the products can be made comprehensive based on the Employer budgets. The main question an employer would have is which regulator they can choose for their medical insurance. If the employees are on a Dubai visa they are mandated to provide insurance to meet the DHA and if an AUH visa then the product has to be HAAD compliant.

With the health benefits taken care of by the government through regulators, the expats have an advantage of accessing better Healthcare treatments and manage their financial situations well.

Avail authority-compliant health insurance plan in the UAE for your individual needs.