United Arab Emirates

12 January 2007 

The new health insurance scheme will have a huge impact on the insurance industry as well as the quality of life of expatriates residing and working in the capital, said an economic expert. 

"Investments in the insurance industry will experience a dramatic surge as by the end of 2007 this type of investment will grow to Dh25 billion compared to Dh18 billion at present," said Muwaffaq A. Ghazi, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Canadian Business Council of Abu Dhabi.

Speaking to Khaleej Times following a symposium on the health insurance project held in the capital on Wednesday, Ghazi said that the total investment in the insurance sector during 2005 stood at Dh8.5 billion while the total premium was Dh7.9 billion. "I expect a considerable increase in these figures. The premium might reach Dh12 billion by the end of current year while the investments in insurance industry will shoot up to Dh25 billion,", he said 
On January 1, phase II of a health insurance project, was enforced for all expatriates residing and working in the capital, under a presidential decree that aims to alleviate the suffering of expats reeling under exorbitant health expenses. The symposium was sponsored by the Canadian Business Council, in cooperation with the National Health Insurance Company-Daman and the German Business Council in Abu Dhabi.

Ghazi said that the insurance scheme would also have a good psychological impact and other numerous positive aspects on expatriates who will avail of the system.

"The insurance project will bring peace of mind to expatriates and have a very strong psychological impact on the expat community in the country and employees would no more need to worry about health," he said.
For his part, Dr Michael Bitzer, CEO of Daman, disclosed that around 15,000 insurance cards were issued in the first week of January. "Untill today, 270,000 insurance cards have been issued to expats and their family members. A total of about 1.4 million expatriates are anticipated to be covered by the insurance", said Dr Bitzer. 

Copyright © Global Action on Aging
Terms of Use  |  Privacy Policy  |  Contact Us