DOHA: The Advisory Council yesterday approved the draft health insurance law that stipulates that employers of foreign workers across all sectors must pay the premiums not only for employees but also for their resident family members.
The private sector says it finds the proposal dreadful and cautions that if enforced the rule would severely affect pay scales and companies’ family visa policy for employees.
The Minister of Health, H E Abdullah Al Qahtani, reiterated at the Advisory Council yesterday that while the government will provide free medical cover to nationals, those employing expatriates will have to pay for their health insurance as well as for their dependents staying with them.
The law, once enforced, will make it mandatory for all nationals and expatriates as well as visitors to be covered by it. Insurance premiums will have to be paid for visitors while applying for visas.
Under the scheme, anyone covered by it for any disease, whether sudden, chronic or terminal and whatever the cost and duration of its treatment, will receive free treatment at healthcare facilities designated by the insurance company. The Minister said that sponsors of domestic workers will have to pay the premiums for them, but the Advisory Council has urged the government to include household workers among ‘family members’. If the state concedes the demand, household workers of Qatari families would, naturally, be covered under the free medical cover provided by the government, while expatriate employers may be left in the lurch — they may have to either pay the premiums for them or ask their companies to do that.
The draft law was tabled at a Council session yesterday by its services committee and the health minister and Dr Faleh Mohamed Hussein Ali, Assistant Secretary-general for policy at the Supreme Council of Health, were special invitees.
This was the third time the Minister was invited to the Council for a discussion on the draft medical insurance law, which is likely to be cleared by the higher-ups for implementation soon. A National Health Insurance Company is being set up to regulate the mandatory insurance scheme. Executive regulations to help enforce the proposed legislation would likely also be put in place. The supervisory company will be a hundred percent non-profit organization and it may involve several insurance providers as stakeholders.
The premiums collected by the company will be spent on the treatment, the Minister said. “The aim of the company is to provide service and not make any profits.”
The Minister reiterated: “The scheme will cover all diseases with no exceptions at all”. Employers providing medical cover to their workers must give them a wider choice to select where they would want to be treated, he said.
The draft law has 30 articles divided into six chapters. The Minister said its provisions would be clearer when the legislation is finalized and implemented.
Jassem Al Malki, vice-chairman of the Central Municipal Council (CMC), told this newspaper late last evening that since it would be an unwanted burden on households employing domestic workers, the Advisory Council has urged the state to include them among family members.
“Some families have not one but several domestic workers, so buying health insurance for them would involve huge costs,” he said, adding that the CMC has been coordinating with the Advisory Council on this issue.
Prominent businessman, Ahmed Al Khalaf, said the proposed rule that companies (private in this case) must provide health insurance to their workers and their family members staying with them as well would entail a change in the format of employment agreement.
The new format needs to be worked out by the labor ministry keeping the provisions of the new law in view after its implementation. “This will take time, I am sure.”
Private companies will take the additional costs into consideration. “There is a question mark, I would say.” Private companies would especially discourage employees with big families from sponsoring them. The rule, if brought into force, will adversely impact salaries and allowances in the private sector and companies may begin discouraging their employees entitled to sponsor their families from doing so, said Al Khalaf. He told this newspaper that a major allowance that may be curtailed by private companies could be house rent. “This will mostly affect middle-income workers of the private sector.”
“However, our fingers are crossed. Let’s wait and see what the provisions of the proposed law are after it is enforced,” said Al Khalaf.
Meanwhile, soon after the Advisory Council decision became known, several people tweeted severely criticizing the government’s move to make health insurance compulsory for all, including visitors.
One tweet said yesterday the scheme would heavily commercialize health services and leave people at the mercy of private healthcare providers who are irresponsible and greedy.
The government should instead build more hospitals and recruit specialists, she said. Private healthcare providers, in order to make money, subject a patient even suffering from ordinary flu to various tests and then prescribe so many medicines unnecessarily just to make money. They perform unnecessary surgeries putting people’s lives at risk.
The national company being set up by the government should instead focus on strictly regulating the health sector and ensure that unnecessary tests, surgeries and medications are avoided. “I have several friends who have health insurance cards and I know how they suffer.”
Another person said the state must instead build quality hospitals with the money it spends on treating Qataris abroad.
Another tweet said that government healthcare facilities are the best as they do not conduct unnecessary tests and surgeries and put the lives of people at risk.
