Moh Health Insurance Dry Up Expats Pockets

Several expatriates expressed the predicament they face in spending long hours for completing the health insurance procedures and paying huge amounts imposed on them for health insurance prior to the renewal of their residence permits. Many of them declared that they do not benefit from the services provided by Ministry of Health even though health insurance is imposed on every member of their families.

They asserted that the obligation of health insurance should be limited to only parents while the children must be spared of it, especially when there are more than three children in a family. Speaking to the press, Ashraf Al-Hajji declared that he was in the office to complete procedures for obtaining his family’s health insurance, indicating that the congestion at the office force people to wait in long queues and sit by the roadsides until their turn arrives. He complained that the companies handling the health insurance procedures do not provide suitable waiting areas for people, lamenting that the country charges expatriates high fees for health insurance but provides poor medical services for them.

Meanwhile, Jowhar Imam said he does not have a problem with the payment of fees for health insurance but it is illogical to charge KD 1 and KD 2 for visiting clinics and hospitals respectively. Furthermore, Mohammad Bassam said he was baffled when lawmakers started issuing statements to propose increasing the health insurance fees for expatriates. He affirmed that expatriates who struggle to pay for health insurance now will suffer more if the charges are increased, indicating that lawmakers may think of an insurance fee of KD 50 as small, but not the expatriates, as they are suffering under the skyrocketing prices of commodities, house rents and school fees.

Bassam revealed that many expatriates are unable to even save KD 50 in a month. On the other hand, Haitham Al-Farouq said he has been enjoying health insurance services because he is suffering from a chronic nervous ailment that forces him to visit Farwaniya Hospital regularly. He opined that the amount charged for health insurance is appropriate, but many expatriates do not like to pay for the service. In addition, a Kuwaiti citizen Salem Al-Mansour said imposing health insurance on expatriates is in the right direction, but the charges should not exceed KD 20 annually. He indicated that the country can still make a lot of money if more than 2.5 million people pay KD 20 in a year.

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