Qatar’s new Health Insurance Law ready

The Ministry of Public Health of Qatar has announced that it has completed work on a draft law for establishing a new health insurance system in the country. The draft law was to be submitted at the Cabinet last month for action and the first phase of the new insurance system will be launched next year, the ministry said.
The new system will replace Seha, the national health insurance scheme terminated on December 31 last year. Services of the National Health Insurance Company (NHIC) were also stopped following a government decision to transfer health cover to private insurance companies.

“The draft law includes the ideal strategy for health cover with necessary legal framework for establishment of comprehensive health insurance system,” the ministry said in a statement. Private insurance companies will provide health cover at the highest level of efficiency and professionalism.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet issued a decision to form a committee headed by the Minister of Finance to invite tenders from private companies, immediately after the issuance of the new health insurance law to provide health cover to citizens and review the basic health services package, benefits, financial limits and installments.

The new health insurance system aims to introduce comprehensive health cover with quality services that are easy accessible with diverse benefits, said the statement. The Ministry said it plans a survey to collect feedback from society and health service providers on the new health insurance system. The survey will be conducted from July to September.

Citizens will benefit from the new health insurance system when its first phase is launched in 2017, the Ministry said, adding it will update on the draft law and developments regarding the new system in the near future.