06-Sep-2022
Written by: Hana Bishara
As Qatar prepares to host the 2022 World Cup and anticipates a significant increase in tourists, the State of Qatar has indicated its intention to modernize its mandated health insurance program and thus promulgated in 2021, Law No. 22 of 2021 regulating the health services in Qatar (the “Insurance Law”).
Under the Insurance Law, all foreign nationals and tourists to Qatar will need to enrol in the new mandatory health insurance programme.
However, the Insurance Law was disabled waiting for its executive regulations to set up the rules for its implementation.
Lately, on September 1, 2022, the Insurance Law’s executive regulations were issued and published in the Official Gazette with immediate effect (the “Implementing Regulations”), trying to relieve some of the strain that is being placed on it by the country's sizable expatriate population.
The Implementing Regulations provides further details of how the Insurance Law will operate in practice, and according to Article 2 of the Implementing Regulations all competent authorities and concerned persons shall start executing such Implementing Regulations starting the 2nd of September 2022.
In accordance with the Insurance Law and its Implementation Regulations a number of significant changes to the current health insurance system in Qatar were introduced such as:
• All non-Qatari nationals, whether visitors; or residents shall have private health insurance to receive basic medical treatments while in Qatar.
• Employers are required to enter into contracts with insurance companies that are registered with the ministry of health in order to enrol their non-Qatari employees and their dependents in the mandatory health insurance programme. Noting that the employer shall have the obligation to provide its employee; the employee’s non-working spouse; and up to three of the employee’s (men) minor children.
The employer of working woman shall provide such woman’s children with a health insurance coverage only if the spouse is not working.
The same obligations apply to sponsors of expatriates in Qatar, such as the recruiter, to provide basic health insurance coverage.
• People over 60, basic health insurance will be a requirement for obtaining any type of permission or visa.
• When granting new residence permits or extending existing ones, employers shall have the obligation to provide evidence that their staff members are protected by the required health insurance programme.
• The employer or recruiter may agree to provide additional healthcare services beyond the minimum required by health insurance.
• Employers or recruiters that fail to offer essential health insurance to their workers and qualified family members will be penalised.
Additionally, the Implementing Regulations regulates in detail:
(a) the conditions for the use of health care services for health card holders and health insurance holders;
(b) the procedures and registration of persons wishing to engage in health insurance activities where it has set clearly that any company wishing to provide the mandatory or additional health services shall register before the Ministry of Public Health. As well, any insurance company wishing to provide others with the medical insurance policy shall submit an application and register itself at the Ministry of Public Health as provider of mandatory and/or additional medical services.
Thus, if a health care center; an insurance company; and a broker are not registered at the Ministry of Public Health as wishing to participate in the mandatory insurance program, they will not be able to provide the related services.
As a matter of fact, in accordance with the Implementing Regulations, it will be very important for any health care center wishing to be part of such mandatory medical insurance program to register at the Ministry of Public Health.
Thereafter, the Insurance companies wishing to abide by the program will need to submit their application along with contracts with the registered health care centers.
(c) the obligations of the employer, recruiter and visitor;
(d) the obligations and rights of the beneficiary, the obligations of the insurance company;
(e) the obligations of healthcare providers; and
(f) it stresses the importance of the supervision and confidentiality of health care services and data process.