PREMIUMS payable on subsidised health insurance polices have gone up between 1 and 30 per cent. On the other hand, premiums on general polices remain unchanged.
The increase in premiums on subsidised polices has been attributed to a number of factors, chief among them being the high cost of services provided by healthcare providers. Also, the induction of the latest medical equipment at hospitals in Abu Dhabi and the other Emirates have led to escalating costs in medical treatment. Besides, the increase in premiums have been justified because of costly drugs, particularly the ones recently introduced in the market, in addition to the prevalence of chronic diseases.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Health Insurance Company (Daman), Dr Michael Peters said that the total number of subsidised health insurance policies issued by Daman reached a high of 325,000, which dropped to 290,000 during last week. Moreover, over 25,000 policyholders failed to renew their subsidised health insurance polices during the past month.
He clarified that premiums charged on many other subsidised polices have not been changed. He added that the premium increase depends on the number of policyholders from a particular institution and also on cost of health services they received during the past year, besides the diseases covered by the policies and other factors.
Peters pointed out that the value in claims increased from 15 to 17 per cent during 2010, and is expected to continue throughout 2011, attributing it to increasing contracts signed between Daman and healthcare providers.
He explained that the total number of customers registered by Daman, which specialises in health insurance polices, reached 2.130 million, including 1.250 million subscribers in general policies, 290,000 in subsidised policies and 590,000 policyholders in (Thiqah) policies, which are specific to UAE nationals.
By Sallam Abu Shehab
Gulf Today