Friday 15 / November / 2024
Muscat: Private sector companies are excluding chronic and common medical conditions from health insurance plans due to austerity measures, say hospital doctors and insurers.
Insurance agents have also recorded a drop in the number of staff health plans being renewed by companies so far this year.
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Where plans are renewed, they say, they are smaller and some common medical conditions which require monthly medication are being dropped.
“We are witnessing a worrisome trend. We have found that some companies are excluding insurance coverage for chronic ailments like diabetes, and blood pressure because it needs constant medication and treatment,” Dr Rohil Raghavan, director at Lifeline Hospitals in Oman, said.
“Even though we have not come across full package cut cases, we are seeing that coverage for some diseases are excluded,” the hospital official added.
Dr Basheer A, senior internist at Badr Al Samaa Hospital, also said that he has noticed the same trend in recent months.
“Companies, which used to provide chronic diseases treatment for workers have taken it out. Some workers who come to me don’t have coverage for chronic diseases, which they used to get earlier,” the medic said, adding that to control costs companies may be going for smaller packages.
Senior officials from insurance companies across Muscat said that companies are following a trend of renewing the medical insurance of their employees with fewer benefits – to save some money.
“We have seen a trend of renewal of medical insurance at lesser benefit or introducing deductible for premium reduction,” one official said.
Another confirmed that they are seeing a change in attitude from some private employers regarding health plans.
“Yes, it is a general trend in the market due to current economic conditions,” the official said, adding that 5 per cent of the company’s existing clients have not renewed policies this year and many others have opted for in-house management.
An official from an insurance company also added that the employers have become cost conscious due to economic conditions.
“The majority of them have become cost conscious. They are asking for lesser packages when compared to previous years,” the official added.
Currently in Oman, companies are not bound to provide health insurance coverage for expatriate workers, leaving them who fall ill without proper cover.
Last year in October, Oman government officials had said that mandatory healthcare insurance for all expatriate and Omani workers, to be provided by employers, is being actively considered by the government.
However, a senior official at the Ministry of Manpower said that there has been no decision taken as yet.
“It has not been shelved. However, no updates at this moment,” Saeed bin Nasser Al Saadi, the advisor to the Minister of Manpower, said. Recently, Dubai’s government made limited health insurance coverage for expatriate workers law and in Abu Dhabi, changes to health insurance policies have also been made in an effort to help blue collar workers there.
However, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait currently don’t have mandatory health insurance coverage for expatriate workers.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has a mandatory insurance scheme for expatriate workers in place.
Shaji Sebastin, a social worker in Oman for the last 30 years, said he and his friends constantly come across stranded workers who struggle to pay hospital bills due to lack of mandatory health insurance coverage.
“As companies are not bound to provide health insurance coverage for expatriate workers, when a worker falls sick, he is left alone. Fearing the costs, the worker won’t go to hospital, and when he fails to have treatment, his condition worsens.
“At this time, he will be admitted and will get stuck in a hospital bed. Finally, the onus to pay his bills will fall on social organisations and workers,” Shaji added.
Kartiq Chandra, a Bangladeshi worker with a small company in Muscat, is a sample case.
He is struggling from chronic diabetes and as he is not covered with a health insurance package, he is left to struggle alone.
“It’s quite expensive at private hospitals here. For diabetes, we have to do constant lab tests and have to take medicines daily. With my small salary, it’s not possible. Somehow, I am trying to go back home,” Chandra told Times of Oman.
A trade union leader in Oman said that health care for all workers in the private sector has to be made mandatory.
“It should be made mandatory to care for the workers’ health regardless of the means to do that and if it is via medical insurance then the government should form some mechanism that the workers in the private sector get quality treatment at all levels and real value for the money paid by their companies to this service in the form of consumer protection,” Saud Salmi, the trade union leader, told Times of Oman.
“Earlier, the same issue was discussed in the meetings convened for drafting the new labour law. I am hopeful that it will be included in the new labour law,” the trade union leader added.
However, Article 33 of Oman Labour Law states that the employer must provide his employees with access to medical facilities in the establishment and he shall, if the number of his employees in one place or one country exceeds one hundred, employ a qualified nurse for providing medical aid and shall assign a doctor to visit and treat them in the place prepared by him for such purpose.
“The employer must provide the employees with the medicine required for the treatment, all of which must be free of charge. If the number of the employees is more than five hundred the employer shall, in addition to what is mentioned above, provide his employees with all other means of treatment in cases, the treatment of which call for the assistance of specialist doctors or surgical operations or the like and also required medicine free of any charge, except me costs of dental, opthalmic and maternity treatment,” the law adds.
