MENA Health and Medical Insurance Market Trends

Market Trends of MENA Health and Medical Insurance Industry

Increasing Investments in the Egyptian Health Insurance System

• Universal Health Insurance (UHI) is an entity in Egypt that ensures the provision of healthcare services and insurance services to the people in the country.
• Moreover, several sources finance the UHI system, such as premiums paid by country citizens, state budget, government subsidization of the poor, general tax, tobacco earmarked tax, and co-payments (service fees).
• Furthermore, under the Universal Healthcare Act, the Egyptian healthcare sector is enhancing the quality of insurance services and infrastructure provided to the citizens. This act covers upgrading medical facilities, insurance coverage extension to family members, and providing a smart card system for claiming process.
• Moreover, World Bank is investing USD 400 million in Egypt for the development of the Universal Health Insurance System. This investment leverages UHIS transformation and achieves universal health coverage (UHC) for a higher quality of public healthcare.

Individual Insurance Witnessing Lucrative Growth

• The modern lifestyle habits of individuals, such as sedentary behavior leading to obesity, unhealthy eating habits, lack of sleep, and physical work, are leading to an increase in health issues, thus indirectly leveraging healthcare and insurance sector growth.
• Moreover, in the United Arab Emirates, more than 68% of adult people are overweight, further resulting in chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and diabetes.
• These problematic lifestyles endanger public lives, further driven by costly medical treatments and financial burdens. All the factors result in the growth of individual insurance policies to reduce financial stress.
• Individual insurance is further leveraged by mandatory health insurance laws in different countries, such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
• This insurance policy covers benefits such as inpatient services, outpatient services, maternity services, emergency services, etc.