No health insurance to staff in Saudi Arabia: Firms face fine, other penalties

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RIYADH — The Council of Cooperative Health Insurance (CCHI) announced on Tuesday new punitive measures, including halting of computer services and fines, against those companies that fail to provide health insurance to their employees.

Yasir Al-Maarik, spokesman of CCHS, said that the services for the firms that fail to provide health insurance to Saudi and non-Saudi employees and their family members will be suspended.

Such firms need to pay the required installments and fines equal to the value of insurance for each individual, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

The issuance and renewal of residency permit (iqama) for expatriates has already been linked to the provision of health insurance.

Recently, the data of Saudi employees registered at the General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI) has been linked with the National Information Center to identify the nature of their job as well as their social condition. Subsequently, the employer will be required electronically to provide insurance to all his employees. No insurance policy will be issued or renewed after the beginning of 2019, unless all Saudi and non-Saudi employees and their family members are included under the health insurance scheme.

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