Dubai deadline for mandatory health insurance

Mandatory health insurance for employees has been phased in over three years by the Dubai Health Authority. The Dubai Health Insurance Law that came into effect in January 2014 introduced a legal liability for every sponsor to provide an essential benefits package, which costs between Dh550 and Dh750 a year, The National reposted.

This week, it was announced that 99 per cent of businesses had employees insured, with the rest scrambling to get cover before the March 31 cut-off or face fines of Dh500 a month. Dubai’s population is almost 2.8 million, but about 4.3 million people should be covered because many employees with Dubai visas live in other emirates and companies registered in Dubai can have staff who only work there for short periods.