Few regulatory developments have reshaped the UAE’s insurance landscape as fundamentally as the introduction of Dubai’s mandatory health insurance scheme.
Dubai implemented the scheme—called the Insurance System of Advancing Health in Dubai (ISAHD)—to address healthcare access, rising medical costs and uneven coverage. Before the healthcare financing reforms, non-Emiratis would either pay out-of-pocket for healthcare or be covered through individually or employer-purchased health insurance plans. The reform aimed to shift healthcare financing responsibility to employers/sponsors and to counter the growing inequality in access and affordability of healthcare.
The reform led to the enactment of the Dubai Health Insurance Law (No. 11 of 2013), which was signed on 24 November 2013 and came into effect on 1 January 2014. The Law requires all employers in Dubai to have in place health insurance cover for their employees.
Explaining the mandatory health insurance in remarks in January 2014, Mr Essa Al Maidoor, the Director-General of the Dubai Health Authority (DHA), said, “Our aim is to provide everyone in Dubai with access to essential health cover and to empower them by providing them with the right to choose their health provider within the private or public sector.”
Implemented in phases, the health insurance cover became mandatory for:
- companies with more than 1,000 employees, from 31 October 2014;
- companies with 100-999 employees, from 31 July 2015; and
- companies with less than 100 employees, dependents, and domestic workers from 30 June 2016, with a final extension to 31 March 2017.
Essential Benefits Plan (EBP)
The Essential Benefits Plan (EBP) plays a foundational role in Dubai’s mandatory health insurance scheme by ensuring universal, affordable basic health coverage, particularly for low-income residents.
The EBP sets a mandated minimum level of benefits, including inpatient and outpatient care, maternity services, emergency treatment and prescribed medicines, primarily targeting low-income employees. The package is for Dubai residents who earn less than AED4,000 ($1,080) per month, which includes dependents. Insurers are allowed to provide enhanced cover over and above the mandated essential package.
Insurers that sought to offer the EBP were required to meet additional qualification criteria to ensure affordability, with premiums set at AED500–700 per person annually.
Coverage
At the start of Phase I, around 1m of Dubai’s roughly 3m residents had health insurance, with the new law aimed at expanding access to essential healthcare and giving residents greater choice between public and private providers. By 30 June 2016, the coverage rate was 90%. At that time, Dr Haidar Al Yousuf, Director of the Health Funding Department at the DHA, commented on the likelihood that every individual in Dubai would be covered by ISAHD by the end of the third phase. He also said, “I think this will make a big difference to the standardisation of healthcare in not just the emirate but in the country.”
Today, the mandatory health insurance scheme covers more than 98% of residents.
Table 1 shows how health insurance business in the UAE has outpaced the overall insurance market in the 11 years since the end of 2013, just before the Dubai Health Insurance Law came into effect.
Table 2 shows the size of health insurance premiums by emirate in recent years.
As the data indicates, Dubai stands head and shoulders above the other emirates in the health insurance market.
The insurance broking company Pacific Prime, in a recently released report, said that Dubai remains the centrepiece of the UAE’s health insurance market, supported by the mandatory scheme that “has helped reduce out-of-pocket spending from 18% in 2015 to about 13% in 2023, but has increased cost burdens on insurers and employers”.
Mandatory health insurance across the UAE
Mandatory health insurance in the UAE as a whole has evolved significantly, shaped by regulatory intervention, demographic pressures and rising healthcare costs.
Abu Dhabi implemented its mandatory health insurance scheme in 2006. The emirate continues to refine its system through tighter regulation and digital integration.
Following in Abu Dhabi and Dubai’s footsteps, mandatory health insurance has been implemented in the northern emirates since 1 January 2025.
The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the importance of universal health coverage, accelerating the regulatory focus on resilience, digital health solutions and preventive care. On their part, insurers increasingly adopt managed care models, tighter provider networks and technology-driven claims management to contain costs.
By now, mandatory health insurance is firmly embedded in the UAE’s healthcare and insurance ecosystem. The EBP remains a cornerstone of coverage for lower-income workers, while more comprehensive plans serve higher-income segments. Although challenges around affordability and sustainability persist, the UAE’s experience is widely regarded as a regional benchmark, demonstrating how targeted regulation can rapidly expand coverage, formalise healthcare financing and support long-term system development. M