Even as health insurance premiums in Dubai have risen up to 20% beginning 1 January 2025, the insurers are offering additional benefits such as dental, psychiatric, organ transplant and dialysis to their policyholders.
According to industry sources these benefits should make health insurance more comprehensive and useful for policy buyers. Recent regulatory announcements had also proposed additional benefits as well as modifications to the table of benefits in the existing health insurance plans.
InsuranceMarket.ae CEO Avinash Babur told Middle East Insurance Review that some insurers have revised their rates by 10% to 15%, which actually reflect their own claims experience from 2024. He said, however, these changes are not uniform across all insurers or plans.
“Some insurers have revised premiums, particularly in health insurance, while others have maintained their existing rates. These variations largely depend on individual insurers’ claims experience and market strategy.”
The rates for basic and enhanced basic plans have changed for one insurer, with an increase of around 20%. This seems to be a targeted adjustment rather than a trend affecting all insurers,” he said.
Mr Babur said some insurers have introduced new benefits to align with updated requirements from the Dubai Health Authority.
He said that these include enhanced coverage for critical needs such as organ transplant (up to AED100,000 for recipients only), dialysis (up to AED60,000), and annual drug and medicine costs (up to AED2,500, restricted to formulary products.
Similarly, mental health outpatient counselling has been added with coverage up to AED800, dental benefits up to AED500, and repatriation costs for the transport of mortal remains up to AED5,000. These enhancements are accompanied by co-insurance limits, such as 20% for organ transplantation and dialysis and 30% for outpatient counselling and prescription medicines.
Mr Babur said, “Not all insurers have adjusted their premiums despite adding these benefits, but some have revised rates to reflect these changes.”