Published 29 December 2016,
The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) has announced that residents can apply for health insurance in 2017 due to the huge influx of applications received by the insurance companies in the past few days. However, DHA has not specified a new cut-off date. In a statement sent to Khaleej Times, the authority said, “The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) has announced that insurance companies will continue accepting health insurance applications in 2017. DHA made the decision due to the high influx of customers flocking to insurance companies in the last few days, and in consideration to those who were not able to get the insurance within the December 31 deadline due to certain circumstances. Dr. Haidar Al Yousuf, Director of Health Funding at DHA said that all the insurance companies are working nonstop to cope with companies and individuals who want to acquire health insurance. He added that there has also been a large number of online transactions on the insurance company’s websites. DHA had earlier announced that 98 per cent of Dubai residents- more than 4 million – now have health insurance. This is the second time that the mandatory health insurance deadline has been extended. The original date was set for mid-2016 and then extended to December 31.
DHA had also announced that those not insured by January 1 will have to pay fines of Dh500 per person per month.