“Emirates Insurance” warns against buying “health insurance” through unlicensed service offices

The Emirates Insurance Union stressed that the purchase of health insurance documents must be carried out through insurance companies and brokers licensed by the central bank, and stressed the importance of the customer to confirm all the terms of the document, and that it covers the needs and benefits that have been agreed upon.

A member of the Board of Directors of the Emirates Insurance Federation, Chairman of the Federation’s Health Insurance Committee, Abdel Mohsen Jaber, said that relying on ads of “services offices” that provide offers at cheap prices remarkably, may cause problems in the future when the insured needs health coverage and does not find them.

Jaber’s comments came in comment on inquiries received by “Emirates Today” from dealers, regarding advertisements on health insurance documents starting from 1000 dirhams, spread through social media, and promotes “Ramadan offers”, while the promoters of these ads know the authorities they follow as “service offices” that provide health insurance for all groups, whether they are individuals, investors or gold residency.

Jaber told «Emirates Today»: “The sale of health insurance documents must be from a licensed one, whether it is an insurance company or a mediator, and not from a licensed service center to provide another type of services, such as completing residencies or other services, but it is not allowed to sell health insurance policies in general.”

He added: «The customer must make sure of the health insurance policy that he buys, and that it covers the requirements of residence and its other benefits, and compare the price of the document to the prevailing price in the market, so that there is (reasonable) in prices, and is not exaggerated in an exaggerated manner.

Jaber continued: “There are minimum and short boundaries for licensed companies and brokers, which they adopt, with simple margins of difference, which reflects the competition between them, and in a way that does not prejudice their ability to cover insurance claims.” He pointed out that the presence of a minimum document, at a cheap price that may raise doubt about the credibility of these bodies that sell documents, so the customer must pay attention to these points well before dealing with them.

Jaber stressed that «licensed insurance companies and brokers from the central bank are known, and they have ground phone lines, websites, headquarters and other matters that reassure the customer, who must verify this, as well as the presence of various options and prices that suit all the insurance requirements of the customer, and in a way that does not expose him to future problems.

It is noteworthy that the latest statistics issued by the Central Bank, regarding the insurance sector in the country, at the end of the third quarter of 2024, showed that the number of licensed insurance companies in the country amounts to 59 companies, including 23 traditional national companies, 10 national solidarity companies, 25 branches of foreign insurance companies, and one branch of a foreign reinsurance company, operating in the Emirates.

The number of professions associated with insurance is 498 professions, which include insurance brokers, insurance agents, experts detecting and estimating damage, insurance and assets consultant, health insurance claims management companies, price comparison sites, and insurance producers.