The Council of Cooperative Health Insurance (CCHI) received 5,283 complaints, of which 4,562 were against health insurance companies, last year, according to a CCHI official. The council received about 450,000 calls through various channels of communication that ranged from complaints to inquiries, said CCHI spokesman Yasser Al-Maarik. He said complaints increased by 122 percent since last year, evidence that people have more awareness of their rights and that the insurance market has grown in size by 48 percent. Over 12.4 million people are covered through 3,927 accredited healthcare providers that handled over SR14 billion in health insurance premiums in 2016. Al-Maarik said that 99 percent of complaints were resolved. A majority of complaints were against employers for their failure to provide health insurance to employees and their dependents. He said that all organizations of all sizes are required to provide insurance to part-time workers similar to full-time employees. An employer who doesn't provide health insurance to part-time employees and their dependents will face penalties, he said. The maximum benefits offered by the cooperative health insurance is about SR500,000. More than 3.8 million Saudis in the private sector have health insurance cover. Of them 1.2 million are employees and the rest are family members. The number will rise to about 15 million after the introduction of health insurance for workers in the private sector.
