No public healthcare for expats in Kuwait
Kuwait is considering plans to stop all access to public health services for expatriates – though they pay KD 50 per year for health insurance. The idea is to reduce stress on the government budget, weakened by lower oil international prices.
Suggestions in this regard include doing away with ‘harmful subsidies’ which include healthcare for expats in public medical facilities, according to a report by the Supreme Council for Planning and Development.
The report calls for imitating an example followed in the 1990’s when the Kuwaiti government scrapped free education for expatriates in Kuwait, thus banning foreigners from studying at public and forcing them to enroll in private schools. The action led to a boom in the private sector and skyrocketing of private school tuition fees.
The scrapping of access to public health services would leave foreigners no option but to pay for private health insurance. Though it is unclear how the government will handle the KD 50 annual health insurance fee it currently charges each of the country’s 3 million expatriates.
Source : KuwaitTimes
Kuwait News
- Events in Kuwait
- Departures to increase upto 2,500 per day
- 120,000 Residency violators still in Kuwait
- The Cabinet decides to start fourth phase from Tuesday
- New residency bill for expats
- Inbound flights … end of August
- Plan completed to resume the commercial flights at Kuwait Airport
- Temporary law permitting ‘Salary Cuts’ in Private Sector
- List of shops which are allowed to operate
- 120,000 expats will not be able to ‘renew’ residency
- 3 months extension for all expiring visas; Expats standard abroad grace period of 1 yr instead of 6 months
- Maidan Hawally (Block 11) will not be under Isolation
- Flights Reservations open for Kuwaitis along with domestic workers
- 5 phases to get back to normal Kuwait
- Following services will start from 31.05.2020
- Full lockdown in Farwaniya, Mahboula, Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh, Khaitan, Hawally areas and Partial Curfew from 6pm to 6am
- Guidelines for Banks set for the resumption of work and customers services
- 10 deaths, 845 new infections of coronavirus in Kuwait, total 24,112
- Jleeb, Mahboula isolation to end
- 3 deaths, 692 new infections of coronavirus in Kuwait, total 23,267
- 7 deaths, 608 new infections of coronavirus in Kuwait, total 22,575
Filed in: All • Expats in Kuwait • Local News