Committee to study providing health insurance to all Jordanians

AMMAN — The Cabinet has formed a committee to study including all Jordanians under the health insurance umbrella, Minister of Health Ali Hiasat said on Thursday.

The minister told The Jordan Times that the committee, formed on Wednesday, will study the cost of implementing such a plan, noting that it will also study the cost of covering Jordanians under different types of health insurance.

“Unfortunately, there are no clear figures on how many Jordanians are currently covered by health insurance, which makes it difficult to calculate the cost,” Hiasat said.

Thus, “we need to know the number of Jordanians covered by different types of health insurance and study the possibility of providing healthcare for those who are not included under any type.”

According to previous estimates, 87 per cent of Jordanians are covered under health insurance, including public, private, military and UNRWA health insurance.

But Hiasat said this fighter is “inaccurate”.

The healthcare system is also one of the sectors most affected by the Syrian refugee crisis, as 1.33 million Syrians have benefited from public health services, according to official figures. 

Daifallah Lozi, secretary general of the Health Ministry, said earlier this week that since the beginning of the crisis in 2011 until the end of September this year, the cost for providing healthcare services for Syrians stood at JD864 million.