KSA employers will not pay for health insurance of employees' parents

RIYADH: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) said Saturday its employers are not required to provide mandatory health insurance to parents and siblings of their non-Saudi employees.

According to Council of Cooperative Health Insurance (CCHI) of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, its law says that is compulsory on the part of employers in the private sector to provide health insurance to all their Saudi and non-Saudi employees and their family members.

It extends to all the employees who are covered under the system, spokesperson of CCHI Othman Al-Qasabi said speaking to a local channel Al-Ekhbaria.

READ: KSA to scrap kafeel system, introduce changes in Iqama fee structure

According to the law, the family includes wives, sons up to the age of 25 years, and unmarried and non-working daughters.

“The non-Saudi employees are required to arrange health insurance for their parents, brothers, and sisters who are accompanying them in the Kingdom under their sponsorship,” he said while quoting the provisions of the Cooperative Health Insurance Law.

Earlier today in a separate development, KSA announced an expected amendment in its resident permit fee structure and periods for individuals and their families working as employees while saying it will scrap Kafeel system.

The Ministry of Human Resource and Social Development of KSA noted that plans to change stricter rules are underway and the ministry is reconsidering its regulations to extend relaxation to foreign employees.