Dubai insurers to launch Golden Visa-health insurance

Leading Dubai-based insurers could soon introduce medical insurance packages specifically tailored to Golden Visa holders and their dependents.

Some pre-testing has been done by a couple of these insurers to gain feedback from potential clients and healthcare providers. These insurers are also waiting to take their cues from the way Abu Dhabi’s health insurer Daman is handling its own dedicated Golden Visa medical package.

“There will be first-to-market advantages for those insurers who can launch these Golden Visa packages – but they will have to show these are different from the typical health insurance policies in the market,” said an insurance industry source.

Till now, more than 65,000 Golden Visas have been issued, and in the next few weeks those property owners who have assets of Dh2 million and more too will be eligible for these visas. And they will need supporting medical insurance too...

Leena Parwani, CEO of LPH Financial Services said, “A basic health insurance plan is good only for those who just have the Golden Visa and the UAE is not their primary location to live. Then, the individual with no health condition can take the Basic plan, which is cost-effective. But if it’s someone living in UAE, then the current options are the same individual plans available from all the providers.”

This is what insurers are trying to transform, to introduce new tailored plans, some of which could carry a higher premium. Given the demographic mix of the current Golden Visa holders (and of their dependents), insurers are most likely to have policies that are linked to ages.