Khaberni - The Parliamentary Health and Nutrition Committee, chaired by MP Ahmad Al-Sarhanah, discussed during a meeting held on Thursday, ways to secure poor families and ensure their benefit from health and social insurance programs.
The meeting was attended by the Ministers of Social Development Wafa Bani Mustafa, and Health Ibrahim Al-Badour, and the General Secretaries for the Ministry of Social Development Barq Al-Dmour and the Ministry of Health for Primary Health Care and Epidemics Affairs Riyadh Al-Sheyyab, and the Director of Health Insurance Administration Ola Al-Musaidah.
Al-Sarhanah confirmed that the meeting aimed to discuss mechanisms to initiate a new phase that aims to expand the health insurance umbrella and cover as many eligible families as possible, appreciating the cooperation between official entities and their keenness to address challenges associated with the health insurance portfolio in a way that considers the citizens’ conditions and needs.
Al-Sarhanah indicated that the meeting discussed various issues, notably including the foreign wives of Jordanian men in the health insurance according to current legislation, revisiting the minimum income requirement to obtain insurance, and conditions for exempting citizens in case they own vehicles used as a source of income, stressing the need to distinguish between vehicles for luxury and those used for work.
He also inquired about the state of health insurance for employees of the Ministry of Water and Irrigation who have been transferred to water institutions, and whether they are currently covered by insurance, as well as the timing of their inclusion in full coverage.
For her part, Bani Mustafa stated that integrating health insurance and social health insurance services into the Jordanian social register is part of implementing the national strategy for social protection, aimed at unifying references and facilitating beneficiaries' access to services.
She explained that the three social health insurance programs supervised by the Ministry of Social Development, the National Aid Fund, and the Ministry of Health cover more than 858,000 insured individuals, including about 675,000 individuals covered by the poor families’ insurance program, confirming the government's commitment to achieving a unified health insurance equation before the end of the current year.
She detailed that the government bears the full cost of health insurance for poor families and beneficiaries of the National Aid Fund, asserting that any expansion in coverage must be carefully planned to avoid inequity with low-wage insured workers.
She added that all children under 18 in poor families or those benefiting from the fund are covered by health insurance, even if they do not hold Jordanian nationality, according to Cabinet decisions, noting that exemption for domestic workers is limited to cases of officially proven disabilities.
For his part, Al-Badour emphasized that the comprehensive health care file represents a national priority, noting that the recent formation of the High Health Council has contributed to unifying references and coordinating health policies.
He noted that about 70 percent of Jordanians are currently covered by various types of health insurance, stating that efforts are ongoing to expand coverage to include uninsured groups, especially poor families.
Meanwhile, MPs Hakam Al-Ma'adat, Ayman Abu Al-Rub, Hussein Al-Tarawneh, Ibrahim Al-Tarawneh, Ali Al-Khalailah, and Hussein Kreishan emphasized the importance of adopting fair and transparent criteria in managing health insurance programs, taking into account economic and social conditions, and urged consideration of the human dimension in applying instructions and expanding the beneficiary base to ensure health insurance reaches its rightful recipients.
