How Labor Laws Can Transform Health Systems : The Case of Saudi Arabia

In 1999, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia enacted a law that compels private employers to cover non-Saudi employees with health insurance. In the 16 years that followed, the health sector in the Kingdom has seen a dramatic shift in how services are provided and paid for, and the change continues at an ac...

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Main Authors:	Al-Mazrou, Yagoub, Al-Ghaith, Taghreed, Yazbeck, Abdo S., Rabie, Tamer S.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	en_US
Published:	Taylor and Francis 2017
Subjects:	health reforms health systems labor laws labor markets
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/26010

id	okr-10986-26010
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-260102021-05-25T10:54:40Z How Labor Laws Can Transform Health Systems : The Case of Saudi Arabia Al-Mazrou, Yagoub Al-Ghaith, Taghreed Yazbeck, Abdo S. Rabie, Tamer S. health reforms health systems labor laws labor markets In 1999, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia enacted a law that compels private employers to cover non-Saudi employees with health insurance. In the 16 years that followed, the health sector in the Kingdom has seen a dramatic shift in how services are provided and paid for, and the change continues at an accelerated speed. Based on interviews with 12 large private sector providers in Riyadh, Jeddah, and Khobar, we found that a labor law enacted in 1999 led to rapid expansion of the insured population, both expatriates and Saudis, which led to a drastic change in how hospitals and other facilities are paid, and considerable more consistency in revenue stream. This article describes how the 1999 labor law, combined with other market conditions and public incentives, led to unprecedented growth in private sector capacity and how the insurance system changed the labor market for health care providers and put more pressure on physicians to engage in dual job holding in both the public and private sectors. The Kingdom later introduced another labor program, known as Nitaqat, designed to implement the Saudization initiative that started in 2011, which put pressure on all private companies to hire Saudi nationals. The interviews with large private health providers found the Nitaqat program to be the largest barrier to the growth of the sector. The Kingdom presents a striking case of how the health sector can be drastically impacted by laws and policies outside the sector and how health systems and reforms can, and should, take into account the whole range of policy instruments available to a country. 2017-02-07T20:17:06Z 2017-02-07T20:17:06Z 2017-01-31 Journal Article Health Systems & Reform 2328-8604 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/26010 en_US CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo World Bank Taylor and Francis Publications & Research :: Journal Article Publications & Research Middle East and North Africa Saudi Arabia
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	en_US
topic	health reforms health systems labor laws labor markets
spellingShingle	health reforms health systems labor laws labor markets Al-Mazrou, Yagoub Al-Ghaith, Taghreed Yazbeck, Abdo S. Rabie, Tamer S. How Labor Laws Can Transform Health Systems : The Case of Saudi Arabia
geographic_facet	Middle East and North Africa Saudi Arabia
description	In 1999, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia enacted a law that compels private employers to cover non-Saudi employees with health insurance. In the 16 years that followed, the health sector in the Kingdom has seen a dramatic shift in how services are provided and paid for, and the change continues at an accelerated speed. Based on interviews with 12 large private sector providers in Riyadh, Jeddah, and Khobar, we found that a labor law enacted in 1999 led to rapid expansion of the insured population, both expatriates and Saudis, which led to a drastic change in how hospitals and other facilities are paid, and considerable more consistency in revenue stream. This article describes how the 1999 labor law, combined with other market conditions and public incentives, led to unprecedented growth in private sector capacity and how the insurance system changed the labor market for health care providers and put more pressure on physicians to engage in dual job holding in both the public and private sectors. The Kingdom later introduced another labor program, known as Nitaqat, designed to implement the Saudization initiative that started in 2011, which put pressure on all private companies to hire Saudi nationals. The interviews with large private health providers found the Nitaqat program to be the largest barrier to the growth of the sector. The Kingdom presents a striking case of how the health sector can be drastically impacted by laws and policies outside the sector and how health systems and reforms can, and should, take into account the whole range of policy instruments available to a country.
format	Journal Article
author	Al-Mazrou, Yagoub Al-Ghaith, Taghreed Yazbeck, Abdo S. Rabie, Tamer S.
author_facet	Al-Mazrou, Yagoub Al-Ghaith, Taghreed Yazbeck, Abdo S. Rabie, Tamer S.
author_sort	Al-Mazrou, Yagoub
title	How Labor Laws Can Transform Health Systems : The Case of Saudi Arabia
title_short	How Labor Laws Can Transform Health Systems : The Case of Saudi Arabia
title_full	How Labor Laws Can Transform Health Systems : The Case of Saudi Arabia
title_fullStr	How Labor Laws Can Transform Health Systems : The Case of Saudi Arabia
title_full_unstemmed	How Labor Laws Can Transform Health Systems : The Case of Saudi Arabia
title_sort	how labor laws can transform health systems : the case of saudi arabia
publisher	Taylor and Francis
publishDate	2017
url	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/26010
_version_	1764460719566225408

How Labor Laws Can Transform Health Systems : The Case of Saudi Arabia

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