Egypt debates health care reform
New legislation has been proposed to revamp Egypt’s outdated and ill-functioning health insurance system and cover all Egyptians under one universal insurance umbrella.
CAIRO — The health insurance system in Egypt could easily be called a failure, as Egypt's Health Insurance Organization (HIO) is subject to outdated laws that have scarcely been modified in line with skyrocketing costs across all sectors.
Public hospitals have become a place to humiliate people who aren't privately insured. They receive minimal care from doctors and nurses, who receive low wages as government employees, their services provided free of charge.
Although the profession of medicine is an exact one, negligence has become a major characteristic of these hospitals.
When Egyptian patients became fed up with the situation, a new comprehensive social insurance law was drafted. It promised to resolve the predicament by separating medical services from funding considerations. In the past, patients received medical services based on the insurance policy provided by their professional union. For instance, journalists would get better benefits through the Journalists Syndicate than teachers would through their organization.
