The authorities have set up a compulsory health insurance for the expatriated wage-earners according to a three-stage scheme which will start in June 2005. The first stage benefits the companies employing 500 expatriated wage-earners, the second companies employing 100 to 500 foreign wage-earners and the third firms employing less than 100 foreign wage-earners.
The total annual premium amount for the five million expatriated wage-earners being set at 1 000 SAR (267 USD) per person, the implementation of the health insurance scheme should yield about 5 billion SAR in premiums (1.3 billion USD) per year.
According to forecasts, the Saudi health insurance market should reach 2.13 billion USD at the end of this process whose implementation has been entrusted to a new institution named National Center for Medical Insurance Standards.