Factors Influencing Level of Health Cover Awareness in Saudi Arabia

Running head: HEALTHCARE AWARENESS IN SAUDI ARABIA 1
HEALTHCARE AWARENESS IN SAUDI ARABIA
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HEALTHCARE AWARENESS IN SAUDI ARABIA 2
Factors Influencing Level of health cover awareness in Saudi Arabia
INTRODUCTION
In the kingdom, one of the greatest sectors is the Health Insurance commanding a 51%
market share in the insurance industry. Its tremendous growth overtime period has been greatly
influenced by the creation of the Ministry of Health (MOH) together with the Council of
Cooperative health insurance (CCHI) covering both citizens and expatriates in the Saudi
Kingdom (Arabia, 2019). Over the past duration, little researches have been conducted in the
health insurance market of this kingdom. There has been a recommended advancement in the
healthcare service provision in the kingdom since the 1925 establishment of the first Centre in
Mecca city to monitor the Saudi population healthcare as well as for the pilgrim visiting Mecca
(Hanan, 2005).
A decree by the Saudi Arabia royal led to the establishment of the Ministry of Health
(MOH), which is in charge of the free Healthcare and the medical treatment for both citizens and
expatriate residents similarly. Mostly, employees from large companies are covered by their
employers as part of the package they get from employment, even though the coverage ranges
depending on the company (Alazmy, Alotaibi, Atwan, Kamel, & El-Shazly, 2013). Specific
guidelines and procedures need to be obeyed to access the services of health care and insurance.
Persons of high social and economic classes access all types of healthcare providers while people
classified in low classes limitedly access the general hospital (Al-Shaikh, 2006).
In the Saudi Kingdom, the healthcare system has three major divisions: The Ministry of
Health (MOH) group of hospitals and centers of Healthcare all over the kingdom; private sectors
and other governmental centers. 63% of inpatient care is provided by the Ministry of Health
making this the largest provider of healthcare in Saudi; other centers of the government provide

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20% while the remaining 17% is provided for by the private Healthcare providers for inpatient
care.
This study was conducted to find out the level of knowledge the insured members have
concerning the benefits of various policies of healthcare insurance. There have been very few
previous studies reported in the Kingdom concerning the over-all population knowledge and
awareness concerning the coverage of Health care insurance (Amin & Al Wehedy, 2014).
Awareness of healthcare insurance coverage and drug prescription is to be determined to increase
the benefits people get from their insurance policies. The know-how concerning the right co-
payment is essential for the insured individuals concerning the out-patients, over-all physician, in
patients and drug prescription along with the Dental Services in understanding better their
benefits.
This study is conducted to make the general Saudi population facing the healthcare
understanding challenges aware of the kingdom's healthcare insurance policies and the out of the
pocket amount they should use.
Statement of the problem
Knowledge about the healthcare system in Saudi Arabia is very vital to citizens not
exempting the people from the northern border region. This has, however, been a problem to
some citizens having limited knowledge of the amount they are supposed to pay for healthcare
and to what extent it covers them. This study, therefore, sought to establish the level of the extent
to which Saudi citizens have healthcare knowledge.
Significance of the study
The study was intended to increase awareness, having established the level of knowledge
Saudi citizens have towards the kingdom’s healthcare system, on the healthcare insurance cover.

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Goals and objectives of the study
The study mainly aimed at assessing the insured population awareness concerning the
policy of healthcare insurance coverage.
Specific Objective
Specifically, the survey aimed at carrying out the study to evaluate the awareness about the
benefits and the area covered in the health care insurance
Hypothesis tested
Research Hypothesis
1. Null hypothesis (H0): There is no significant relationship between gender and health
insurance cover awareness.
The alternative hypothesis (HA): There is a significant relationship between gender health
insurance cover awareness.
2. Null hypothesis (H0): There is no significant difference between high and low-income
earners in healthcare insurance awareness
The alternative hypothesis (HA): There is a significant difference between high and low-
income earners in healthcare insurance awareness.
3. Null hypothesis (H0): There is no significant difference in healthcare insurance awareness
for different levels of education.
The alternative hypothesis (HA): There is a significant difference in healthcare insurance
for different levels of education.
4. Null hypothesis (H0): There is no significant difference in healthcare insurance awareness
based on insurance cover ownership.

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The alternative hypothesis (HA): There is a significant difference in healthcare insurance
based on insurance cover ownership.
Literature review
The kingdom of Saudi Arabia occupies a 2.25million square kilometers making it the
largest of all the Middle East countries. The kingdom is majorly constituted of deserts. However,
it is one of the Middle East countries that brag of a better economy thanks to the oil fields. The
Saudi oil fields make the greatest of all the world’s reserves (Teitelbaum, 2020). The kingdom
has experienced a steadily high increase in her population growing from 7.3million in 1975 to
33.7 million in 2020 with an annual growth percentage of 1.59%. Out of this, around 26% are
foreigners, 32.4% 0-14years of age, 64.8% of 15-64 years and 2.8% for 2.8% (Saudi Bureau,
2020). These figures, mostly the foreigners and the young groups, are the major factors that
influence the healthcare system in the kingdom (Stephen, 2008). The kingdom has set its medical
care free for all her inborn citizens along with expatriates that work in public areas. However,
expatriates in private sectors are required to have a percentage of their health cover paid by their
employees. The kingdom's healthcare system is 75% funded by the public and 25% "out-of-
pocket spending" (Al-Hanawi, 2018). What has been mostly distinguishing is the low standard at
which the private insurances are involved in the healthcare provision. Moreover, private
expenditures have been catered for by out-of-pocket costs in non-governmental health facilities.
Healthcare allocation is annually done by the government and is subject to change upon the royal
decree (Gallagher, 2012). Yearly, the kingdom’s healthcare serves above 5 million pilgrims and
the Holy Mosque visitors in Makah. This is cared for by the government through the country’s
ministry of health (Shirah, 2017).

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There are three divisions in the healthcare services of the kingdom: the Ministry of health
web of hospitals along with primary health facilities spread all over the country and covering
62% of the inpatient treatment; private facilities covering 17% of in-patient and other
governmental agencies covering 20% of the inpatient care (Saudi Arabia, 2005). Moreover, the
country has 13 regions of health controlled by twenty health directors under the policies of the
MOH. MOH sponsors above 3300 centers of health in the kingdom. These centers form a “gate-
keeping” duty for the specialized and referral hospitals making citizens access health services at
their disposal. Other government agencies funding healthcare outside the budget of MOH
include Ministry of Defense and Aviation Medical Services, the second provider of healthcare
after MOH and has employed over 2400 medical officers in their more than 4000 hospital beds;
National Guard Medical health Affairs that primarily provides a comprehensive health cover to
its employees; four university hospitals and KFSH&RC (World Health organization, 2005).
Private sectors have tremendously grown in the kingdom’s healthcare probably due to loans
offered by the government at a free rate of interest. Mostly, private institutions attend to foreign
workers who are not allowed to access the kingdom’s MOH. Construction of private hospitals by
global budgets in the MOH became positive for the public hospitals since there was much
preservation of global budgeted funds for patients that acquire health care from without MOH
(Al-Ahmadi, 2005). In total, the country has 487 hospitals with a total capacity of 72981
hospitals, which is 2.2 beds for every 1000 people.
The kingdom has advanced in its medical research as one of its institutions, King
Abdullah University of Science and Technology had a weighted fraction count of 71.88 in 2016.
Equally, there is the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center funded by the
government and handles genetics, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, infectious diseases and