Committee formed to decide universal healthcare payment exemptions

The General Authority for Health Insurance has formed a specialized committee to outline the conditions for citizens to be exempt from paying into the new universal healthcare scheme, according to Al Masry Al Youm. Disabled citizens, who comprise around 35% of the country’s overall population, are among those who will be exempt. The committee will include representatives from the finance and social solidarity ministries, Financial Regulatory Authority, Capmas, and the authority itself. The government’s universal healthcare scheme is set to be introduced in Ismailia in January 2020, and in Luxor and South Sinai in March 2020, after being introduced on a pilot basis in Port Said in July. The program will cover all of Egypt by 2032 over six phases.