UAE insurers offer more cover for employees’ mental health – but cost proves a concern

UAE insurers offer more cover for employees’ mental health – but cost proves a concern

Dubai: Insurers in the UAE are extending additional cover for mental health issues - including those set off by financial distress - but take up rates so far are largely confined to multinational employers or large organisations. This despite a post-COVID-19 situation where mental wellbeing - or the lack of it - has become such an issue for workforces everywhere. "We are talking about organisations with more than 1,000 employees and where insurers can offer the additional cover for mental wellbeing at Dh100/Dh200 per person,“ said a senior official at a leading insurance firm. "In some cases, insurers are offering these wellness packages as an add-on and absorbing the cost themselves. But this applies only to those group accounts where the organisation is already paying a sizeable premium as part of their normal annual employee medical policy.“ It means a sizeable section of the workforce is still cut off from access to quality support services, and which will need a bit of resolving. It is from the second-half of last year that some insurers expanded their healthcare cover to allow employees at their corporate clients access to mental wellbeing solutions. "In most cases, this was an add-on over and above