The Impact of Privatizing Health Insurance on the Utilization of Medical Services in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The objectives of this research are to evaluate the effect of privatizing health insurance on medical services utilization in the city of Riyadh, The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), and to determine whether the utilization of health care services’ behaviors differs according to the availability of private health insurance coverage’ compared with unavailability of private health insurance coverage. This study employed a self-administered questionnaire to collect data from privately insured and non-privately insured individuals in Riyadh, KSA. The questionnaire was designed to collect data on some variables related to health services utilization and demographic factors. This research showed that there are no significant static differences in the utilization of medical services between individuals with or without private health insurance coverage except for nationality. This research concludes that privatizing health insurance in KSA will not affect the utilization of medical services in the presence of governmental or public coverage for citizens, i.e., the behaviors will not differ according to the availability of private health insurance coverage compared with the unavailability of private health insurance coverage.