The Ministries of Health and Social Development update the health insurance agreement

Ramallah – The Ministries of Health and Social Development signed today, Sunday, an updated version of the joint cooperation agreement related to the health insurance system for the Social Affairs program. This step aims to regulate eligibility procedures and organize access to health and social services, reflecting the government’s commitment to comprehensive reform and the development of both the social protection and health systems.

The update comes to ensure that every beneficiary receives their entitlement within a clear and transparent legal and institutional framework, thereby strengthening fairness in access to services and improving the accuracy of targeting.

Minister of Health Dr. Majed Abu Ramadan explained that activating the agreement under the new standards marks an important milestone in regulating eligibility processes and defining the roles of both ministries. He noted that mis-targeting in previous years had deprived eligible groups of essential services.

The Minister of Health affirmed that organizing the file will help reduce waste and direct resources toward the obligations of the health sector, while the responsibility for defining poverty and eligibility criteria remains exclusively within the mandate of the Ministry of Social Development. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health is responsible for implementing the health-related procedures.

For her part, Minister of Social Development Dr. Samah Hamd emphasized that the updated mechanisms build on previous agreements and aim to apply a more accurate system for granting health insurance, particularly within the emergency insurance category, which had witnessed unregulated expansion in recent years.
She indicated that current efforts focus on reviewing and refining the files to ensure that services reach families facing actual emergencies, stressing that the upcoming phase will include additional government decisions to regulate procedures and reduce exceptions, including in the southern governorates.

Both ministries underscored that adopting the new standards represents a pivotal step in the government’s reform process and strengthens the development of a more efficient and transparent health and social system that ensures the delivery of rights and services to those entitled without discrimination.