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The honest answer for 2026

Search for the health insurance Oman employees are owed and most pages give you a start date and a promise that every employer must now buy cover. The official record is less tidy, so before you budget, separate what is law today from what is still being rolled out.

The scheme itself is real and well advanced. Oman's Council of Ministers asked for a health insurance system for private sector staff in Decision 26/2017, a single standard policy was issued in 2019, and the national claims platform, Dhamani, has been running since late 2024.

What we could not find, as of 21 October 2026, is an official notice from the Financial Services Authority (FSA) or the Ministry of Labour that makes a policy required for every private employer from a set date. When the policy was issued, the regulator said the scheme would start in stages, by type of company, once the Council of Ministers approved each stage. The last official word on that first stage is a project meeting reported by the Oman News Agency on 23 December 2020, which said the first phase was close. The FSA's own figures from 6 May 2026 put the insured at about 650,000 people, around 13 per cent of the population, so cover is far from universal. The safe reading today is this: the product, the rules and the platform are in place, and the employer duty is still being phased in.

That does not leave employers free of cost, because one duty already applies to every firm under the Labour Law.

What the Labour Law already makes you pay

Article 57 of the Labour Law, issued by Royal Decree 53/2023, sets two duties that apply now.

First aid at work. Every employer must provide first aid at the workplace, and if more than 200 workers are based in one place, it must appoint a qualified nurse or hire a specialist health provider.

Hospital bills without insurance. If a worker is treated in a government or private hospital and has no health insurance cover, the employer must pay for the treatment, the medicine and the hospital stay.

That second duty is the real reason to insure. Without a policy, one serious hospital stay lands on your company in full, but with a policy the insurer carries the cost up to set limits and you pay a known premium instead.

What health insurance Oman employees get under the unified policy

The minimum cover is fixed by the unified health insurance policy, Decision 34/2019. It was issued on 24 March 2019 by the Capital Market Authority, the body that later became the FSA. Any policy sold under the scheme must give at least these benefits.

Inpatient care. The policy pays up to OMR 3,000 per insured person for the policy year. It covers hospital stays, day care, intensive care, emergency room care, doctors' fees, scans, medicines, and existing and long-term conditions, with each stay limited to 30 days in a shared room.

Ambulance. The policy pays up to OMR 100 for each trip to hospital by ambulance.

Outpatient care. The policy pays up to OMR 500 for the policy year, covering doctor visits, lab tests, scans and generic medicines.

Sending a body home. The policy pays up to OMR 1,000 to return the body of an insured person who dies to their home country.

These limits are separate, so the OMR 500 outpatient limit cannot borrow from the OMR 3,000 inpatient limit, even if the inpatient cover is unused. Read quotes limit by limit, not as one total.

Who is covered, and who pays what

The employer pays the premium. The policy is issued in the employer's name for its staff, and when it was launched the regulator confirmed that the employer carries the premium.

Workers may share outpatient costs. Schedule A of the policy allows a worker's share of 15 per cent within the designated network, capped at OMR 20 a visit, or 30 per cent outside it. Medicines carry a 10 per cent share, capped at OMR 5 a visit. Schedule B keeps the same limits and lists no worker share, and inpatient care has no worker share in either schedule.

Family members can be added. The policy treats a legally resident spouse, and children up to age 21, as eligible family members. They are covered according to the benefits in the worker's job contract, so check what your contracts promise. Our guide on sponsoring your family for an Oman family visa covers the residence side.

Extras are optional. Pregnancy and birth, child health, dental and eye care can be added by agreement. Two official charges sit on top of the premium: 6 per thousand for supervision and 1 per cent for an emergency fund.

How claims and approvals run through Dhamani

Dhamani, the national health insurance platform, links insurers, claims firms and private hospitals and clinics. The FSA dates its launch to 1 October 2024, with 28 private hospitals, and treats 1 January 2025 as the start of full operation.

By April 2025 all 33 private hospitals licensed by the Ministry of Health were connected, and the platform served more than 650,000 insured people with up to 40,000 transactions a day. By 6 May 2026 it had handled more than 11.2 million transactions and 3.3 million claims, with payments above OMR 59 million, and the FSA said on 6 October 2026 that the count had passed 20 million.

For employers, three rules on the platform matter most.

Fast approvals. The unified policy requires the insurer to answer a treatment request within 30 minutes, and no answer in time counts as approval. Prior approval is needed for outpatient bills over OMR 100 and for planned inpatient care or surgery.

Emergencies first. In an emergency the patient is treated at once, and the hospital then asks for approval within 48 hours of admission.

Everything goes through the platform. The authority's FAQ says all health insurance claims must run through Dhamani, and insurers must pay providers within 45 days of receiving a claim.

Domestic workers follow a different schedule

Decision 98/2019 added a schedule for drivers, housemaids and other domestic staff. Their policy runs for two calendar years, not one, and inpatient cover rises to OMR 4,000, while the outpatient and body return limits stay at OMR 500 and OMR 1,000. Dhamani's FAQ adds that domestic worker cover is limited to emergency and unintentional cases.

Sick leave insurance is a separate duty

Do not confuse health insurance with the sick leave insurance that started this summer. Under Social Protection Fund Decision R/13/2026, sick leave and special leave insurance became required for non-Omani private sector workers from 19 July 2026.

The cost. The employer pays 1 per cent of the worker's wage each month to the Social Protection Fund.

The split. The employer pays the first 7 days of sick leave at full wage, and the fund pays from day 8, at 100 per cent up to day 21 and less after that, up to 182 days a year.

This scheme replaces lost wages but does not pay a hospital bill, so it does not remove the Article 57 duty.

How to budget and buy cover now

Price the risk you already carry. Under Article 57 an uninsured hospital stay is your bill, and a premium turns that open risk into a fixed cost.

Buy from a licensed insurer. Ask for a policy built on the unified form, and check that your preferred hospitals are on the insurer's Dhamani network.

Match the policy to your contracts. If your contracts promise family cover, the policy must include the spouse and children they name.

Add it to the cost per hire. Premiums sit next to licence and visa fees, which our guide to the Oman work permit and employment visa sets out. For the wider budget of a new firm, see how much it costs to set up a company in Oman.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is health insurance compulsory for every private employer in Oman right now?

We found no official notice dated 2026 that applies it to every employer from a set date, because the scheme is being phased in. Article 57 of the Labour Law already makes employers pay hospital costs for uninsured workers.

What are the minimum limits of the unified policy?

OMR 3,000 for inpatient care, OMR 500 for outpatient care and OMR 1,000 for repatriation, per person per policy year. The limits are separate, not one shared pot.

Does the health insurance Oman employees receive cover their families?

Spouses and children up to 21 are eligible family members under the unified policy, but whether they are covered depends on the benefits in the worker's contract.

Is the new sick leave insurance the same as health insurance?

No. Since 19 July 2026 employers pay 1 per cent of wages to the Social Protection Fund for sick leave pay, which replaces wages, not medical bills.

City Squares is an authorised agent of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion, based in Muscat. We help employers work out the full cost of each hire, including insurance, licences and visas, through our post company formation services. The health insurance scheme is still being phased in and fees change by decision, so confirm the current rules with the FSA before you commit.