When expat families arrive in the UAE, insurance tends to be treated as an administrative box to tick during the visa process. Most employers arrange basic health coverage, residents assume they are protected, and the subject moves to the bottom of the priority list. This is where the expensive mistakes begin. The UAE’s insurance landscape underwent its most significant transformation in years on 1 January 2025, when mandatory health insurance was extended to all seven emirates for the first time. The rules differ meaningfully between Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Dependants — spouses, children — sit in a different regulatory category…
Author: Fahad Al Sheri
Fahad Al Sheri
Fahad Al Sheri has spent the better part of five years in the UAE watching how quickly this country moves — and making sure readers are never the last to know. As UAE News & Business Editor at What's Hot in UAE, he covers the policies, infrastructure projects, and regulatory changes that shape daily life across all seven emirates.His work sits at the intersection of government affairs and ground-level impact. A new bridge that cuts your commute by nine minutes. A change to end-of-service rules that affects your contract. A metro expansion that unlocks a new part of the city. These are the stories Fahad follows from announcement to delivery.Before joining What's Hot in UAE, Fahad contributed to regional business and current affairs coverage across several UAE-based platforms, developing a network of sources within government communications, urban planning, and the private sector. He reads every official gazette update so you don't have to.Based in Dubai, he covers the UAE with the attention to detail that only comes from genuinely living inside the story.Follow Fahad's work on Muck Rack and Mastodon.
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