Supporting Egypt’s Universal Health Insurance System

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The development objective of the Supporting Egypt’s Universal Health Insurance System Project for Egypt is to: (i) increase the coverage of Egypt’s universal health insurance system (UHIS) in first phase governorates, (ii) strengthen UHIS-related governance and institutions, and (iii) provide temporary financial protection against high out of pocket health expenditures for vulnerable populations outside first phase governorates. The project comprises of five components. The first component, enrollment and empanelment of the population into UHIS will focus on carrying out an annual program of activities to support the enrollment of the target population (including the vulnerable groups who are eligible for premium subsidies as per the UHIL) in first phase governorates into the UHIS as well as the empanelment of enrollees with general practitioners (GPs). The second component, strengthening UHIS governance, systems, and facilitating environment will focus on carrying out an annual program of activities to: (a) strengthen UHIS governance and institutional arrangements, including the UHIS oversight and coordination platform; (b) create an enabling environment for private sector participation and citizen engagement mechanisms at both the central and governorate levels through the establishment of coordination bodies for UHIS at the national level and in all first phase governorates; and (c) support UHIS positive environmental, climate, and social outcomes. The third component, providing temporary financial protection against high out-of-pocket (OOP) health expenditures for vulnerable populations outside of first phase governorates will provide temporary support, for three fiscal years, to the most vulnerable segments of the society who are affected by the negative health and economic implications of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Egypt, and finance the costs associated with their utilization of the program of treatment on the expense of the state (PTES). The fourth component, institutional capacity building, technical assistance (TA), and project management will support TA, including capacity building and analytical activities for the establishment of the new UHIS. The fifth component, contingent emergency response component (CERC) will draw from uncommitted loan funds from other components to cover the emergency response.