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Egypt debates health care reform

New legislation has been proposed to revamp Egypt’s outdated and ill-functioning health insurance system and cover all Egyptians under one universal insurance umbrella.
Doctor Karim Ahmed, 31, wearing a sticker that reads, "An open-ended strike for doctors, For patients before doctors", attends to a patient at Al-Moniera public hospital in Cairo October 2, 2012. Egypt's doctors began a partial strike on Monday with varied demands, including making the health budget 15 percent of the state budget, and improving security conditions to protect doctors and patients from assaults, said representatives from the Doctors' Syndicate.  REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh  (EGYPT - Tags: CIVI
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CAIRO — The health insurance system in Egypt could easily be called a failure, as Egypt's Health Insurance Organization (HIO) is subject to outdated laws that have scarcely been modified in line with skyrocketing costs across all sectors.

Public hospitals have become a place to humiliate people who aren't privately insured. They receive minimal care from doctors and nurses, who receive low wages as government employees, their services provided free of charge.

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