The Ruling on Commercial Health Insurance

Question:
Honorable Shaykh, I am an employee at a company, and this company has written insurance in hospitals. Is it permissible to receive treatment from these hospitals, given that a percentage is deducted from the salary for this purpose?

Answer:
You should not be treated for more than the amount taken from you. If the treatment costs more than what was taken from you, that is not permissible, because it is taking people’s money without right. However, if you are treated for the amount taken from you, or if you leave it and pay for the treatment from your own money, that is better and further from doubt. Health insurance is not permissible; it is forbidden. All types of commercial insurance are forbidden because they involve consuming people’s money without right. You pay one hundred riyals as a premium and get treated for one hundred thousand riyals, or you repair a car for ten thousand and it is covered for one thousand. It is people’s money, the money of the shareholders, that must be consumed without right. Also, it involves gambling, it involves riba (usury or interest), and it involves conditions. Since all these conditions are present, it is forbidden from several angles. It is not permissible for a Muslim to enter into it. Yes.