The insurance regulator has moved to recast the draft guidelines on mandatory insurance for migrant workers keeping under consideration the insurance coverage, the size of insurance policy and premium, officials said.
A 13-member body headed by Dr Mohammad Sohrab Uddin, Actuary has been formed recently to revise the draft as there is no mention about who will be the beneficiaries of the new insurance policy, they added.
Officials said many manpower exporting countries have already made insurance coverage mandatory for their outbound workers, but Bangladesh still lags behind other nations in such case.
The Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority (IDRA) prepared the draft guidelines in April last year and forwarded it to the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment (MoEWOE).
It took nearly eight months for the ministry to act on the draft. The pros and cons of the draft guidelines came up for discussion at a seminar organised by the ministry in December last year where participants said the draft was incomplete and in some cases had no clear directives.
In the draft, the IDRA proposed making three insurance schemes mandatory for migrant workers to cover risks during the period of their employment abroad.
Officials said the provision of making compulsory the insurance coverage for overseas workers came into focus as reports on death and abuse of Bangladeshi migrant workers very often hit the headlines. They also allegedly face torture by employers and lose job.
The IDRA in the draft suggested that jobseekers have to buy one-month health insurance policy, life insurance policy, and insurance policy to cover job loss and buffer time before going abroad.
It said non-life insurance companies will provide one-month health coverage to the outbound workers which will come into force since the first day when they fly abroad.
Outbound workers will have to buy life insurance policy for the period of their appointment which can be extended further if they get job tenure extension.
The lowest life insurance policy coverage will be Tk 0.2 million and the highest amount as suggested by the IDRA to be Tk 1.0 million.
Usually, local workers go abroad for a two-year term. In Bangladesh, anyone up to 60 years can have insurance coverage. Outbound workers, aged as high as 58 years, will be able to buy the insurance policy, according to the IDRA draft.
Nominees of workers will get 100 per cent insurance benefit if the policy buyers die during the coverage period. They will get 10-100 per cent benefit depending on the degree of wounds.
Outbound workers will have to buy another policy which will cover their job-loss risks. In many cases, it was found that they lose jobs after being tortured by employers alongside lay-off of factories.
This insurance scheme will provide them with financial benefit in such cases. The IDRA has proposed that the highest amount of this insurance policy should be Tk 0.3 million which will have a tenure for one year but can be extended by another year.
The IDRA also proposed that insurance companies listed on the stock markets having the capacity to pay insurance claims, possessing five years' good track record of paying claims, having good credit rating during the last five years, having satisfactory amount of life fund and total asset and adequate investment and cash fund will be eligible for enlistment for the task.
When asked, an IDRA official agreed that the cost of securing job abroad might go up if the three-tier insurance is made mandatory.
"If you want to cover risks, you need to pay the insurer," he said.
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