Ibn Uthaimīn: When Companies Provide Insurance Coverage

Question:

A person is sick, and the company [he works for] has medical insurance coverage, so is it [permissible] for him to go to the hospital with this insurance such that they deduct an amount on a monthly basis from his salary whether he gets sick or not, the company [then] paying the insurance company?

Answer:

He is to receive medical treatment up to the amount they took from him, even if [that] were an insignificant amount–even if it were a single [Saudi] riyal. So a riyal gets an aspirin tablet; that aspirin tablet he does not pay them from his account; the remainder [of the bill] he gives them.

As for if they [the company] themselves pay–sometimes companies don’t take anything from an employee’s salary, rather [the deal] is between themselves and a hospital, for example, that they cover this [employee]: this [employee] is not held to account for [what occurs] from them.

He does not go to the hospital [for covered treatment] as long as he himself has made an [insurance] contract with the hospital.

So the important point is that if the insurance coverage were from the company that he is with, and they’re not taking anything from his salary, then there’s no problem because he has not at this point agreed to a contract involving a gamble. As for if he were with them [sharing in the insurance contract], then it’s gambling [which] is not permissible to engage in.

Source:

N.B. Title mine (Trans.)