Islam and Health Insurance

Health care debates sure are different in other countries! Here is an excerpt from the April 6, 2008 India Times:

Health Insurance illegal: Islamic body

NEW DELHI: Comparing the benefits of health insurance policy to gambling, key Islamic organisations have termed the policies as "illegal" and directed Muslims to keep away from them.

At a seminar to deliberate whether insuring health was permissible under Islamic law Shariat, the Islamic Fiqh Academy (India) decided that availing such policies was illegal.

Representatives from around 300 Madrasas, including Darul Uloom Deoband, Jamiat Islami participated in the three-day meet, where they reached a conclusion that seeking insurance cover was only another form of gambling.

Health insurance schemes have turned a noble service into a business activity, hence under Islam it is not permitted, they said...

(Via Howard Roerig.)