glossary insurance definition

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• New resource available about Ecuador's social security system
  This paper is a diagnosis of Ecuador's social security system in view of the recent constitutional reforms the country has gone through. It is based on interviews, on field work and observations. More info...
• New resource available about Bolivia's social security system
  This paper presents an analysis of Bolivia's social security system, including health insurance issues. Despite recent reforms of the social security system, the country has not met its goals and coverage is still weak compared to the rest of the region. More info...
• Conference on Social Economy
  A conference entitled, "The Social Economy: Driving economic growth and social cohesion" organized by the Socialist group in the European Parliament took place on the 15th May 2008. The conference was part of the event, 'Four days of Social Economy' hosted by Social Economy Europe which was held at the European Parliament in Brussels from the 13th-18th May 2008. This conference aimed to give an overview of the field of Social Economy as well as providing in-depth analysis on certain key questions. The conference programme included four round tables on the following themes: the current state of the Social Economy, the specific contributions of Social Economy to the objectives and achievement of the Lisbon Strategy, the internal market review as an opportunity for the Social Economy and the Social Economy tomorrow. The conference thus provided ample room for discussions on pressing issues as well as future challenges.
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• India: Extension of Social Security to BPL Workers - Rashtrya Swasthya Bima Yojana Planning Situation
  The present document, prepared under CLASS initiative, provides an overview of the health insurance scheme main features and operational mechanisms, assesses its development potential in the various States and reviews the main opportunities and challenges, especially in relation to the efficient partnership arrangements that may be seen as a key element for the successful implementation of any health insurance scheme targeting the poor.
• General Assembly of the UAM
  The next general assembly of the African Union of Mutual Organizations will be held on 25 and 26 June in Rabat, Morocco. You will soon find in its website useful links, various documents to download and much more.
• A Public health care facility in Cameroon creates a mutual health organization
  There has recently been a completely new development in Cameroon by a public health care facility: the creation of a mutual health organization (MHO). On 13 November 2007, the constituent general assembly to set up the MHO of the Nkongsamba provincial hospital took place in Nkongsamba in the Mungo region in the Littoral province.The Nkongsamba provincial hospital is a third degree public health care facility. Within this is a mutual aid fund created by the staff, which offers financial assistance to its members in the event of the death of a member, spouse, parent or legitimate child and in the event of marriage. However, it does not handle matters related to health. Following complaints from hospital staff about lack of medical cover, Dr Mouangu? Antoine, its new director, proposed to restructure the aid fund to turn it into a mutual health organization. Premium amounts, technical arrangements, and administrative and financial management of the MHO were established thanks to data analysis from a feasibility study carried out by ASSA, an NGO. The Nkongsamba province hospital's MHO has several characteristics which other organizations do not have. 1. Premiums are commensurate with income. 2. Members pay one monthly premium which covers six persons in his/her family. 3. The MHO is a health care provider. 4. The ceiling of health care charges is commensurate with premiums. 5. Premiums are divided into four socio-professional categories.
• Risk-pooling or co-management of risks
  Within the context of development of the mutual health system, several questions arise concerning the long-term existence of the system because of the extremely small size of certain mutual health organizations (MHOs). It is within this framework that we found it useful to propose a solidarity mechanism: "risk-pooling or co-management of risks". The sharing or co-management of sickness risks is the operation by means of which several MHOs undertake to pool their resources within the framework of a single agreement, in order to equitably share certain risks, the necessary procedures being accepted by all. Co-management enables an MHO to partly or completely cover a risk which it would never have agreed to undertake alone without a substantial additional premium. Joint risk management requires each member MHO to pay a quota of the global premium base. Thus solidarity between MHOs will be based on the large number of participating organizations. In practice, the pooling process is achieved within the framework of an agreement proposed by a federation or union of MHOs that can ensure their technical and financial management by assessing the risks. This is done by evaluating the risks proposed to be covered, setting the contributions, choosing the health care providers and paying the bills in accordance with the mandate received from the members. This agreement system, based on sharing of risks, is very often used by insurers in managing large risks, such as coverage of physical damage from catastrophes, or coverage of damage to goods/merchandise after a shipwreck.
• AMIN (Asian Micro-Insurance Network) and ACYM (Cooperative and Mutual America) sites
  The new AMIN site was introduced to the members of the AMIN network in December 2007. It gives access to a complete body of information on the development of microinsurance in Asia. Con