More Than 5 Million Moroccans to Benefit from Health Insurance

Rabat – Moroccan Minister of Labor Mohamed Amekraz announced Tuesday that Morocco is in the process of implementing a project to provide health insurance and pension coverage for independent workers.

The minister’s declaration took place before the Finance Committee at the House of Representatives on June 2.

Amekraz declared that the program targets more than five million independent workers, and will bring the total number of health insurance and pension system beneficiaries in Morocco to 11 million citizens, which translates to 64% of the population.

The project is set to issue decrees 98.15 for health insurance and 99.15 for pensions, which will apply to 90% of independent workers.

The minister also declared that all of the executive orders within these two decrees have already been issued on a smaller scale and entered into force in October 2019, under Decree 15/98. This applied to only some independent workers, including midwives, medical physiotherapists, and notaries.

The Moroccan official stressed that the Ministry of Labor is currently consulting several working classes in order to issue the final decrees that will cover 90% of the demographic. These working classes include traders, taxi drivers, farmers, tourist guides, and craftsmen.

The minister indicated that the total number of National Social Security Fund (CNSS) adherents in Morocco reached three million today, and is expected to reach eight million with the government’s upcoming reforms.

Amekraz also recalled that 75% of Moroccan independent workers abroad operate within 15 collaborations with foreign countries that guarantee them social coverage. The ministry had been building the partnerships for several years.

With regard to the job loss compensation system, the minister mentioned that the CNSS carried out an evaluation during 2018 to assess the system, with the aim to facilitate a program for the potential beneficiaries.

The evaluation resulted in three scenarios of how to select potential beneficiaries. The CNSS presented the scenarios to the head of the government, requesting the simplification of the conditions of adherence.

Following the CNSS request, the government approved the first scenario of conditions simplification. This stipulates that a social security system must be available for participation to this category of beneficiaries for a period of at least 780 days within the three years preceding the date of loss of employment.