Morocco: Parliament Approves Implementation of Medical Coverage for Students
PERSISMA – Aziz Allilou is a student at the Higher Institute of Media and Communications (ISIC) and Morocco World News correspondent in Rabat.
Morocco: Parliament Approves Implementation of Medical Coverage for Students Rabat – A new draft law has been officially ratified by the Moroccan parliament on Wednesday to extend medical coverage to include all students in Moroccan universities and vocational training institutions.
This new law is to take effect at the start of the next academic year 2015/2016. Beneficiaries of this new bill are Moroccan and foreign students in both private and public universities and vocational training institutions.
A statement by the Health Ministry said this law aims to achieve a “generalized health insurance to enable all citizens to benefit from health coverage equally.”
“This new law strongly asserts the social dimension in the Health Ministry’s strategy of 2012-2016,” the statement added.
A previous report by the World Health Organization in Rabat said more than half of health expenditures come from the pockets of users.
Meanwhile, under this new law, the state will bear the bulk of the financial contribution, while the students will only pay a minimal fee during the registration period at the university.
This law was proposed to the Moroccan parliament long time ago by the Health Ministry. However, the financial aspects have been the subject of a deep debate that has led to the establishment of technical committees whose goal is to reach an adequate formula for the implementation of the new measure.
The Moroccan government spends more than $5 billion a year on health care, according to the Finance Ministry’s 2015 budget documents. The new procedure will save cost $12.1 million from the state budget.
The operation will be managed by the Caisse Nationale Des Organismes de Prévoyance Sociale (CNOPS) and it is due to take effect starting the next academic year (2015-2016).
