What's a mutual health insurance ?
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The INSP !R network presents the "identity card of the health mutual".
The "identity card" is a tool elaborated thanks to the field experience of partner organizations of the Christian Mutualities of Belgium and the NGO WSM active in the field of the right to health.
Involved for nearly 25 years in international cooperation and solidarity with access-to-health projects, these organisations have pooled their expertise to propose a description of a "health mutual".
This "identity card", drawn up by mutual organizations in West Africa, Central Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean and Asia, sets out the basic principles and values of a mutual health organisation, how it operates and the missions it can carry out.
The main aim of this tool is to help identify an organization as a "health mutual". The principles of solidarity, not-for-profit, democracy, autonomy, social movement and a role as health stakeholder are the foundations of a health mutual.
In keeping with these principles, the "health mutual" can play a variety of roles, depending on the context in which it operates. Its activities and services range from social insurer and social movement to social entrepreneurship.
The context in which a health mutual evolves will also determine its mode of financing and influence its governance structure.
The mutualist identity card will help mutualist organizations and all their partners to better define and present themselves. This will facilitate international cooperation that reinforces this "mutualist model" as a means of improving access to care and health for all, and strengthening the effectiveness of the right to health, taking into account all its determinants (the set of factors that influence the state of health of the population).
