Morocco's Health Insurance Scheme | Social Protection Toolbox

According to the World Bank, the under-five mortality rate in morocco decreased to 27.6 per cent as of 2015 from 33.1 per cent in 2010. This progress has been achieved in part through a system of health insurance schemes aimed to attained universal health coverage in Morocco. In 2005, the Government of the Kingdom of Morocco introduced a mandatory and contributory health insurance scheme, or Assurance Maladie Obligatoire (AMO), for the formal sector, and complimented this with a non-contributory basic coverage scheme, or Régime d'Assistance Médicale (RAMED), in 2012 for the informal sector. The National Social Security Fund manages the AMO for private sector employees, while the National Fund for Social Welfare Bodies manages the scheme for public sector employees. RAMED is administered by the National Health Insurance Agency. Morocco’s public health care system manages 2,626 basic health centres, 138 hospitals and four university medical centres.

AMO provides full and comprehensive health coverage, including childbirth, medical/surgical hospitalisation and child care up to the age of 12, medical devices and implants required for medical and surgical procedures, refundable medicines and prosthetic devices. AMO is accessible to the public sector, corporations under public law, persons in the formal private sector and pensioners in both the private and public sectors. RAMED is designed to provide basic health coverage to all persons not covered by the AMO scheme; including those without sufficient resources to meet the costs of medical care, persons with disabilities unable to fulfil remunerated activity, residents of charitable institutions, hospices and orphanages. Together the AMO and RAMED provide health coverage to approximately 41 per cent of the population, or 27 per cent and 14 per cent respectively; however, given that RAMED is a new scheme, full extent of coverage has not been reached and is expected to grow rapidly. The Government of Morocco is currently moving closer to universal health care through the introduction of a mandatory health insurance for self-employed persons and their staff, which is expected to each an additional 30 per cent of the population.

Morocco’s move toward universal health coverage has been achieved largely since 2002 when optional health insurance schemes covered only 17 per cent of the population. The RAMED scheme was first implemented as a pilot in the Tadla Azilal region in 2010 and was recommended for national coverage within one year. With the introduction of new schemes to extend coverage to all residents, Morocco’s recent investments in health care schemes create part of a national social protection floor, an essential step in safeguarding the rights of citizens to access health care.