Arm Wrestling in Morocco between Insurers and Private Polyclinics

The origin of the dispute is the claim made by insurance companies that private clinics and practitioners of the private sector are inflating health charges, overlooking the classification of prescribed items. Health professionals argue that the increase in charges is due to an increase in health care demand.

If a last-minute agreement is not reached, insurance companies may decide to end the repayment convention. This would lead the 900,000 Social Security subscribers to pay health expenses in full in the private sector, except for the clinics of the CNSS (Caisse Nationale de Sécurité Sociale). Eventually, insurers could be tempted to negotiate unilateral agreements with private clinics of their choice.

Health expenses in Morocco have always represented a stumbling block.
The professional insurance federation has already signed separate contracts with a significant number of institutions, stipulating health charges in advance. Moreover, insurance companies may resort, in each medical field, to an expert that would control the real value of the services offered as well as their legitimacy. In October 2002, the FMSAR had criticized the 1998 convention.