For many years we have been hearing about the problems of funding of health insurance benefits in our different Member States. At CERN we are not totally immune from this problem. 

To start with, let us recall that we have a mutual-benefit scheme which covers everyone for the consequences of the uncertainties in life (illness and accidents). The rules of our scheme are established by CERN in the framework of a sub-group of the Standing Concertation Committee, the CERN Health Insurance Scheme Board (CHISB), which is also in charge of managing the scheme. 

The work of the “ProtSoc” (Protection Sociale – Social Security) commission, as we like to call it at the Staff Association, is to help your representatives on the CHISB, by preparing together with them the subjects and positions to be put forward and defended. This commission, which groups together the staff delegates who wish to invest their time and energy in the area of social security, reports to the Executive Committee and Staff Council on the issues raised in the CHISB meetings, which result from the constant evolution of society.

We all know that medical treatment is being constantly improved, partly thanks to the basic research carried out at CERN, however, we also know that this treatment is becoming more and more expensive. In their concern to control costs, your delegates must show ingenuity in order to find and present to the CHISB ideas and solutions that enable the scheme to remain financially balanced, without sacrificing benefits which are part of CERN’s attractiveness.

In the past, the Staff Association has been very active in the area of social security with discussions and proposals relating to the setting up of the Long-Term Care (LTC) scheme in 2001, the changes to the rules of hospitalization in 2003, the introduction of the “Confidential Declaration of Family Situation” for active and retired members, and the modernization of the rules of the health insurance scheme between 2005 and 2010. The Staff Association contributes to the analysis of the scheme’s statistics supplied by our administrator, UNIQA.

In this period of the five-yearly review, when our health insurance scheme could undergo significant changes in both its funding and the benefits awarded, the commission has been working over the past four months to maintain a successful health insurance scheme, while keeping the scheme financially balanced in the long term.

We would like to conclude by reminding you that the “ProtSoc” commission also works towards guaranteeing a fair scheme which respects solidarity between generations. As far as social security is concerned, the line of conduct has for a long time been: “each person contributes according to his means and consumes according to his needs”.