Page 62 - Bulletin, Vol.83 No.2, September 2024

REPRESENTATION OF RETIREES IN INSURANCE

COMMITTEES

Fifty-fourth session of the FAFICS Council
22-25 July 2024
Bangkok

Council 54/2024/D.10.c/1A.a.1

REPRESENTATION OF THE RETIREES

IN THE INSURANCE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEES

Document prepared by Mohammed Sebti, AAFI-AFICS for inclusion in the 2024
FAFICS Council agenda

The management committees of the various medical insurance coverage schemes in
the United Nations system are generally composed of members designated by their
organization's administration and by members representing their active personnel. The
representation of retirees is not uniform within the UN system and varies by
organization. Some organizations include retirees in the Management Committees as
full members with voting rights, equal to those representing the administration or active
personnel, others only grant retirees observer status without the same prerogatives.

The status of observers granted to retirees does not confer the authority and legitimacy
necessary for them to exercise their functions as fully-fledged members. It should be
noted that retirees continue to pay premiums for their coverage, and the organizations
subsidize their coverage in the same way it is done for active staff members. The
Retirees numbers are constantly growing, and they represent a significant proportion of
the medically covered population. Given their age, they have specific needs that must
be addressed.

All these elements call for their full and active participation in the Management
Committees, which need to be aware of their specificities and the factors linked to their
age in order to manage their medical coverage with full knowledge. At its 41st session
in 2012, the FAFICS Council adopted a resolution calling for the full participation of
retirees in the organizations' management committees (Text of Resolution attached).

Although it was noted with satisfaction that some organizations have authorized full
participation of retirees, others remain reluctant and limit their representation to
observer status. This is particularly the case in the UN Secretariat. Such limited status is
detrimental to retirees as a distinct category of beneficiaries and to the medical scheme
itself due to the imbalance in the representation of interests between active members
and retirees.

The resolution adopted in 2012 "invites member associations to make every effort to
ensure that the formal participation of retirees in the management committees of the
scheme is enshrined in the rules and procedures of the scheme itself, where this is not
already the case."

60 AAFI-AFICS BULLETIN, Vol. 83 No. 2, 2024-09

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