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    The amount a person is capable of paying in order to benefit from insurance coverage. A person's ability to pay is always equal to or greater than his or her willingness to pay. [ILO-STEP, 144]

See: willingness to pay

    Refers to the possibility that exists for people to make use of health care or health services. In order for everyone to enjoy access to health care or health services, steps must be taken to remove barriers, particularly economic, financial or cultural barriers, as well as those relating to the supply of health care when the latter is either non-existent or overburdened (and therefore inadequate to meet demand). Setting up a health micro-insurance scheme facilitates access to health care and services by removing certain financial barriers, but does not always resolve problems of geographic or cultural accessibility.

Geographic accessibility
Access to health care of acceptable quality by the inhabitants of a village may be limited by the distance between the village and health care providers, or by a lack of organized transport.

Cultural accessibility
Access to health care and the selection of treatment options may, to some extent, be influenced by social perceptions, attitudes towards illness and maternity, or family and community strategies for dealing with illness and maternity. [ILO-STEP, 144]

   Refers to the period for which financial statements are prepared. The accounting period is usually determined by law and, in many cases, corresponds to one calendar year. [ILO-STEP, 144]

    Transfers are recorded at the time of the events that create the related claims and liabilities, not at the time when the actual payment is made (see under cash basis). For example, if, for whatever reason, the old age pension for the month of December 2002 is paid only in January 2003, the year recorded on an accrual basis would be 2002 while the data recorded would be 2003 on a cash basis. [ILO, 694]

See: cash basis

   Insured individuals who have made at least one contribution or on whose behalf at least one contribution has been made during the reporting period. [ILO, 694]

    A person on whose behalf at least one contribution payment has been made to a scheme during a given period, e.g. a year. [ILO, ISSA, 8030]

   Cash payments by employers to social security schemes to secure entitlement to social benefits for employees, former employees and their dependants. [ILO, 694]

    The minimum level of funding in a social security scheme to be maintained over a defined period at each point in time. The actuarial equilibrium is a discretionary concept. Technically it is usually stated in the form of a provision in the social security law stipulating that the scheme has to maintain a certain level of funding of k times the annual expenditure (i.e. the funding ratio) for a certain number of years x (i.e. the period of equilibrium). [ILO, ISSA, 8030]

    Any management and administrative expenditure incurred by the scheme directly responsible for the provision of social protection benefits, such as salaries, or the costs of running an office. [ILO, 694]

    In the context of social security, administrative data is data collected by the social security agency about its beneficiaries. It is data that is routinely collected as part of the assessment and payment administrative procedures. It is therefore not specifically collected for research purposes. Information concerning beneficiaries, benefits and the covered population is recorded in order to set up detailed information on the scheme's revenue and expenditure, to manage the system of services, to monitor given services and to ensure quality.

    A phenomenon according to which persons with a greater-than-average risk of illness or maternity enrol in a health micro-insurance scheme in a higher proportion than that of their share of the target population and/or choose the highest levels of coverage. When individuals have no say about whether to be insured or at what level of coverage, adverse selection does not exist. Such is the case when membership is automatic and schemes offer a single level of coverage. The existence of adverse selection may jeopardize a scheme's financial viability given that benefit-related expenses risk exceeding forecasts, since they are based on estimates of consumption for the overall target population. [ILO-STEP, 144]

Synonym: anti-selection

   An agreement concluded between a health micro-insurance scheme and a health care provider that specifies the services to be covered, fees to be applied, standards of quality to be respected and the amount and methods of payment for services rendered. Such agreements must enable the persons protected to enjoy quality health care at a pre-established and reasonable price. [ILO-STEP, 144]

    Synonym: capitation

    An arrangement to provide an income for a specified number of years, or for the remaining lifetime of an individual, or the remaining lifetime of more than one individual. [ILO, 7768]

    See: adverse selection

    Financial system applied to employment injury benefits under which the annual cost of the scheme is determined as the present value of all future payments relative to pensions awarded during that year. Under that system, a reserve is continuously maintained equal to the present value of pensions in payment. [ILO, ISSA, 630]

    Notion describing a situation where the level of a market index is too high in comparison to the value of the companies included in the index as derived by other valuation methods. An asset price bubble is usually the result of mass speculaiton and ends with the implosion of the bubble. [ILO, ISSA, 8030]

    A group of persons who voluntarily join together for a particular purpose or to defend common interests. Contrary to commercial enterprises, associations are operated on a non-profit basis.

Examples: Associations of producers, consumers, human rights defenders; sports or cultural associations, etc. [ILO-STEP, 144]

    Context: utilization of health services

   A characteristic of an individual who does not like uncertainty. The greater an individual's aversion to risk, the more he or she will be willing pay in order to obtain insurance coverage. [ILO-STEP, 144]