Summary

In January 2016, the Prime Minister of Cambodia issued a sub-decree to launch a mandatory social health insurance (SHI) for formally employed workers. The sub-decree seeks to implement the health insurance branch of the 2002 Social Security Law.

The launch of the SHI was informed and boosted by a pilot Health Insurance Project (HIP) for garment sector workers. HIP was launched after a feasibility study in 2007 on the initiative of the Garment Manufacturers’ Association of Cambodia (GMAC) and the NGO GRET (Professionals for Fair Development) in collaboration with NSSF and the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training (MoLVT). The transfer of the project from GRET to NSSF under MoLVT started in 2013. The HIP team contributed its expertise to the establishment of the national scheme for formal sector workers.