Takaful is a system of Islamic insurance based on the principle of Ta'awun (mutual assistance) and Tabarru (voluntary contribution), where risk is shared collectively by a group of participants, who by paying contributions to a common fund, agree to jointly guarantee themselves against loss or damage to any one of them. Takaful is operated on the basis of shared responsibility, brotherhood, solidarity and mutual cooperation.

The ratio of persons actually receiving benefits to those who are legally entitled to them. [ILO,ISSA,2004,8030]

See: produced assets, non-produced assets

Investments in the tangible capital stock of an economy. [ILO,ISSA,2004,8030].

The population that the future scheme plans to cover, including all potential members and their dependents. The target population may be defined on a geographic basis: the inhabitants of certain neighbourhoods or villages, the catchment area of certain health facilities, etc. Alternatively, it may be defined on a socio-economic or socio-occupational basis: the members of a trade union, trade union federation or agricultural cooperative; the customers of a microfinance institution; the employees of an enterprise, etc. [ILO-STEP, 144]

Financial system under which a premium equal to the present value of a pension is paid at the time the pension starts. The premium is set aside as a reserve for the guarantee of future benefit payments. [ILO,ISSA,2004,8030]

A mechanism according to which patients covered by a health micro-insurance scheme pay the total amount of health expenses at the time services are utilized, subsequently claiming reimbursement for the share covered by the scheme. The health micro-insurance scheme guarantees reimbursement of the expenses paid. [trad. ref. 144]

Opposite: third-party payment

A mechanism according to which patients covered by a health micro-insurance scheme are not required – at the time health services are consumed – to pay for health expenses covered by the scheme; they pay only the co-payment, if any. The health micro-insurance scheme (the third party) subsequently pays the health facility for the expenses it incurred on behalf of the patient.

Synonym: cash less payment

Opposite: third-party guarantor

Starting from the last observed statistical values (base period), the maximum number of periods up to which the results of a projection are accessible to meaningful interpretation. The time horizon varies with the type(s) of scheme(s) and/or economy under consideration. [ILO,ISSA,2004,8030].

A tax proposed by James Tobin to be levied on short-term foreign exchange transactions in order to curb exchange-rate speculation which harms (national) economies. [ILO,ISSA,2004,8030].

The ratio between the market value of a stock- listed companies and their replacement costs. Alternatively, the ratio between the change in the value of an entreprise and the underlying net investment. It shows how an additional currency unit spent on capital affects the present value of all future profits. Under this view,q may be interpreted as the market value of one unit of capital; thus, as long as q>1 there is an incentive to invest (q<1: to de-invest). Named after James Tobin, who argued that in reality investment should be positively correlated with q. Empirical evidence is inconclusive. [ILO,ISSA,2004,8030].

The ratio of people with no or insufficient primary income - children , unemployed , disabled, part-time and casual workers, and other actives and non-actives at and above working age - to the number of primary income earners.[ILO,ISSA,2004,8030]

See: demographic ratio

Transfers received from or given to other schemes; e.g. in order to cater for the acquired rights of protected persons who move from one scheme to another. [ILO,694]

Countries moving from centrally planned to market-oriented economies. [ILO,ISSA,2004,8030].

Document issued to a patient by a health care provider certifying that the patient was treated and indicating, in particular, the amount paid by the patient and the amount covered by the health micro-insurance scheme. The treatment certificate is used by the health care provider in the context of a third-party payment mechanism as proof that treatment was delivered to the patient and that the patient benefited from third-party payment for the portion of health expenses covered by the health micro-insurance scheme. [ILO-STEP, 144]

A standardized procedure of treatment, defining, for each type of pathology, the diagnostic interventions (laboratory tests, X-rays or others), medical care and medicines to be prescribed. When followed, treatment protocols make it possible to deliver health care to patients at the lowest cost and with a guaranteed level of quality. The use of treatment protocols also makes it easier to estimate the cost of benefits. [ILO-STEP, 144]

The indirect income effect of transfers when individuals other than the formal recipient of a transfer benefit from a social transfer (for example, if grandparents receiving a pension finance the schooling of their grandchildren). [ILO,ISSA,2004,8030].