One third of population benefit from NSSF

Hamdan: Huge nunber of employees are unsubscribed

The National Social Security Fund (NSSF) reported 600,000 subscribers as at end-2012, of whom 94 percent were Lebanese. The subscribers included 440,000 private sector employees, 57,000 university students, 36,000 taxi drivers carrying a license, 33,000 private sector teachers, and 13,000 optional subscribers. There were also 7,000 doctors, 4,000 taxi drivers renting a license, 2,000 moukhtars, and 1,000 bakers covered by NSSF.

Kamal Hamdan, Executive Director at the Consultation and Research Institute (CRI) said: “Around 150,000 employees are not covered by NSSF because their employers have not subscribed them.” He said these employees have no medical coverage, do not receive transportation fees or salary raises, and are not eligible for any end-of-service compensation. The total number of residents benefiting from NSSF services stood at 1.3 million, including 730,000 indirect beneficiaries.

At end-2012 the NSSF reported 52,000 registered companies, of which 85 percent were SMEs with less than 10 employees. The NSSF has working agreements with 142 hospitals, 10,995 doctors, 2,780 pharmacies, 1,393 physiotherapists, 433 laboratories, and 220 imaging centers.