Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2012, published 102nd ILC session (2013)

Sickness Insurance (Industry) Convention, 1927 (No. 24) - Chile (Ratification: 1931)

Article 7(1) of the Convention. Continuous failure to apply core provision of the Convention. For many years, the Committee has been drawing the Government’s attention to the fact that the national legislation is not in compliance with a basic principle established by Convention No. 24, that workers and employers shall share in providing the financial resources of the sickness insurance scheme. In Chile, all social contributions, with the exception of those for the employment injury compensation scheme, have been payable by workers since the adoption of Legislative Decree No. 3501 of 1980.

While it acknowledges the extensive information supplied by the Government in its latest report regarding the financing and operation of the employment injury scheme financed exclusively by the employers, the Committee is bound to observe that employment injury issues are not addressed by the present Convention and are dealt with under the Employment Injury Benefits Convention, 1964 [Schedule I amended in 1980] (No. 121), also ratified by Chile. The Committee regrets that the report does not express any intention of seeking ways to finance the sickness insurance system through joint contributions of employers and insured persons so as to give effect, in national laws and regulations, to the requirements of Article 7(1). The Committee wishes to emphasize that failure to comply with the principle of the collective financing of social security in the health insurance branch, as in the pensions branch, makes the system socially unjust for workers and therefore incompatible with the objectives of international labour standards in relation to social security. The Committee asks the Government to reconsider the situation in consultation with the social partners and to indicate in its next report how it intends to give effect to its obligations under Article 7(1) of the Convention.