CNOPS, Morocco's Public-Sector Health-Insurance Fund

A plain-language guide to CNOPS, the body that administers compulsory health insurance (AMO) for Morocco's public-sector workers.

Founded: 1950 · Supervision: Ministry of Health and Social Protection · Last updated 2026-10-08

CNOPS (Caisse nationale des organismes de prévoyance sociale, roughly “national fund of social-welfare bodies”) runs compulsory health insurance (AMO) for Morocco’s public sector: civil servants, staff of public establishments, public-sector pensioners and their dependants. In 2024 it covered 3,136,085 beneficiaries, of whom 1,450,860 paid contributions, according to the insurance regulator ACAPS. That role now has an end date. Law n° 54-23, published in the Bulletin officiel on 29 January 2026, transfers public-sector AMO to the CNSS twelve months after 1 February 2026, which puts the switch at 1 February 2027.

What CNOPS is

CNOPS is not a ministry department but a federation of mutual societies. Five public-sector mutuals grouped into the federation that became CNOPS in 1950, according to an opinion of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE) published in the Bulletin officiel in January 2025. Law 54-23 describes it as established under dahir n° 1.57.187 of 12 November 1963, the statute governing mutual societies. Today eight mutuals deliver services on its behalf: ACAPS calls them “les huit mutuelles délégataires de la CNOPS”, and the CESE counts seven public-sector mutuals plus one from the semi-public sector. They include historic mutuals for education, health services, posts and telecoms, the armed forces and national security.

Who is covered

  • Civil servants in central government, local authorities and public establishments;
  • Military and paramilitary personnel, through affiliated mutuals;
  • Pensioners from the public service;
  • Dependants (spouses and dependent children).

How it works

AMO coverage through CNOPS is compulsory for serving public-sector employees. Contributions are withheld at source from salaries and pensions. Benefits cover outpatient care, hospitalisations, maternity, reimbursable medicines and long-term conditions, following norms set by the regulator ANAM. Day-to-day management is delegated to the member’s mutual, hence the regulator’s term mutuelles délégataires.

What law 54-23 changes

The reform amends law n° 65-00 on compulsory basic health insurance (AMO). It was promulgated by dahir n° 1.26.01 of 22 January 2026 and published in Bulletin officiel n° 7478 (Arabic general edition) on 29 January 2026.

When. Article 19 says the law enters into force once twelve months have passed, counted from the first day of the month after its publication. Publication was in January 2026, so the count starts on 1 February 2026 and ends on 1 February 2027. Until then the current arrangements stay in place.

What moves to the CNSS. The transitional articles are concrete:

  • Staff (article 6): permanent, trainee and contract employees working at CNOPS on the day the law takes effect transfer to the CNSS automatically, with a status no less favourable than before, and their CNOPS service counts as CNSS service.
  • Property (article 8): movable and real property that CNOPS bought with public-sector AMO money moves to the CNSS free of charge. Property bought before 18 August 2005 stays out.
  • Archives and accounts (articles 9 and 11): all records of the public-sector scheme, and its assets, liabilities, bank balances and refunds on claim files.
  • Contracts (article 10): the CNSS takes over CNOPS’s rights and obligations under contracts signed for the public-sector scheme.
  • Governance: the amended law gives the CNSS board of directors authority over all questions concerning AMO for public-sector employees and pensioners.

What happens to the mutuals. Article 12 puts the CNSS in CNOPS’s place in its agreements with the mutuals, which continue for a period to be fixed by decree. Insured persons and their dependants keep using the services the mutuals provide at that date, under third-party payment (tiers payant), through agreements between the CNSS and the mutuals.

What else is in the same law.

  • The age limit for dependent children rises to 30 for unmarried children studying in an authorised higher-education or vocational-training establishment, public or private, on proof of enrolment.
  • Law n° 116.12, the separate AMO scheme for students, is repealed when the law takes effect.
  • Decree-law n° 2.18.781, which created the Caisse marocaine de l’assurance maladie, is repealed.

What does not change. The CNSS takes over management, but the public-sector scheme keeps its own place in law 65-00, separate from the private-sector scheme the CNSS already runs. None of the transitional articles asks insured members to file anything; they deal with staff, assets, accounts and the mutuals’ agreements.

Interaction with other schemes

  • CNSS, AMO for private-sector employees and (since 2021-2022) independent workers; from February 2027 also the public-sector scheme. See the CNSS glossary entry.
  • AMO Tadamon, the solidarity scheme for people who cannot pay contributions. See the AMO Tadamon entry.
  • ANAM, the common technical regulator for all AMO schemes. See the ANAM entry.

Technical arrangements prevent double affiliation and preserve coverage continuity for workers who move between sectors. A private-sector employee’s side of the same system is covered in the guide to AMO rights as an employee.

Sources

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