Mutual Insurance Company - A New Company Form Regulated By Romanian Law And Its Possible Interactions With Public Administration

• Author: Ilie Dumitru
• Pages: 100-106

MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY - A NEW COMPANY FORM

REGULATED BY ROMANIAN LAW AND ITS POSSIBLE INTERACTIONS

WITH PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

PhD. Ilie DUMITRU1

Abstract

For many decades, mutual insurance companies have been very present in developed countries, in va rious

areas of activity, often interfering with public ad ministration or with various public institutions. For example, mutual

insurance companies can mana ge mandatory health insurance schemes or provide supp lementary insurance for

sickness and old age or alternatives to national insurance schemes. In Romania, mutual insurance companies did not

benefit from such regulation, althou gh in other less developed countries they could operate at least as voluntary

organizations with the role of raising funds and managing financial loans to cover various risks. Very recently was

promulgated in Romania Law n o. 71/2019 on mutual insurance companies. These societies will undoubtedly be present

in social life and many of them will specialize in activities that interfere with those of public institutions and authorities,

so a study of this new type of society can be a benefit for everybody.

Keywords: mutual insurance company, mutualism, insurance fund, public administration.

JEL Classification: K20, K22

1. Brief introduction to the concept of “mutualism”

Mutualism is a principle of interhuman cooperation presupposing the polling of some means

belonging to some individuals, with a view to reach some common objectives of the whole

community. The mutualism idea therefore precedes even the idea of state and, moreover, the

concept of public authority or of bodies of state administration.

The concept was theorized at the beginning of the modern era, in the period of “Industrial

Revolution”, when the two ideologies, the liberal and the socialist one, were grounded at a

doctrinarian level.

Liberalism is a political and economical doctrine that is grounded on the economic and

political freedom of the individual, being against collectivism, socialism, etatism and, in general,

being in opposition to political ideas and forms of state organisation that are interested mainly in

society as a whole, in state or nation, in general.

The basic element of the liberal doctrine is the axiom of non-aggression, proclaiming that

each individual must be free by law to do anything he/she wants, as he/she does not threaten or

damage another person or its properties acquired legally.

Socialism represents a form of social organisation in which the society’s interest prevails in

front of the interest of an individual or a retrained group of individ uals, being therefore in

opposition to liberalism. On an economic plane, socialism presupposes the transfer of means of

production from the property of the individual into the property of the organized society, of the

state, owning therefore all the material production factors, and being thus able to direct production

according to the needs of each of them.

Having the schematic representation of these two great economic and political doctrines, we

can position correctly the mutualism concept. It presupposes, as the socialism, an association, a

pooling of some means belonging to the individual, but following one of its personal choices, and

without transferring its property to community, to the state.

In the history of modern society, various forms of mutual organizations appeared (mutual

societies, mutual funds, mutual aid funds, etc.). They have been and they still are present especially

in the countries and social-political organisation systems where the state is not preoccupied

1 Ilie Dumitru - Associate teacher, Department of Law, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania,

ilie.dumitru@cig.ase.ro.