IMO

La Mutuelle is the designation for Health Insurance/Assistance in France and other Francophone countries

I don't think there is an exact EN equivalent but here's an idea.
I would leave it in French and add a translator's footnote.

I don't think it actually matters if your private health insurance company IS a mutual society or not, the term simply refers to coverage complementary to the minimal and obligatory state system.

Strictly speaking, if it is "mutuel", like my bank, you have a pay a one-off "subscription" (a share) to become a member, instead of just being a "customer", and can therefore participate in their AGMs.

Traditionally, in the UK, these were sometimes known as "friendly societies", though these days these tend to be much narrower in professional scope (limited to members of a particular profession). I think building societies are much the same as "mutuels", at least in the banking context, though having become "real" banks in recent years, they've probably expanded into all forms of insurance also.

A friendly society (sometimes called a mutual society, benevolent society or fraternal organization) is a mutual association for insurance-like purposes, and often, especially in the past, serving ceremonial and friendship purposes also. It is a benefit society composed of a body of people who join together for a common financial or social purpose. Before modern insurance, and the welfare state, friendly societies provided social services to individuals, often according to their religious or political affiliations. Unlike guilds, society members do not necessarily share a common profession.
Before large-scale government and employer health insurance, friendly societies played an important part in many people's lives. In some countries, half the population was covered by such societies.[citation needed] Many of these societies still exist. In some countries, they have been incorporated into the health system and become like insurance companies and lost their ceremonial aspect; in others they have taken on a more charitable or social aspect.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendly_Society

See list of members of the AFS: http://www.afs.org.uk/members/members.asp


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Note added at 9 hrs (2007-12-30 12:40:23 GMT)
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However, we would really need fuller context. I'm assuming your expression refers to the "insurance coverage" side of the operation, but I think some "mutellles" do have their own medical facilities (cheaper to provide medical attention themselves than pay to have state hospitals do it?). In a town near here, their is a "mutual optician's shop", for example.

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Note added at 9 hrs (2007-12-30 12:46:15 GMT)
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Here : http://www.mutualite.fr/outils/trouver_un_service_de_sante_m...

you can locate an "établissement mutualiste" in a number of health-care fields. La Mutalité Française" is an association of 2000 "mutuelles". The more I think about it, the more I suspect your context is that of provision of health care under mutual insurance coverage rather than the coverage itself.

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Note added at 9 hrs (2007-12-30 12:51:38 GMT)
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You can access the various members of the company at the site above. It's a bit laborious, but in addition to "general" mutuelles, they include things like various students' mutuelles, watchmakers and jewellers mutuelles, mutuelles for various components of the public service, so we're getting back to the friendly societies.

Hello,

From what I gather online, this is a non-profit health insurance firm.

établissement = institution
mutualiste = non-profit
de sante = medical (health)

If you look at the definition online of "mutualiste", it means "non-profit".

I hope this helps.

Avoids all the words that appear to be contentious, i.e. mutual, institution, establishment.

Let's get it right...

• Institut Mutualiste Montsouris (for cardiothoracic surgery and treatment of urological and digestive disorders): a social institution of the Civil Service Mutual Insurance, the IMM is a non profit hospital. The IMM is also a renowned center for research and teaching.


http://iate.europa.eu/iatediff/SearchByQuery.do

mutualist - mutually dependent
interdependent, mutually beneficial
dependent - relying on or requiring a person or thing for support, supply, or what is needed; "dependent children"; "dependent on moisture"

e-Prints Soton - Mutualism and health care: hospital contributory ...
Mutualism and health care evaluates the extent to which the schemes were ... School or Centre:, School of Social Sciences > Sociology and Social Policy ...
eprints.soton.ac.uk/34905/ - 9k - Cached - Similar pages
[ More results from eprints.soton.ac.uk ]
[PDF]
HISTORY CENTRE NEWSLETTER
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
Rachel Herring. New booksby Centre members. Mutualism and health care British hospital. contributory schemes in the twentieth century. ...
www.lshtm.ac.uk/history/History centre newsletter 7 2007.pd... - Similar pages
Research
Research of Centre on History in Public Health. ... Martin Gorsky & John Mohan with Tim Willis, Mutualism and health care British hospital contributory ...
www.lshtm.ac.uk/history/research.html - 24k - Cached - Similar pages
[ More results from www.lshtm.ac.uk ]

[PDF]
Social Enterprises and the NHS
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
favour mutualism in health care have suggested a range. of options including ‘combined’ ...... Developed in the 1930s, the Pioneer Health Centre in ...
www.unison.org.uk/acrobat/16690.pdf - Similar pages

http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:DwJKWogKQHYJ:www2.rgu.a...


France: Solidarity and insertion

Social protection in France is based on the principle of solidarity: the commitment is declared in the first article of the French Code of Social Security. The principle is used in a number of different senses. The idea seems, at first sight, to refer to co-operative mutual support. Some writers apply the term in relation to 'mutualist' groups (friendly societies) and emphasise that people insured within national schemes (les assurés sociaux) are called to contribute and benefit on an equal footing. Others stress that relationships of solidarity are based in interdependence. Solidarity is usually understood, in this context, in terms of common action, mutual responsibility and shared risks.

The pursuit of 'national solidarity' was undertaken in the first place by attempting progressively to extend the scope of existing solidarities, most notably through the creation of a 'régime général' for health and social security, and subsequently through its progressive expansion. Since the 1970s this pattern of solidarities has been supplemented by additional measures designed to bring 'excluded' people into the net. The most important of these measures is the Revenu Minimum d'Insertion (RMI), introduced in 1988, which combines a basic benefit with a personal contract for 'insertion' or social inclusion.

The French system of welfare is a complex, patchwork quilt of services. This kind of arrangement is relatively expensive, and much of the focus of social policy in recent years has fallen on the control of expenditure - filling 'the hole in the social', le trou de la Sécu. The main areas of concern are not dependency or unemployment, but pensions, because of the special privileges accorded to particular occupational groups, and spending on health care, where the stress on independent, market-led services (la médicine libérale) presents considerable problems in cost control.

The United States: a 'liberal' regime?
Poster: More security for the American family, 1935
Poster for the 1935 Social Security scheme:
from the FDR Library.

The United States is sometimes described as a ‘liberal' welfare regime, in the sense that it represents individualism, laissez-faire, residualism and a punitive view of poverty. These issues often seem to dominate US debates on welfare: examples are the introduction of 'workfare', the exclusion of long-term benefit dependents, and the criticism of the 'underclass'.

The US does not, however, have a unified welfare system. Federalism has meant that many important functions are held by the States, including public assistance, social care and various health schemes (Minnesota and Hawaii have state-funded health systems). By comparison with other developed countries, central government has had a limited role in social welfare provision: the main developments of federal provision were during the Roosevelt administration of the 1930s, which laid the foundations for the social security system, and the "War on Poverty" of the 1960s, which provided some important benefits (notably health care for people on low incomes) and engaged the federal government in a wide variety of projects and activities at local level.

In practice, the US is pluralistic, rather than liberal. There are significant departures from the residual model - e.g. state schooling, social insurance, or the Veterans' Administration, which provides health care for nearly 40 million people. In addition to federal and state activity, there are extensive private, mutualist and corporate interests in welfare provision. The resulting systems are complex (and expensive): the guiding principle is less one of consistent individualism than what Klass has called "decentralised social altruism". [7]


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Note added at 12 hrs (2007-12-30 15:42:09 GMT)
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mutualism - the relation between two different species of organisms that are interdependent; each gains benefits from the other
symbiosis
interdependence, interdependency, mutuality - a reciprocal relation between interdependent entities (objects or individuals or groups)
trophobiosis - a symbiotic relation in which one organism protects the other in return for some kind of food product

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Note added at 12 hrs (2007-12-30 15:42:51 GMT)
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mutual - common to or shared by two or more parties; "a common friend"; "the mutual interests of management and labor"
common
shared - have in common; held or experienced in common; "two shared valence electrons forming a bond between adjacent nuclei"; "a shared interest in philately"
2. mutual - concerning each of two or more persons or things; especially given or done in return; "reciprocal aid"; "reciprocal trade"; "mutual respect"; "reciprocal privileges at other clubs"
reciprocal

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Note added at 12 hrs (2007-12-30 15:43:19 GMT)
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There IS a difference in English, whether we like it or not!

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Note added at 12 hrs (2007-12-30 15:53:47 GMT)
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While I am at it!

"établissements de santé" are NOT "health centres" per se..

See:

http://iate.europa.eu/iatediff/SearchByQuery.do

So, my contribution =

MutualIST health care establishments/health care institutions/health organisations

which would include health centres, dentists, hospitals, ....you name it.

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Note added at 1 day7 hrs (2007-12-31 10:51:02 GMT)
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ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Adj. 1. mutualist - mutually dependent
interdependent, mutually beneficial
dependent - relying on or requiring a person or thing for support, supply, or what is needed; "dependent children"; "dependent on moisture"

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Note added at 1 day7 hrs (2007-12-31 11:02:33 GMT)
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Another reference for Islander, illustrating the use of "mutualist" as an adjective, with a totally different meaning to "mutual":

A.1.2. WHAT ARE THE ORIGINS OF MUTUALIST ORGANIZATION?
The typical form of mutualist organization for English laborers was the friendly society, or mutual benefit society. Friendly societies did not suddenly ...
www.mutualist.org/id26.html - 87k - Cached - Similar pages
FRIENDLY SOCIETIES AND THE NEW MUTUALISM
There was no tradition of co-operation between mutualist organisations on which those directly in the firing line could draw for support. ...
www.australia.coop/rm_friendly.htm - 67k - Cached - Similar pages

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Note added at 1 day13 hrs (2007-12-31 16:31:31 GMT)
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From Eurodicautom:


Health [COM] Full entry
EN

International Centre for Migration and Health

ICMH

FR

Centre international des Migrations et de la Santé

CIMS



Health [COM] Full entry
EN

CCOHS

Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety

FR

Centre canadien d'hygiène et de sécurité au travail

CCHST



Medical science [COM] Full entry
EN

health centre

FR

centre sanitaire



Administrative law [COM] Full entry
EN

medical centre and clinic

..health clinic

..health centre

FR

bureau de consultation médicale



Health, AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY AND FISHERIES [EP] Full entry
EN

Public Health Centre

FR

centre de santé publique



Unknown domain [COM] Full entry
EN

Refugee Health Care Centre

FR

Centre d'action sanitaire en faveur des réfugiés


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Note added at 1 day13 hrs (2007-12-31 16:32:16 GMT)
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This is why I think and know that "Health Centre" is the incorrect translation for

établissement de santé

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Note added at 1 day13 hrs (2007-12-31 16:45:32 GMT)
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ARTICLE 1-2 - RESEAU D’ETABLISSEMENTS CONVENTIONNES AVEC LA MFP

Un réseau d’établissements conventionnés avec la Mutualité Fonction Publique (MFP) est institué par voie d'accords conventionnels conclus entre les Unions Départementales de la Mutualité et/ou la MFP avec :

• des établissements de santé qui outre les conditions indiquées à l'article 1-1 répondent à un certain nombre de critères prédictifs de la qualité globale au regard du service au patient ainsi qu'à des conditions tarifaires,

• les praticiens qui y exercent.

Les établissements mutualistes ont vocation à participer au réseau conventionné, sous réserve de s'inscrire dans les objectifs de qualité du service et de maîtrise des coûts de la MFP.

Les personnes couvertes, telles que définies à l'article 1-1, admises dans un établissement du réseau bénéficient de la dispense d'avance des frais tels que définis à l’article 3.1 et sur les bases prévues à l’article 3-2 du présent règlement.

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Note added at 1 day13 hrs (2007-12-31 16:50:46 GMT)
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You will be fed up with me by now!

I do insist that my contribution is a perfectly valid one.

A further reference to help:

http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:3M6aA0XiOGcJ:www.pharmacl...

You will see they refer to "mutualist pharmacies..."

Cheers!

I couldn't leave this one alone in 2007.

2008 will bring other challenges no doubt.

My reputation is at stake here.