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Your health insurance in Belgium
If you work in Belgium
If you live in the Netherlands and work in Belgium, you will be covered under Belgian health insurance. You can register with a Belgian health insurance fund of your choice. You will have to pay a membership fee (called 'lidgeld') of about € 50 a year. In addition, your employer will deduct a health insurance contribution of 3.55% from your pay.
Care in the Netherlands
To receive care in the Netherlands, ask your Belgian health care fund for an S1 form and send it to:
CZ Zorgverzekeringen
Postbus 55
6131 MA Sittard
Care in Belgium
You can also choose to receive care in Belgium. In that case, the costs will be reimbursed by your Belgian health insurance fund or Auxiliary Fund in accordance with the Belgian compulsory health insurance system. This means that you will be charged a personal contribution ('remgeld') when you receive care.
If you receive a Belgian benefit or pension
If you live in the Netherlands and you receive a Belgian benefit or pension, you will have to pay health insurance contributions in Belgium. However, you will be entitled to care and reimbursements in the Netherlands.
Call CZ Zorgverzekeringen in Sittard on number 046 459 5812 to register. The organization that pays your pension or benefit will then send you form S1. They will also deduct a health insurance contribution of 3.55% from your Belgian pension or benefit.
You are entitled to care in the Netherlands, but you can also receive care in Belgium. With the 'sis' card from your health insurance fund, you can show health care providers in Belgium that you are entitled to receive care in Belgium. Your health insurance fund will reimburse you for the costs of care in Belgium.
Contact your health insurance fund to activate your sis card and to request a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC). The EHIC entitles you to emergency medical care if you are temporarily staying in another EU country than the country where you live or the country that pays your pension or benefit.
You do not have to pay AWBZ contributions
Your Belgian health insurance does not cover home care, admission to a nursing home or hospitalization for longer than a year, but these types of care are covered under the Dutch National Act on Exceptional Medical Expenses (AWBZ). You will automatically be covered under the AWBZ scheme. As you are covered under health insurance in Belgium, you do not have to pay AWBZ contributions. However, to get exemption from payment of these contributions, you must request a statement from the Dutch Health Care Insurance Board (CVZ) in Diemen, and send it to the Dutch Tax Administration (Belastingdienst).
Pension or benefit from both the Netherlands and Belgium
If you receive a benefit or pension from both countries, you will be covered under health insurance in the Netherlands. You can register with a Dutch health insurer of your choice. You will only pay contributions in the Netherlands, not Belgium.
