Health insurance when moving to Belgium: the checkpoints

Belgium has statutory compulsory insurance for health care benefits and allowances; the law names the National Institute for Health and Disability Insurance (INAMI/RIZIV) as the responsible institute. You can choose between several mutualités of different orientations and the public auxiliary fund; given proper payment of contributions, mutualités also offer supplementary insurance, the auxiliary fund does not.

How reimbursement, own share and choice of doctor work in everyday life, you find out from the mutualité you decide on.

In principle, the country responsible for health insurance is the country where you work, otherwise the country where you live; nationality does not count.

For persons entitled who pay personal contributions, the law allows a waiting period of no more than six months, the details of which are set by the King; the King can grant an exemption. Ask the mutualité whether a waiting period applies to you and for how long.

A Union citizen who stays in Belgium for more than three months and does not work needs sufficient means and health insurance covering all risks in Belgium; employees and self-employed people do not need this proof. Those who stay longer than three months can be required to register; the period may not be shorter than three months from arrival, and in Belgium registration runs through the municipality.

A Brussels municipality names the EHIC, private insurance, the S1, membership of a Belgian mutualité or a certificate of insurability as proof of health insurance. Whether your existing policy counts as insurance for all risks in Belgium is decided by the municipality; clarify this with it before the move.

For registration as a resident, the insurance provider accepts, for Union citizens, the electronic EU card (“Enregistrement, Art. 8 Directive 2004/38/EC”) or the provisional document Annex 8ter as proof of residence. How you arrange the order of registration and affiliation with the mutualité, you clarify in advance with the municipality and the mutualité.

How the rules have changed since this page was last updated, you check at the sources on the day of your move. You can find more on the policy at international health insurance. For partners and children, read Health insurance for families abroad.

Before you deregister (Abmeldung) in Germany, you clarify in writing what happens to your current insurance. The questions below apply to any destination country. They are questions, not legal advice: the answers are in your contract documents or come from the body you ask.

You clarify three Belgium topics in advance with your health insurer (Krankenkasse): the EHIC, a possible S1 (the form for entitlement in your new country of residence) and the day on which your cover in Germany ends. The European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) applies only to a temporary stay in another EU country and only for public providers; if you move your habitual residence, the European Commission names the S1 form instead.

If you have statutory insurance: questions for your Krankenkasse

• What happens to my membership when I deregister in Germany, and on what date does it end?
• Can I suspend the membership or take it up again later, and under what conditions?
• What confirmation of my previous insurance periods do I receive, and how quickly?
• What applies to co-insured family members: who stays insured and who does not?
• Is an S1 an option for me, and who issues it?
• Until which day does my cover last, so that there is no gap between Germany and Belgium?

If you have private insurance: questions for your insurer

• Does my contract end with the move, is it suspended or does it continue?
• Is there an Anwartschaft (a German option to keep certain rights in private insurance while abroad), and what is preserved under it? Ask about the difference between the small and the large Anwartschaft, and whether a new health assessment would be needed on a return.
• Does my contract apply in the destination country, and for how long at a stretch?
• Which documents do I receive in writing before I cancel?
• Does the policy cover all risks in Belgium, and does the insurer confirm this in writing?
• Does the policy apply for the whole length of stay in Belgium?

Do not cancel any contract before it is clarified in writing what applies afterwards. We explain the connections on the pages Health insurance when emigrating and PKV and Anwartschaft. For families, there is more at Health insurance for the family abroad.

1. EHIC as a permanent solution

   The EHIC applies only to a temporary stay. Ask your health insurer (Krankenkasse) about the route for a change of residence.

2. Postponing affiliation with the mutualité

   Benefits are only available through affiliation with a mutualité or registration with the auxiliary fund. Clarify in good time how you cover the time until affiliation.

3. Planning registration without proof of insurance

   Anyone who does not work needs health insurance covering all risks in Belgium for a stay of more than three months. Clarify in advance which insurance your municipality accepts.

4. Not asking about the waiting period

   For persons entitled with personal contributions, the law provides a framework for a waiting period. Ask the mutualité whether and for how long it applies to you, and plan for the bridging.

5. Taking out a policy without checking it

   Have it confirmed that the policy covers all risks in Belgium, and ask the municipality whether it accepts it as proof.