Expat Essentials

Polya Pencheva: An expat’s guide to health insurance in Belgium

(Editor’s note: This post on health insurance in Belgium is part of a series by expat Polya Pencheva, who recently relocated to Brussels from the Netherlands.)

One of my favorite topics regarding Brussels is bureaucracy. I guess this is the case because I have to express the struggles that I went through to sort everything to be a properly functioning resident of Brussels. And guess what … eight months later, I still don’t have everything.

But rest assured, I just have a bad luck! Most people have it way easier and don’t face such problems.

As previously explained, setting up a municipality (commune) registration, ordering a public transport card, and calculating monthly budgets are among the things of utmost importance when moving to a new place. Of course, hunting for an apartment, obviously, before the move itself. After the move, there is one more thing that you have to do as somebody living in Belgium that is mandatory – namely
organizing your health insurance.

Given the fact that it is Belgium, and there are laws for everything, setting this up is super important.

So, let’s dive right into the topic of why this is vital for you, what you should do, and how was my experience, organizing this:

The Belgian healthcare system is predominantly public. It is funded by social security contributions and we will discuss them a bit later in this post. It’s also run by the Belgian government at the federal and regional levels, with the responsibility shared between Federal Public Service Social Security, the National Institute for Sickness and Disability Insurance (INAMI), and the Dutch-, French-, and German-speaking communities’ Ministries of Health.

This makes the system affordable for residents of Belgium. This is great because regardless of what your needs are, it is highly likely that you’ll have access to it as well as some great doctors.

In the 2019 Health Care Index, Belgium ranked No. 9 out of 89 countries on the overall quality of its healthcare system. Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Slovenia, Norway and France are the European countries that rank higher. That ranking further supports the statement that Belgium has one of Europe’s top health care systems, offering some of the best professional medical care. Apparently, the healthcare infrastructure is super-advanced, and it ensures that all residents have access to essential medical services.

In most cases, patients have to pay only part of the cost upfront and later on they are reimbursed by their mutuality or public health insurance fund. Now that I have mentioned mutuality let’s see what it is and why it is important.

Mutualités and ziekenfonds

Mutualités in French and ziekenfonds (healthcare funds) in Dutch are non-profit health insurance organizations that are very important in Brussels. In fact, they are a unique aspect of Belgium’s social security framework and provide health insurance coverage to patients as part of the mandatory healthcare system.

Their function is to reimburse part of the health costs of their members, including doctor visits, medication, hospital stays or anything else. So basically, when becoming a Belgian resident, you have to sign up for one of the mutualities.

Interestingly, they are organized by ideological or political affiliations such as:

Christian Mutuality (CM), which is the largest mutuality in Belgium, and it is associated with Christian values.

• Another big name is Solidaris also known as the Socialist Mutuality, which is affiliated with socialist views. There are more that allow you to pick the mutualité or ziekenfond that best fits your needs.

Once you’ve chosen a mutuality, the hard work begins. I guess I have some bad luck setting up everything paperwork related in Brussels, but it took me some time to sign up for my own healthcare mutuality.

As an expat in Brussels, my advice would be to approach CM, because they offer good service in English.

You can request to have a video call with one of the employees to advise you on what would work best for your needs. You would also have an opportunity to ask additional questions and find out what is important for you. After this call, you would receive the documents via email, and you’ll have to return them.

Private insurers to cover the deductible

With this only covering up to 75 percent of medical expenses, residents also have private health insurance. It covers any remaining cost, and it is useful when a person has chronic illness or permanent medical conditions. Moreover, some employers provide supplementary health insurance as part of their employee package of benefits.

While the cost of public health insurance is regulated, the price for private insurance varies. Therefore, it is crucial for anyone interested in signing up to do extensive research to find what best suits their needs.

Some private health insurance providers in Belgium are Allianz Care, APRIL International, and Cigna Global. Interestingly, if you’re employed, approximately 13 percent of your salary is going to go to social contributions. They in fact fund the health insurance system.

However, if you are self-employed, then you should prepare to pay a higher percentage. How much
you pay in this case is defined by your income. These social contributions cover only compulsory health insurance, and if you want additional (voluntary health insurance), you have to pay a membership fee between 100 euros and 120 euros per year depending on your mutuality.

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See more about Brussels here and Belgium here.

Read more from Polya here.

Polya Pencheva
+ posts

Polya Plamenova Pencheva is a young Bulgarian journalist based in Brussels, Belgium. Polya holds a Master's degree in journalism from Rijksuniversiteit Groningen and loves writing and telling the untold stories of interesting people. You can find her dining at cute café, shopping at markets, scouting second-hand shops or just chillin' at home with something great to read.

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