Anyone living and/or working in Belgium is obliged to register at a Belgian health insurance provider. It will cover most of your medical costs. It is important to start the registration procedure as soon as you arrive in Belgium.
If you are covered by a health insurance provider in another European country before moving to Belgium, you can apply for a European Health Insurance Card and use this for the first days or weeks of your stay in Belgium if needed.
Registration with a health care provider
There are two ways to obtain health insurance: you can register either with one of Belgium’s five health insurance providers (called “ziekenfondsen” or “mutualiteiten” in Dutch) or with the ‘Hulpkas voor Ziekte- en Invaliditeitsverzekering’ (HZIV), a public social insurance institution. The HZIV only offers the basic mandatory insurance and does not provide any additional services or insurance plans.
In exchange for this contribution you will receive additional benefits and services (up to a certain limit), such as vaccinations, contact lenses, corrective glasses, orthodontic treatment, babysitting services, osteopathy, sports club membership, births, dental care and so on. Many of the health insurance providers also offer additional insurance cover for hospitalisation and dental care. Contact the health insurance providers for an overview of the services offered, as they differ from one provider to another.
During the registration, the health insurance provider will give you a certificate of coverage (“attest van onderwerping”) that needs to be filled in and signed by your employer in order to complete your registration.
If you have any problems registering with a health insurance provider, you can contact the International Staff Office. We can also assist you with the registration process with CM and Helan.
After registration, you will receive an invoice for the affiliation fee from the health insurance provider, an information booklet and stickers showing your personal details which you will need to have your medical costs reimbursed.
Reimbursement of medical costs
The Belgian health insurance system reimburses medical expenses incurred in Belgium and other EU countries in certain cases. On average, the health insurance system will reimburse 75% of your expenses. How much is reimbursed mainly depends on the nature of the service provided and on the status of both the insured person and the care provider.
In most cases, the full amount will not be reimbursed. You will often be required to pay a personal contribution, known as remgeld. In principle, the personal contribution amounts to 25% of the expense but this may be higher depending on the type of care provided. Some medical expenses are reimbursed in full if they are considered ‘essential’.
Expenses are reimbursed after the fact by the health insurance providers on the basis of the receipt the doctor or health care practitioner gives you, known as a getuigschrift van verstrekte hulp. Attach an identification sticker (which you get when you register with a health insurance provider) to the receipt and take it or send it to your health insurance provider. At some doctors’ practices the reimbursement is processed automatically and the amount will be transferred to your bank account within a week. You must be registered with a health insurance provider already for this to happen.
The health insurance system does not reimburse all medical expenses. Costs which are not eligible for reimbursement include supplements charged by care providers who have not signed an agreement with the health insurance providers, supplementary expenses for a single or two-person room during a hospital stay, ambulance transport and so on. For more information, please contact your health care provider.
More information about the different health care providers and a list of health care providers (GPs, pharmacists, hospitals, dentists, etc.) can be found on the intranet.
Hospitalisation insurance
Not all medical care is reimbursed by the statutory health insurance system. Examples of the most common extra costs are: all extras charged by non-contracted health care providers, additional fees for a single or two-person room in hospital, ambulance transport, etc.
For some of these costs, refunding provision is in place in the form of additional benefits and services provided by the insurance agencies. But in cases of serious illness or prolonged hospitalisation, personal costs may still mount up. To minimise this risk, some people choose to sign up for additional hospitalisation policies. Such options are available through health insurance providers and private insurers.
The University of Antwerp has an agreement with a private insurer (Ethias) which allows staff and their family members to sign up for additional hospitalisation insurance at an attractive rate. For more information about rates and coverage, please check the intranet page.
Flemish social protection
Flemish social protection insurance (“de Vlaamse sociale bescherming”) provides those heavily dependent on care with an allowance for the cost of non-medical care.
Flemish “care insurance” is not the same as health insurance and therefore has nothing to do with hospital or other supplemental insurance policies that health insurance providers and private insurers offer.
Contributing to Flemish care insurance is compulsory for anyone older than 25 years living in Flanders. ‘Living in Flanders’ means that they are registered in the National Registry or in the Register of Foreign Nationals of a city or town in Flanders.
Some staff members may be exempt (non-EER nationals with a temporary stay in Belgium). More information about these exemptions can be found on the intranet of the International Staff Office.