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Final stage of registering with commune - attestation sons de santé
Hi all,
After waiting more than 2 months, the Police came yesterday to progress my registration with the Brussels commune. However, they handed me a piece of paper with my registration number etc on but at the bottom it says that, to finish the application, I need to take my attestation sons de santé into the Brussels commune office, where they can then issue me with my ID card. This needs to be done within 1 month from yesterday.
I start working at the end of October where I get health insurance as part of my package, however it now seems that I need to have cover in the interim to meet the commune requirements.
Can anyone please advise? What level of cover do I need etc? I'm a British citizen who currently has BUPA private medical cover in the UK, travel insurance etc, as well of course access to the EHIC health insurance card... will any of these meet the requirements, or do I need something more Belgium specific in the interim?
Thanks so much.
The norm is that you join one of the Belgian mutuelles, the subscriptions for which, even with complimentary insurance for hospital stays, dental work, etc, are very low, the real cost being covered by some of the taxes you pay. However it may be that in your case your employment status here means that you have private medical cover instead. You need to seek urgent advice from your employer's personnel department. You won't be the first employee for whom the question has arisen.
Incidentally, your EHIC entitlement almost certainly ceased when you moved to Belgium. When you join a mutuelle you will gain entitlement to a new EHIC card issued by the mutuelle.
Are you sure on that BECASSE isn't there a period before they stop the cover. Checkout the UK GOV site, or phone the Newcastle offices, I found them really helpful
http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/Healthcareabroad/countryguide/Pages/healthc...
As you can read on the link you provided, the UK-issued EHIC provides cover for emergency treatment during a TEMPORARY stay in Belgium. You are not in Belgium on a temporary basis as you are in the process of registering as a resident and therefore the EHIC provides no cover and hasn't since the day you moved to Belgium.
There are special arrangements for those (e.g. pensioners) registering with a mutuelle under the European form S1 scheme, but even they, in due course, will receive a new EHIC even though it is still issued by Newcastle and not by the Belgian mutuelle.
Incidentally, you are no longer eligible for free NHS care in the UK, and, if I were you, I would be checking my BUPA contract very carefully to make sure that there was no UK residency requirement.
I would also make certain that the health insurance that you get as part of your "package" isn't a (commonplace) top-up policy which covers all or most of the costs of health care which aren't refunded by a mutuelle, and, if it is an all-singing all-dancing contract, that it at least provides Europe-wide cover.
When I moved here, Newcastle gave me a date when my UK EHIC date ran out, it was about 8 months, I still had to join a Belgium Mutualle. Even now I have qualified for the form S,1 I still pay the monthly Mutuelle subscription, like a normal citizen.
That is the normal mutuelle subscription that almost every Belgian resident pays (although there are quite a number of mutuelle organisations and you can join any one of them).
You may well find that a catch 22 situation arises where the mutuelle won't finalise your application until the registration process is complete (because they will want both your National Number and, more importantly, a copy of the Composition de Menage so that they are certain who is covered). In practice, the commune will be satisfied with documentation showing that you have applied to the mutuelle for affiliation and everything will resolve itself eventually. Note that the actual health cover from the mutuelle won't start until six months have elapsed (called a stage) from the finalisation of your affiliation.
You mention that you don't start work until October. I presume that you previously worked in the UK? If you did, have you been claiming unemployment benefit from the UK, the money may be peanuts but it would entitle you to documentation that would ease your entry into mutuelle membership here, in particular eliminating the "stage". Even if you haven't been claiming but were entitled to do so you may find it possible to acquire the documentation.
When you are next in UK phone the Overseas Healthcare team (0044 191) 21 81999 (8am - 5pm UK time) and ask them. Explain you are living and working (paying National Insurance) in UK till October but will be visiting your partner, before a move to Belgium. Let them advise you. I pay UK Tax on my uk Gov pension, and still have to declare it here.
In Belgium I recently moved houses, it took the Police 5 weeks to visit and do their checks, then a further 2 weeks before the commune notified the Mutuel so they could update their info.
If you go to the local doctor, you normally have to pay cash around 28€, you receive a green/white form it to the mutualle and they will return an amount. Without the mutualle I have no idea how you would claim it back, for 10€ a month I would just pay, you can also get dental cover in some mutelles well worth it, I am with Solidaris and pay 9€ monthy, generally the older you are the more you pay. Is your partner Belgium and working, that can also make a difference.
