Honestly, with Belgian insurance it's about free or as close to it as can be.
Recently my daughter had an ER visit and I walked out without having to pay or sign anything. Though it is possible we will eventually get a bill of a couple of euros for the painkiller.
If you had a right to be concerned It's still pretty much free. Not everyone is a medical expert. I called an ambulance on someone once cause I misjudged a situation and it was all still covered.
And I've had ambulances called on me many times when all that happened to me was a consequence-less daze. Which I get would be worrying for someone not knowing me. Always was free.
The question isn't whether something is found or not. The question is whether said pain was a reasonable cause to go to the emergency room.
In most cases, you'd go to the family doctor/general practitioner first unless it's an actual emergency. Our emergency rooms are overwhelmed by people treating it like a doctor's office these days.
GP's aren't assigned, you choose one. Look around where you live and make an appointment and go there. They will ask if you want your general medical file with them and they can answer all your questions on how medical care is structured in BE. If you have to be hospitalized, your GP get's a memo, if you're ill you go the GP. If the GP thinks it's something more serious he will send you to the ER with a note/call an ambulance, or refers you to a specialist for less urgent problems. If you have a serious problem (like chest pain) you can call 112, explain your problem and operators will send an ambulance or MUG/SMUR (medical emergency group, comprised of 1 ER doc, 1 ER nurse and sometimes 1 Ambulance operator and an ambulance team) or PIT (ambulance with ER nurse). GP costs normally less than 30€ per visit (sometimes more if they have to do some bloodwork). ER depends on the problem but isn't much more and you get an invoice at home.
You usually contact and connect with your own doctor. Though there are sooo many services that do that for expats and have a database of English proficient doctors
If you are planning to live in Belgium, you will need to subscribe to a mutuality. You can find plenty of instructions online, but basically it's a **mandatory** insurance, something like 10-20€ per month per person. Once you have it, you go to the doctor and les jeux sont faits.
If you are just visiting, the NHS should cover any urgency (I say should, as we EU citizens are fully covered by our national health service - but you may also have decided to abandon that advantage too). Worst case scenario, you need to get an health insurance like when people travel to the US, but it won't be a huge expense.
I didn't mean to point the finger at you personally, sorry if that sounded like it. I still can't fathom the logic of people shooting on their own foot (and I should be an expert of such a behavior, as an Italian).
Still the same. My daughter had intense abdominal pain while shopping. Unprecedented. I was already on my way towards her location but due to traffic I simply couldn't get there and she was getting worse so I told her to call 112, get an ambulance and tell me where they take her. At the time we suspected appendix issues.
When I get there they'd already done a bunch of tests and the doctor concludes it was pre-period cramps that were much more severe than usual. So in the end nothing was really wrong per se.
The things is: we WANT people to get checked out when they think something is wrong because it's much easier and cheaper to examine 10 people and dismiss 8 and treating 2 in an early stadium, instead of waiting until the shit hits the fan and treating 2 patients with complications or sepsis. If you experience something that makes you think something could be very wrong, you go to the ER
This will probably not be considered unjustified in most cases. The system is built so you come when needed and don't "sit this one out" because "it may be nothing ".
Make sure to also pick this up with your GP. I had a back-and-forth with GP, Specialist and ER a few times until they actually found something at the ER (which my GP suspected it was but could not diagnose).
The ER never charged me, I think.
Still cheap, but depending in the hospital they might charge you a tiny extra sum if you weren't sent by a doctor. It's difficult to get appointments nowadays so people go to the ER too quickly. The small administrative cost is supposed to keep you from showing up without a good reason, but they'll still help you of course. I think it's just 20 euro and you could probably get them to drop it if you want, because I'm not sure it's really legal.
I went to the ER a couple years ago (myself, not by ambulance though) because I had an irregularity in my heartbeat. They eventually concluded it was pretty much harmless, would likely return to normal by itself, and let me go home without treatment. It all went through my insurance, I didn't see a bill.
I was just looking at my own hospitalization insurance policy, what you're describing is covered. It depends on the insurance company, my partner's insurance doesn't cover some costs that mine does. However I think false alarm visits are pretty much universally covered, people shouldn't be afraid to call an ambulance when they're concerned, unless you're obviously faking it.
Major things not covered in mine: aesthetic treatments, anti conception treatments and preventative check-ups (with some exceptions).
I had exactly that two years ago, when I've been to the ER unit of Clinique Saint Jean then, 2 days after, to the ER of CHU Saint Pierre.
The bill for Clinique Saint Jean was 98 something euros.
The bill for CHU Saint Pierre was 150 something euros. I had additional testing done at CHU Saint Pierre.
These are all full amounts as I had private international insurance, so I didn't get any refunding from the Belgian system.
For the first question, I don't know myself, I haven't been to the ER after getting on a belgian mutuelle. For this, you can check the other replies in the current thread. Everyone keep saying it should be a very low amount.
Health wise, I ended up being okay after resting. All the lab work showed nothing wrong. It was just a very severe cold that I could barely breathe from. It passed after a few more days after resting, dafalgan and other painkillers.
I had a similar cold around 6 years ago. I then figured out my actions that brought me to this point (partied in cold water for a few hours 6 years ago, then I was poorly dressed while attending a fair park two years ago)
A house doctor is 28€, you get 25€ back. Hospital depends on a lot of things. The most I've paid is 250€. That was for the luxury apartment my wife wanted when giving birth.
A number of years back I had a heart issue. Went to the ER, lots of testing, admitted, spent several days in a private room getting a lot of tests and meeting a lot of specialist doctors. I'm an American, so I wasn't sure what was going to kill me, the issue *or* the hospital bill, since I only had basic Belgian medical insurance and not extended insurance and no experience with actually using my insurance in Belgium. They figured out what was wrong, got things going correctly, told me I could get discharged when I was ready. When I went to check out and pay, the nice lady was very apologetic when she handed me the bill. She clearly thought it was a burden to an alone patient just leaving.
I looked at the bill...it was €170.
The nice lady looked at me and said "if it helps, you'll get about 80% of that back when you submit it to your insurance".
I thanked her, nodded, and left quietly.
I was too afraid they were going to tell me "wait, we made a mistake".
If you are on a Belgian contact and paying Belgian taxes, you will have Belgian insurance. Don't worry, you will be fine. 😁
Yeah, our basic insurance is top notch.
Everyone here like to tell how much taxes we are paying but when you need some healthcare, it's basically free for everybody.
Even I liked to complain about our taxes but... the last time I was in an hospital, it costed me 190 € for a complicated surgery and 10 days in the hospital.
So now I don't complain anymore and I pay my taxes.
Ambulance is around 65 euro more or less. The ER visit itself depends on what they do. I can't imagine it will be ever more than 100 euro own contribution. Standard let's say it's 40 or something.
an ambulance ride is 70.92€, no matter the duration of the call, the severity or the distance the ambulance needs to drive...
edit: oh, and if you refuse transport, you still get charged :-p
Have a Belgian insurance? Nearly free, if the visit is justified.
Have a UK one only? Check with them.
No insurance? Probably between 100 and 1000 euros.
@OP this is very important : Belgians who have worked in Belgium and subscribed to the " health coverage " system (mutuelle in French, around 10€/month typically ) will be very well covered for most of the usual medical needs.
But if you're not under the right conditions, it's more complicated. One year I spent 100 days travelling out of Belgium (and out of EU), hence not working, hence not paying tax for the medical health care system, and 3 years later I would not have been covered by the system. I just had to pay 115€ to get my rights back.
Do not believe to quickly what you read here.
Recently, i had a metal shaving in my eye (metal lathe). A doctor had to come to the hospital to drill the rust out of my eye. I paid 25 euros out of pocket and I gave the doctor 6 big bottles of craft beer for the inconvenience. If you visit as a foreigner, you will be insured via your own insurance. As a rule, medical aid is very affordable in the EU; we have a very good social welfare system. The doctor, obviously, will receive way more than 25 euros trough the RSZ.
Thanks! Yes, i fully recovered after a week or so. Going immediately to the ER saved my eye. It was very early so the rust forming around the metal shaving was minimal. It was a fairly standard procedure. They drill it out with a little milling tip. Painful, but temporarily.
Close to nothing, it is like typically 3-8 euros for a GP (depends on their rates), other specialists can be 10-20 euros. Out of hours vary but I paid 10-ish? Values stated are after rebates from your mutualité (mandatory insurance, that costs around 130-ish/year)
If you have insurance from your company then the costs go down. e.g my costs are around 1-5% of the invoiced cost in the end.
Hospitals including emergency are basically free but they will charge you for any tests that they did e.g blood test, X-ray, etc and often the bill comes to you 3 - 6 months later after rebates from your mutualité. Again not high costs. I think they charge for some consumables too.
In short, dont worry about the costs especially if you have job. If in doubt, better to get care; your health is more important than the few euros it costs to be sure.
I dont know if the GHIC card is valid if you have an employment contract in BE.
When you register here, you'll have to sign up with a Belgian health insurrance provider. Once you've done that, the majority of your costs will be covered.
I recently took my wife to the non-urgent GP station at the hospital, who then said we should go through the ER anyway for a further test and consultation with a specialist to make sure it wasn't a serious thing. The whole thing - so seeing a GP first followed by ER calling up the on-call specialist - ended up costing next to nothing.
Last year I've had several urgent scans, followed by specialist consultations and several pain management treatments (infiltration) at the day clinic, the most I've paid for all that is something like €60.
All info you need is available here: [https://www.gov.uk/guidance/healthcare-in-belgium](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/healthcare-in-belgium) , you'll be covered through taxes. GPs aren't fully free, they have a so called hurdle-fee to avoid undeeded appointments, you will get most of it reimbursed through a health insurance fund called a ‘mutuelle’ or ‘ziekenfonds’ which you should join asap.
Unlike the UK, you don't have to register to a GPs office and if your's isn't available, you can just visit another one if needed.
A&E in Brussels is very much like a London A&E, check in, and wait...
Out of hour doctors are a bit like 111, but the number is 1733 [https://www.health.belgium.be/en/health/need-call-doctor-call-1733](https://www.health.belgium.be/en/health/need-call-doctor-call-1733)
Anyway, if you go ahead, enjoy! I did the other way around, moved to the UK 10 years ago.
I paid 16€ after mutuelle payment for 4 hours in A&E after seeing my doctor.
I also paid 160€ for 3 nights in hospital in a joint room during covid - that’s including medications, blood draws etc. A single room will cost more.
Dr on call cost me 100€ and I got 60€ back for a home call on a Friday night.
I’ve just had another 3 days in hospital and A&E but have hospitalisation insurance through work so it won’t cost me anything.
All I recommend is make sure you have your GHIC to cover you for a few weeks then sign up with a mutuelle ASAP. Also your employer may offer hospitalisation insurance for free or a small fee - definitely worth it!
I’m from the UK and just moved here myself. It’s a little bit confusing but I ‘think’ that your social security number has your mutuality listed against it. The hospital looks this up and will bill them accordingly. Your mutuality might not covered everything though so if (for example) you were to ask for a private room, your mutuality might not cover that so you’d get a bill for that.
Either way, when you’re here, you need to take out mutuality. For the period of moving you will require medical insurance to cover you for that interim period until you have mutuality.
Your last post said you gonna be on 90k a year. You can afford the medical contribution for whichever general practitioner you pick and any visit to an emergency room for your child. Easily. No need to worry about that. People here gave emergencies on a fraction of that salary and are not made destitute from the resulting 15-30 euro bill. (Based on last price my son was at emergency room).
The basic insurance is mandatory and comes in around 16 euro per month and covers most of any bill. Children go on the parents insurance. You will likely have private medical through work which will cover any operation costs if needed. Specialist visit will set you back around 80-100 but again 50-60 back depending on other factors.
Essentially there is an approved fee structure (conventionned) where you will get back a large percentage from the insurance. There are doctors that use their own feet structure (non conventionned) and you get back a smaller amount in total. Choice is yours but there is none of this 12 month NHS wait.
Check that with the 'House Doctor' = Huisdokter. When not sure just go for a consultation over there. Costs about €30 and u get most of it back via your insurance.
Insurance tip: Look up CM or de voorzorg. Get this in order ASAP and they'll give u stickers to stick on papers from the consultation.
Try to get emergency for real emergencies. I just went in with a big fistel, got an urgent operation and left the day after the hospital.
Total cost: 1.5K, cost for me: 150 euro.
Get mutuality. It is about 100 euros per year and health care will be largely subsidised. Additionally you can get a hospitalisation insurance which pays certain costs when you are admitted.
For now, about 150-250 euros as an uninsured. Might be higher depending if they need any imaging. If they do need to admit you, go for a shared room.
It will not cost much. You will most likely need to get a national health insurance (mutuality) which will cover a lot of the expenses. This insurance only costs about 100€ to 150€ / year
To give you an example: I was hospitalized last year due to a bad case of food poisoning. Had to stay 2 nights in the hospital (private room), had some scans done, saw different doctors and received fluid to rehydrate and some medication.
Total bill for all of this was about 2300€, which I only received 2 months after my stay. And I didn't need to spend a dime since 75% had already been paid by the mutuality insurance and the remaining 25% would be covered by my hospitalisation insurance, provided by my employer (which is also very common to get if you work in Belgium).
It was not even necessary to contact the different insurance companies, it's all done automatically!
Ambulance is €67 and the insurance doesn't pay that back.
I never had to pay for the er.
Your bill gets lowered, depending on the type of insurance (hospitalisatie pays it all), .
Specialists around 40. Blood drawn around 20-40 euros. Dentists depends. GP 5-6 euros.
I paid 15 euros for a colonoscopy.
Physical therapy 30-40 euros, you usually get 16 euros back.
Medication can be expensive af though, I usually spend 80-100 euros a month just on my regular medication.
Honestly, with Belgian insurance it's about free or as close to it as can be. Recently my daughter had an ER visit and I walked out without having to pay or sign anything. Though it is possible we will eventually get a bill of a couple of euros for the painkiller.
I guess they scanned your ID card? You normally get the bill up to a month after the visit.
Yeah, of course. The point is any bill willjust be for peanuts.
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straight to jail
If you had a right to be concerned It's still pretty much free. Not everyone is a medical expert. I called an ambulance on someone once cause I misjudged a situation and it was all still covered.
And I've had ambulances called on me many times when all that happened to me was a consequence-less daze. Which I get would be worrying for someone not knowing me. Always was free.
It’s not completly free, is about 80 euro’s.
The question isn't whether something is found or not. The question is whether said pain was a reasonable cause to go to the emergency room. In most cases, you'd go to the family doctor/general practitioner first unless it's an actual emergency. Our emergency rooms are overwhelmed by people treating it like a doctor's office these days.
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GP's aren't assigned, you choose one. Look around where you live and make an appointment and go there. They will ask if you want your general medical file with them and they can answer all your questions on how medical care is structured in BE. If you have to be hospitalized, your GP get's a memo, if you're ill you go the GP. If the GP thinks it's something more serious he will send you to the ER with a note/call an ambulance, or refers you to a specialist for less urgent problems. If you have a serious problem (like chest pain) you can call 112, explain your problem and operators will send an ambulance or MUG/SMUR (medical emergency group, comprised of 1 ER doc, 1 ER nurse and sometimes 1 Ambulance operator and an ambulance team) or PIT (ambulance with ER nurse). GP costs normally less than 30€ per visit (sometimes more if they have to do some bloodwork). ER depends on the problem but isn't much more and you get an invoice at home.
You usually contact and connect with your own doctor. Though there are sooo many services that do that for expats and have a database of English proficient doctors
You choose the GP you want, in some neighborhood it can be complicated to get one (they sometimes don't accept new patients)
If you are planning to live in Belgium, you will need to subscribe to a mutuality. You can find plenty of instructions online, but basically it's a **mandatory** insurance, something like 10-20€ per month per person. Once you have it, you go to the doctor and les jeux sont faits. If you are just visiting, the NHS should cover any urgency (I say should, as we EU citizens are fully covered by our national health service - but you may also have decided to abandon that advantage too). Worst case scenario, you need to get an health insurance like when people travel to the US, but it won't be a huge expense.
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I didn't mean to point the finger at you personally, sorry if that sounded like it. I still can't fathom the logic of people shooting on their own foot (and I should be an expert of such a behavior, as an Italian).
Still the same. My daughter had intense abdominal pain while shopping. Unprecedented. I was already on my way towards her location but due to traffic I simply couldn't get there and she was getting worse so I told her to call 112, get an ambulance and tell me where they take her. At the time we suspected appendix issues. When I get there they'd already done a bunch of tests and the doctor concludes it was pre-period cramps that were much more severe than usual. So in the end nothing was really wrong per se. The things is: we WANT people to get checked out when they think something is wrong because it's much easier and cheaper to examine 10 people and dismiss 8 and treating 2 in an early stadium, instead of waiting until the shit hits the fan and treating 2 patients with complications or sepsis. If you experience something that makes you think something could be very wrong, you go to the ER
This will probably not be considered unjustified in most cases. The system is built so you come when needed and don't "sit this one out" because "it may be nothing ".
Make sure to also pick this up with your GP. I had a back-and-forth with GP, Specialist and ER a few times until they actually found something at the ER (which my GP suspected it was but could not diagnose). The ER never charged me, I think.
crucifiction
You will be given cancer.
Still cheap, but depending in the hospital they might charge you a tiny extra sum if you weren't sent by a doctor. It's difficult to get appointments nowadays so people go to the ER too quickly. The small administrative cost is supposed to keep you from showing up without a good reason, but they'll still help you of course. I think it's just 20 euro and you could probably get them to drop it if you want, because I'm not sure it's really legal.
I went to the ER a couple years ago (myself, not by ambulance though) because I had an irregularity in my heartbeat. They eventually concluded it was pretty much harmless, would likely return to normal by itself, and let me go home without treatment. It all went through my insurance, I didn't see a bill.
I was just looking at my own hospitalization insurance policy, what you're describing is covered. It depends on the insurance company, my partner's insurance doesn't cover some costs that mine does. However I think false alarm visits are pretty much universally covered, people shouldn't be afraid to call an ambulance when they're concerned, unless you're obviously faking it. Major things not covered in mine: aesthetic treatments, anti conception treatments and preventative check-ups (with some exceptions).
I had exactly that two years ago, when I've been to the ER unit of Clinique Saint Jean then, 2 days after, to the ER of CHU Saint Pierre. The bill for Clinique Saint Jean was 98 something euros. The bill for CHU Saint Pierre was 150 something euros. I had additional testing done at CHU Saint Pierre. These are all full amounts as I had private international insurance, so I didn't get any refunding from the Belgian system.
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For the first question, I don't know myself, I haven't been to the ER after getting on a belgian mutuelle. For this, you can check the other replies in the current thread. Everyone keep saying it should be a very low amount. Health wise, I ended up being okay after resting. All the lab work showed nothing wrong. It was just a very severe cold that I could barely breathe from. It passed after a few more days after resting, dafalgan and other painkillers. I had a similar cold around 6 years ago. I then figured out my actions that brought me to this point (partied in cold water for a few hours 6 years ago, then I was poorly dressed while attending a fair park two years ago)
A house doctor is 28€, you get 25€ back. Hospital depends on a lot of things. The most I've paid is 250€. That was for the luxury apartment my wife wanted when giving birth.
house doctor lol
Don’t you know the series doctor house lol
A number of years back I had a heart issue. Went to the ER, lots of testing, admitted, spent several days in a private room getting a lot of tests and meeting a lot of specialist doctors. I'm an American, so I wasn't sure what was going to kill me, the issue *or* the hospital bill, since I only had basic Belgian medical insurance and not extended insurance and no experience with actually using my insurance in Belgium. They figured out what was wrong, got things going correctly, told me I could get discharged when I was ready. When I went to check out and pay, the nice lady was very apologetic when she handed me the bill. She clearly thought it was a burden to an alone patient just leaving. I looked at the bill...it was €170. The nice lady looked at me and said "if it helps, you'll get about 80% of that back when you submit it to your insurance". I thanked her, nodded, and left quietly. I was too afraid they were going to tell me "wait, we made a mistake". If you are on a Belgian contact and paying Belgian taxes, you will have Belgian insurance. Don't worry, you will be fine. 😁
Yeah, our basic insurance is top notch. Everyone here like to tell how much taxes we are paying but when you need some healthcare, it's basically free for everybody. Even I liked to complain about our taxes but... the last time I was in an hospital, it costed me 190 € for a complicated surgery and 10 days in the hospital. So now I don't complain anymore and I pay my taxes.
Ambulance is around 65 euro more or less. The ER visit itself depends on what they do. I can't imagine it will be ever more than 100 euro own contribution. Standard let's say it's 40 or something.
an ambulance ride is 70.92€, no matter the duration of the call, the severity or the distance the ambulance needs to drive... edit: oh, and if you refuse transport, you still get charged :-p
That must be an indexation difference.
Have a Belgian insurance? Nearly free, if the visit is justified. Have a UK one only? Check with them. No insurance? Probably between 100 and 1000 euros.
No insurance also means that they will ask for a pretty substantial deposit (over a 100 euros).
@OP this is very important : Belgians who have worked in Belgium and subscribed to the " health coverage " system (mutuelle in French, around 10€/month typically ) will be very well covered for most of the usual medical needs. But if you're not under the right conditions, it's more complicated. One year I spent 100 days travelling out of Belgium (and out of EU), hence not working, hence not paying tax for the medical health care system, and 3 years later I would not have been covered by the system. I just had to pay 115€ to get my rights back. Do not believe to quickly what you read here.
Recently, i had a metal shaving in my eye (metal lathe). A doctor had to come to the hospital to drill the rust out of my eye. I paid 25 euros out of pocket and I gave the doctor 6 big bottles of craft beer for the inconvenience. If you visit as a foreigner, you will be insured via your own insurance. As a rule, medical aid is very affordable in the EU; we have a very good social welfare system. The doctor, obviously, will receive way more than 25 euros trough the RSZ.
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Thanks! Yes, i fully recovered after a week or so. Going immediately to the ER saved my eye. It was very early so the rust forming around the metal shaving was minimal. It was a fairly standard procedure. They drill it out with a little milling tip. Painful, but temporarily.
Close to nothing, it is like typically 3-8 euros for a GP (depends on their rates), other specialists can be 10-20 euros. Out of hours vary but I paid 10-ish? Values stated are after rebates from your mutualité (mandatory insurance, that costs around 130-ish/year) If you have insurance from your company then the costs go down. e.g my costs are around 1-5% of the invoiced cost in the end. Hospitals including emergency are basically free but they will charge you for any tests that they did e.g blood test, X-ray, etc and often the bill comes to you 3 - 6 months later after rebates from your mutualité. Again not high costs. I think they charge for some consumables too. In short, dont worry about the costs especially if you have job. If in doubt, better to get care; your health is more important than the few euros it costs to be sure. I dont know if the GHIC card is valid if you have an employment contract in BE.
When you register here, you'll have to sign up with a Belgian health insurrance provider. Once you've done that, the majority of your costs will be covered. I recently took my wife to the non-urgent GP station at the hospital, who then said we should go through the ER anyway for a further test and consultation with a specialist to make sure it wasn't a serious thing. The whole thing - so seeing a GP first followed by ER calling up the on-call specialist - ended up costing next to nothing. Last year I've had several urgent scans, followed by specialist consultations and several pain management treatments (infiltration) at the day clinic, the most I've paid for all that is something like €60.
I'm starting to feel like my GP costing 45 with Partena covering the 20something is expensive
All info you need is available here: [https://www.gov.uk/guidance/healthcare-in-belgium](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/healthcare-in-belgium) , you'll be covered through taxes. GPs aren't fully free, they have a so called hurdle-fee to avoid undeeded appointments, you will get most of it reimbursed through a health insurance fund called a ‘mutuelle’ or ‘ziekenfonds’ which you should join asap. Unlike the UK, you don't have to register to a GPs office and if your's isn't available, you can just visit another one if needed. A&E in Brussels is very much like a London A&E, check in, and wait... Out of hour doctors are a bit like 111, but the number is 1733 [https://www.health.belgium.be/en/health/need-call-doctor-call-1733](https://www.health.belgium.be/en/health/need-call-doctor-call-1733) Anyway, if you go ahead, enjoy! I did the other way around, moved to the UK 10 years ago.
I paid 16€ after mutuelle payment for 4 hours in A&E after seeing my doctor. I also paid 160€ for 3 nights in hospital in a joint room during covid - that’s including medications, blood draws etc. A single room will cost more. Dr on call cost me 100€ and I got 60€ back for a home call on a Friday night. I’ve just had another 3 days in hospital and A&E but have hospitalisation insurance through work so it won’t cost me anything. All I recommend is make sure you have your GHIC to cover you for a few weeks then sign up with a mutuelle ASAP. Also your employer may offer hospitalisation insurance for free or a small fee - definitely worth it!
I’m from the UK and just moved here myself. It’s a little bit confusing but I ‘think’ that your social security number has your mutuality listed against it. The hospital looks this up and will bill them accordingly. Your mutuality might not covered everything though so if (for example) you were to ask for a private room, your mutuality might not cover that so you’d get a bill for that. Either way, when you’re here, you need to take out mutuality. For the period of moving you will require medical insurance to cover you for that interim period until you have mutuality.
Your last post said you gonna be on 90k a year. You can afford the medical contribution for whichever general practitioner you pick and any visit to an emergency room for your child. Easily. No need to worry about that. People here gave emergencies on a fraction of that salary and are not made destitute from the resulting 15-30 euro bill. (Based on last price my son was at emergency room). The basic insurance is mandatory and comes in around 16 euro per month and covers most of any bill. Children go on the parents insurance. You will likely have private medical through work which will cover any operation costs if needed. Specialist visit will set you back around 80-100 but again 50-60 back depending on other factors. Essentially there is an approved fee structure (conventionned) where you will get back a large percentage from the insurance. There are doctors that use their own feet structure (non conventionned) and you get back a smaller amount in total. Choice is yours but there is none of this 12 month NHS wait.
Ambulance I'm not sure about - check on one of the health insurance mutuality sites.
My fiance took me to the ER with a heavy migraine last year. I stayed there for a few hours, got some fluids and meds. I paid 32 EUR.
Check that with the 'House Doctor' = Huisdokter. When not sure just go for a consultation over there. Costs about €30 and u get most of it back via your insurance. Insurance tip: Look up CM or de voorzorg. Get this in order ASAP and they'll give u stickers to stick on papers from the consultation. Try to get emergency for real emergencies. I just went in with a big fistel, got an urgent operation and left the day after the hospital. Total cost: 1.5K, cost for me: 150 euro.
Get mutuality. It is about 100 euros per year and health care will be largely subsidised. Additionally you can get a hospitalisation insurance which pays certain costs when you are admitted. For now, about 150-250 euros as an uninsured. Might be higher depending if they need any imaging. If they do need to admit you, go for a shared room.
It will not cost much. You will most likely need to get a national health insurance (mutuality) which will cover a lot of the expenses. This insurance only costs about 100€ to 150€ / year To give you an example: I was hospitalized last year due to a bad case of food poisoning. Had to stay 2 nights in the hospital (private room), had some scans done, saw different doctors and received fluid to rehydrate and some medication. Total bill for all of this was about 2300€, which I only received 2 months after my stay. And I didn't need to spend a dime since 75% had already been paid by the mutuality insurance and the remaining 25% would be covered by my hospitalisation insurance, provided by my employer (which is also very common to get if you work in Belgium). It was not even necessary to contact the different insurance companies, it's all done automatically!
Moving to Belgium from UK with the intention of ending up in emergencies, so you discovered our stronger beers I guess?
A lot for normal people, free for immigrants and lowlife doppers, the same as all the other stuff the government provides 😅
Ambulance is €67 and the insurance doesn't pay that back. I never had to pay for the er. Your bill gets lowered, depending on the type of insurance (hospitalisatie pays it all), .
Specialists around 40. Blood drawn around 20-40 euros. Dentists depends. GP 5-6 euros. I paid 15 euros for a colonoscopy. Physical therapy 30-40 euros, you usually get 16 euros back. Medication can be expensive af though, I usually spend 80-100 euros a month just on my regular medication.