Nathu

Hello forum, at the moment I'm trying to get my head around Dutch insurance law. The search function already revealed that it is mandatory – So far so good.

Now I have two questions: How is the employer involved? I'm concerned about a friend of mine who is a full time employee in Amsterdam. Is the employer obliged to provide health care in the contract of employment? Is he obliged to control if his employees are insured (The SOFI number appears to be the control mechanism but how does it work)? Or can he decide to not interfere with employee's health insurance at all?

Also, if one thinks that he has a sufficient foreign health insurance, must he prove this and if yes, to which authority? Is this even possible or is there a limit how long one can stay and work covered by a foreign insurer? (In this case a Swiss basic insurance as required by Swiss law)

Thank you for any insight in this, to me, complex matter.

Nathu

Okay, so apparently a Dutch basic insurance is required by law and the employer is not required to provide it. (I still don't know if he is required to control if the employees are insured though).

Unfortunately my friend has been employeed for a while, so this is a bit about sh.../fan contact prevention now.

Can somebody please explain the function of the SOFI number a bit more? I've read that having one is a requirement for getting paid the salary and I'm sure he recieved his for some time now. But if the mandatory health insurance is a requirement for a SOFI number, things don't add up.

Basically I'm trying to figure out if my friend is solely responsible for his situation or if other parties are to blame, too. Because only if I know who is responsible, can we fix the situation.

chicagojlo

Each person is responsible for having their own insurance. It is a law that you have to have it and it is up to you to make sure you don't break the law. There are some industries where the employer should pay towards the health insurance under the CAO (collective labor agreement) but it varies by industry and I'm not familiar with the 2008 situation.
Each insurance company is obliged to grant any person that asks a 'basispolicy' which is basically a policy with a minimum coverage as decided by the government. This is the minimum you must have. If you have foreign insurance (which usually becomes invalid once you are resident in another country) then I suppose it has to have the same minimum coverage.
I'm not entirely sure how the government checks who has coverage. The employer comes into it because they are required to deduct a tax from your salary to go towards the cost of this health insurance program which is based on your earnings rather than the type of insurance you have. So regardless of whether you actually have insurance or not you are paying the tax for it.
I'm pretty sure that if you have an accident and need treatment and don't have any insurance then not only are you going to get a big bill but you'll also get a fine for not having the insurance.
A sofinummer is a social security number which is basically how the government identifies each person.

tum

Hi there,
I've found a dutch site which explains how it works
with the compulsory health insurance etc. I'm not
sure if your question can be answered with this info
and I'm sorry, it's in Dutch, but maybe you can ask
some help (friends, colleagues etc.).

http://www.buitenland.cvz.nl/

Good Luck and best regards,

Miranda