Holidays and… a spanner in the works!

For most people, the summer holidays are just around the corner in June. If you’re looking forward to a break, you probably associate the term ‘holiday’ with switching off, relaxing, taking time out, travelling or, for example, returning to your home country. Don’t let this wonderful time be overshadowed by omissions that could affect your social security cover.

After all, a spanner in the works can still appear at the last minute and jeopardise the smooth running of your long-awaited holiday. To illustrate this, here are two scenarios that, unfortunately, are not uncommon.

Scenario: The son who is no longer insured

Your 20-year-old eldest son is going to a summer camp in July to look after a group of young people. As a formality, the organiser requires a proof of health insurance cover. Without worrying too much about it, you contact the Overseas Social Security hotline to quickly obtain an insurance certificate. Oops! A check of your file reveals that you have not sent your child's school certificate to the OSS, which is required to enable their insurance cover.

What you should have done…

If your child is over 18, you must send us a school certificate every year until their 25th birthday. You shouldn’t leave this until the last minute, as schools are much harder to reach during the summer months. As soon as the certificate has been received and checked, our offices will send you the requested proof of insurance.

Another precaution: If your employer has registered you with the health insurance scheme, have they also registered any dependent family members? A quick call to our customer service team will give you peace of mind.

Scenario of a rejected reimbursement

You are planning to return to your home country in the summer. You would also like to have a health check-up: a general preventive medical examination, a visit to the dentist and the like. Let’s even imagine a hospital stay. You are confident, as you have health insurance with the OSS. This covers you worldwide and, naturally, in your home country too. However, as an individual policyholder in our system, your claim for reimbursement is refused. Reason: your insurance contributions are not up to date.

What you should have done…

There is little need to explain your mistake in detail here: always keep a close eye on your contribution payments. To put your mind at ease, if you are insured via a group policy signed by your employer, you do not need to worry about it.

Choosing direct debit is a good move. However, please make sure you always have sufficient funds in your bank account. If you do not have direct debit set up, it is best to make a regular monthly payment or even a prepayment covering several months.

Finally, please note that we index our contributions regularly. Therefore, if you have a regular payment order, it is necessary to adjust it in line with changes in contribution rates. Please feel free to contact our offices to clarify your situation.

Always at your service

Whether you are at work, on holiday, temporarily in Belgium or far away from here – rest assured that we will listen to you, respond to your enquiries and offer solutions via:

• Tel.: +32 2 509 90 99
• Email: overseas@nsso.fgov.be