I am a student in Belgium and my partner is working a full time job. We are married, he is affiliated with HZIV and I was with CM. He requested that I am registered as 'personen ten laste' but my name is not seen in his medical file. We maybe made a mistake during the change which we think is not very likely.
Nevertheless, CM sent the letter in the picture for income survey. When we went there to understand what this is, they said this is because I am registered as an individual in CM. They also told as we are a family we would have to pay the increased fee if she remains a member in CM. This makes no sense to us as they say this is not a membership fee. Is this correct info? Is this something that you have to pay to have health insurance regardless of the mutuality? We already contacted HZIV for the change in personen ten laste situation but we are worried if they are too late to change we may have to pay the increased amount.
by ZealousidealSet1795
2 comments
A partner is not allowed to be “persoon ten laste”: https://financien.belgium.be/nl/particulieren/gezin/personen_ten_laste/andere#q1
Even though in practice you are. Welcome to Belgium and it’s stupid convoluted tax system.
This is a mandatory contribution in case you essentially have no other insurance options under the statutory healthcare. It’s indeed not a CM membership fee, these amounts would also apply elsewhere if this is your only insurance option left. However, if you are “at charge” of a partner, I would expect this is an incorrect option to apply, and I would assume you can retroactively register the individual at charge dating back to the time they first became a person at charge (unless statute of limitations says otherwise, but that’s a term of several years) with the partner’s insurance agency. So without specifically researching it further, I would recommend to first check with HZIV, but to notify CM that you believe something has not been correctly communicated between them and HZIV, and reassure them (in writing) that the delay should not be interpreted as a rejection of their investigation.
This letter is also only a request to investigate family income – there hasn’t been any determination yet, so there is nothing to be paid yet. If you provide no info, it’s true that the maximum would apply, but that’s not going to be applied in a week’s time, especially if you can inform them you are taking action. If they do respond cautioning you with a deadline or something, you can still regroup and decide to pay while you await a clarification from HZIV. In most cases, anything you pay that was not due, can normally be reclaimed from the mutuality.