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© 2016 Dwellworks
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Discovering Luxembourg
Health
Medical/Dental System Overview
Healthcare is covered by one of the Health Offices (
Caisses des Maladie
) of the Caisse
Nationale de Santé (CNS). Employees are generally affiliated to the Private Employees
Health Office (
Caisse de Maladie des Employés Privés
). Employers register their employee
within 8 days of starting work, at which time the employee is insured. Once the employer has
registered the employee, a form is sent to the employee by the CCSS requesting details of
all family members and dependents so that they can be included on the social security
insurance. Once the form has been returned to the CCSS, a social security card (
Carte de
Sécurité Sociale
) is issued to the insured and each dependent by mail within three weeks.
Luxembourg, EU and non-EU citizens have the same rights regarding health care. However,
employees who work across the border (cross border workers) in another EU member state
may have specific status.
When visiting a doctor, pharmacy or other health professional, the bill is paid in full by the
insured person. The insured person then sends a claim form to the Caisse de Maladie and is
reimbursed a percentage of the bill. In most cases, visits to a health professional are
reimbursed 80 percent of the amount paid. It is not necessary to get a referral from a general
practitioner before seeing a medical specialist. The amount reimbursed for medicines
depends on the type of medication and is between 0 and 100 percent. Prescriptions are
needed for most any type of drug, including items such as allergy medicine. Prescriptions
are already heavily subsidized by the government when you purchase them, so you will not
need to submit for reimbursement for these.
Social Security contributions (which are automatically deducted from your salary) are paid by
both the employer and the employee and provide care in the following situations:
Sickness/healthcare insurance (including dependents)
Maternity benefit
Pensions insurance/benefit (including retirement, invalidity and survivor)
Family allowances
Unemployment insurance/benefit
Dependency insurance
Vaccinations
There are no required vaccinations to enter Luxembourg but the recommended vaccines
include MMR, Chickenpox, Polio, Diphtheria-Tetanus-Pertussis, and an annual flu shot.
Private Health Insurance
Luxembourg residents registered with the CCSS may also take out top-up, or
supplementary, insurance called from a
mutuelle
. Mutuelles are non-profit health insurance
agencies or mutual associations affiliated with the CCSS. A plan with a Mutuelle will cover
some of the costs not reimbursed by social security.