Hello Jean-Charles. Can you introduce yourself and explain your role?
Hello, my name is Jean-Charles Croquet, I am the insurability manager – international agreements at Solidaris (Walloon Brabant). With my team, we manage registrations, changes of status, changes of address as well as file transfers, entry or exit, to other countries.
When a young person follows work-study training, must he/she subscribe to his/her own health insurance? If so, from when?
Yes . From January 1 of the year in which you reach the age of 19, you are considered to be an employee. Therefore, you must have your personal mutual.
It is important that you know that you are not obliged to join the same health insurance fund as your parents. You can register in the one of your choice.
Is the fact of having to subscribe to one’s own health insurance related to the income of an apprentice?
No. In the case of a young person following a sandwich course, only his age matters.
Does he/she have to pay dues?
Contributions are a financial participation that you pay as an affiliate, once a month, quarterly or yearly. It’s a commitment to your health insurance, like a subscription.
You will not have to pay contributions as long as you are on your parents’ mutual insurance book, that is to say until December 31 of the year you turn 18.
From January 1 of the year you turn 19, you will have to subscribe to your own mutual insurance company and will therefore have to pay contributions, like any employee, in order to be covered.
What does he/she risk if he/she does not subscribe to his/her own health insurance?
Anyone with a salary must register as a holder, this gives the right to reimbursement of health care but also to sickness benefits.
Every 2 years, the status of affiliates is checked. If you are on a sandwich course, you are 18 or over, and you are still on your parents’ record, you will have to pay the contributions that are overdue, otherwise you will no longer be covered by the mutual insurance fund.
In addition, if you are unable to work following an illness, an accident or for reasons of maternity, your boss will pay you your salary for a maximum of 7 days. Beyond that, you have the right to receive compensation from your mutual insurance company for the days when you are unable to work, provided you are affiliated as a holder.
It is therefore important that you are registered with your own health insurance fund.
What are the steps to take to comply with the rule?
To avoid any problems, you must contact the health insurance you wish to subscribe to and make an appointment at an agency, or you can fill out an online form. You must specify that you are on a work-study program and prove it by sending a copy of your apprenticeship contract. Then you will start paying your dues. The registration form must be signed with your health insurance fund. In this way, you will be in order.
If the young person wants to go to higher education after having done his/her work-linked training, is he/she again in his/her parents’ notebook?
Absolutely ! If you are enrolled in full-time studies, you are under 25, you live with your parents and you have no income, not counting the student job, then you stay at care of your parents.
If you have taken work-study training and want to go back to higher education, all you have to do is contact your health insurance fund to inform them of your change in status. You will go back to your parents’ notebook until you no longer meet one of the conditions mentioned above.