Healthcare in Colombia: no CAK, and as a pensionado no access to the public system
The Netherlands has no healthcare or social security treaty with Colombia, so no CAK and no S1. The Colombian system, the SGSSS, is compulsory for residents and runs through an EPS, a health insurer. But anyone who comes on the M Pensionado visa may, according to the visa resolution, not join it. That group needs its own policy that covers everything.
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Anyone moving to Colombia takes no Dutch health insurance along. There is no treaty that arranges it. And anyone who comes as a retiree, on the M Pensionado visa, cannot use the Colombian public system either. The visa resolution says so literally: this visa does not allow the holder to join the Sistema General de Seguridad Social, unless a treaty provides for it. With the Netherlands there is none.
| What | For whom | What it costs or requires |
|---|---|---|
| Dutch basic insurance | ends on emigration | |
| CAK and S1 form | only in a treaty country; Colombia is not one | not possible |
| SGSSS, contributory scheme | employees, self-employed with means, retirees whose Colombian pension fund pays the contribution | through an EPS, a health insurer |
| Contribution as an employee | 12.5% of the wage, partly paid by the employer | |
| Contribution as a self-employed person | 12.5% on 40% of your income, at least on one minimum wage: in 2026 about 218,863 pesos a month | |
| M Pensionado visa | no affiliation with the SGSSS | your own policy covering everything, compulsory for the visa |
What happens to your Dutch insurance?
Your basic insurance belongs to living in the Netherlands and ends when you emigrate; how to arrange that without a gap is explained in cancelling your health insurance. The Dutch Tax Administration writes that anyone with no Dutch income after emigrating is no longer insured under the national insurance schemes. There is then no longer any right to the Long-term Care Act either.
In Spain or Portugal the CAK fills that gap. With a Dutch pension you then arrange your care through an S1 form, at the Netherlands' expense. That is only possible in a treaty country, NederlandWereldwijd writes. Colombia is not on the CAK list, nor among the 36 countries outside Europe with which the Netherlands has a social security treaty.
How does the Colombian system work?
The Sistema General de Seguridad Social en Salud (SGSSS) is compulsory for everyone living in Colombia, according to Decreto 780 of 2016. You join once, with one EPS (Entidad Promotora de Salud). It arranges your care through hospitals and clinics, the IPS. As a foreigner you identify yourself with your cédula de extranjería; see registration and numbers.
The Ministry of Health lists who falls under the contributory scheme: employees, civil servants, retirees and self-employed people with means. An employee chooses an EPS and the employer arranges the affiliation. A self-employed person joins on their own and pays every month.
The UGPP, the agency that checks contributions, applies 12.5% for health and 16% for pension for the self-employed. The base is 40% of your monthly income, never less than one minimum wage and never more than 25. The duty starts at an income of one minimum wage. Anyone who works can read more in working in Colombia.
What does that mean for a retiree?
For the pensionado the visa rule departs from the decree. Article 77 of the visa resolution excludes the holder of an M Pensionado visa from the SGSSS. Article 122 makes an exception for nationals of a country with which Colombia has a social security treaty. The Netherlands is not one of them.
That is why the same article 77 requires you, for the visa, to show health cover in Colombia, or a policy with nationwide cover contra todo riesgo: for accident, illness, pregnancy, disability, hospital admission, death and repatriation, for the whole time you stay.
A travel insurance is not a "contra todo riesgo" policy for three years. Have your insurer confirm in writing that the policy applies in Colombia, covers all the risks listed and runs for as long as your visa is valid. You need that statement for the application, and you need the cover on the day your Dutch insurance stops.
The same requirement of health cover or a policy applies to the rentista, the investor and the digital nomad. Which visa suits you is explained in the residence routes.
What do you look for in a policy?
As a pensionado, choose an international health insurance. A Colombian private policy may run into article 169 of Ley 100 for a pensionado: such a Plan Voluntario de Salud, medicina prepagada or a póliza, first requires affiliation to the contributory scheme through an EPS. And that is exactly what the M Pensionado visa excludes. If you still consider one, have the insurer confirm in writing beforehand that it accepts you as a pensionado.
Beyond that, three things:
- The term. The M Pensionado visa is valid for up to three years. Choose a policy you can renew each year, without a new examination or exclusion of what you developed in the meantime.
- Age. Ask in writing up to what age the policy can be renewed, and what the premium will then be.
- Your budget. Your healthcare costs come out of the same money as your pension, and for a single person the AOW is lower outside a treaty country. Work it out with AOW, pension and tax.
Bring your medicines for the first months; how that works across the border is in medicines across the border. Where the policy falls in the order of visa and departure is in the route to Colombia.
In Vertrekklaar this is phase 1 of 5 of the journey, step 1.2: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to Colombia or go straight to step 1.2 in the open plan.
What this rests on
The facts in this article come from these official pages. Rules change. When in doubt, go by the source, not this article.
- CAK — the treaty countries for health insurance (Colombia is not among them) — hetcak.nl
- NederlandWereldwijd — health insurance through the CAK, only in a treaty country — nederlandwereldwijd.nl
- Dutch Tax Administration — after emigration no more Wlz and no Anw — belastingdienst.nl
- Answers to parliamentary questions 2024Z02891 — the 36 social security treaties (Colombia is not among them) — open.overheid.nl
- Resolución 5477 de 2022, articles 77 and 122 — the pensionado visa and joining the SGSSS (Cancillería) — cancilleria.gov.co
- Supersalud — concept 1140171 of 2024 on compulsory affiliation and the documents for foreigners (Decreto 780 de 2016) — normograma.supersalud.gov.co
- Minsalud — booklet on joining the SGSSS and who falls under the contributory scheme — minsalud.gov.co
- UGPP — the contribution for the self-employed, January 2026 — ugpp.gov.co
- Ley 100 de 1993, article 169 — a Plan Voluntario de Salud first requires affiliation to the contributory scheme (Senado) — normograma.dian.gov.co
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