Healthcare in Hungary: from the CAK's S1 to the TAJ card

Hungary has one health fund, the NEAK, and one card that opens everything: the TAJ card. For you the question isn't which insurer, but how you get that card.

Retired: the S1 route through the CAK

Hungary is on the list of treaty countries. If you have a Dutch statutory pension or benefit, you report to the CAK. You get an S1 form, and with that you're entitled to care in Hungary at the expense of the Netherlands.

For that you no longer pay a Dutch health premium but a treaty contribution, which in most cases is withheld automatically from your pension. Hungary charges you no healthcare contribution of its own on top: you don't fall under the Hungarian insurance but under the Dutch, and Hungary only provides the care.

Apply for the form well before your departure — count on six weeks — and only cancel your Dutch policy once it's settled. A gap between two systems is the most expensive thing that can happen to you in this journey.

Registering at the kormányhivatal, and the TAJ card

With your S1 you go not to an insurer but to the health insurance department of the kormányhivatal, the county government office of your place of residence. Bring your registration certificate and your address card. The department registers your cover, reports it back to the Netherlands, and you get a TAJ number — your social security number — with a TAJ card by post.

With that card you're entitled to the same care as a Hungarian insured person: GP, specialist, hospital, with the same co-payments for medicines. The form in your drawer is no insurance. Only after this registration are you known in the system, and only then can you choose a GP.

The GP is tied to your address

The Hungarian GP, the háziorvos, works per district: you register with a practice in the area of your address, and a practice outside your area may refuse you. In Budapest English-speaking practices can be found; beyond that Hungarian is the language of the consulting room, and an interpreter or a neighbour who comes along is not a luxury but a necessity. Find the practice in your first weeks, before you need it.

If you work in Hungary: the route through the employer

Whoever takes up employment is insured with the NEAK through the employer, with the Hungarian premium, and gets the TAJ card that way. Your Dutch insurance ends on the day your Hungarian one begins, and the CAK doesn't come into it. Whoever is self-employed insures themselves through their own registration as a business.

What the system is, and what it isn't

Your right is a right to the care from the Hungarian system. The public hospitals are under pressure and the waiting times for non-urgent care are long; many Hungarians and virtually all expats pay privately on top for specialists and diagnostics. Count that into your budget, even with an S1: the card gives you access, not speed.

The deadline for early retirement

As expected, from 1 November 2026 only new applicants with AOW or a disability benefit will be admitted to the healthcare route for pensioners. Whoever leaves on early retirement without AOW then falls outside it and is dependent on a private policy or, when working, on the Hungarian system through the employer.

Whoever is already a client keeps their rights. Whoever is on the edge has an interest in being registered before that date.