Healthcare in Czechia: from the CAK's S1 to the health insurer
Czechia is a treaty country. With a Dutch statutory pension you apply for an S1 form at the CAK, hand it in at a Czech health insurer of your choice, and are supplementarily insured there at the expense of the Netherlands — with the right to full care. The certificate is valid at most five years at a time, and the form in your drawer is not yet insurance.
Czechia has no national health fund like Poland, but a system of health insurers side by side. For you that changes one thing: you choose one yourself.
Retired: the S1 route through the CAK
Czechia 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 Czechia 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. Czechia charges you no premium of its own on top: you don't fall under the Czech insurance but under the Dutch, and Czechia 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.
Handing it in at a health insurer of your choice
With your S1 you go to a Czech health insurer. Which one is up to you; the largest is the VZP, and most Dutch people choose that one or the insurer their GP has a contract with. The insurer enrols you as výpomocně pojištěný — supplementarily insured — and sends the confirmation to the Netherlands.
You get a registration certificate or an insurance card, and that is valid as long as your S1 is valid: at most five years at a time, then a new form. With that certificate you're entitled to full care in Czechia, as if you were insured there.
The form in your drawer is no insurance. Only after this enrolment are you known in the system, and only then can you choose a GP who has a contract with your insurer.
If you work in Czechia: the route through the employer
Whoever takes up employment is insured through the employer with a Czech health insurer, with the Czech premium. Your Dutch insurance ends on the day your Czech 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 Czech system: the same care as for Czech insured persons, with the same waiting times and the same co-payments for medicines. The system is well regarded, and in Prague and Brno English-speaking practices can be found — but they're full. Beyond that Czech is the language of the consulting room.
Find a GP in your first weeks, before you need one, and when choosing ask about English if you don't have the Czech yet.
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 Czech 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.
What this rests on
The facts in this article come from these official pages. Rules change — when in doubt the source is leading, not this article.
- NederlandWereldwijd — the scheme for living abroad and the treaty countries — nederlandwereldwijd.nl
- NederlandWereldwijd — how do I arrange my health insurance through the CAK — nederlandwereldwijd.nl
- ČPZP — the pensioner with a pension from another EU country — cpzp.cz
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