Healthcare on Bonaire: one hospital, and the flights are in the package

Yes, on Bonaire you are insured as soon as you lawfully live on the island. The Bonaire healthcare system is the friendliest of all destinations on this site, and at the same time the most limited.

• It costs you no premium bill and no excess.
• The trap lies in the weeks before your registration, and in what the package does not cover for adults.

Insured without a policy

Whoever lawfully lives or works on Bonaire is insured by operation of law, so automatically, through Zorg en Jeugd Caribisch Nederland (ZJCN). There is no policy to take out, no nominal premium, no excess.

At contracted care providers, such as your GP, the hospital and the pharmacy, you pay nothing in advance. You must always carry your sédula, though, and an expired sédula gives no right to free care.

The cover is broad: GP, hospital, medicines, physiotherapy, maternity care, long-term care.

Your Dutch basic insurance therefore really ends. The care office even requires proof of the end date of your Dutch policy on registration, and whoever is still obliged to be insured in the Netherlands is not eligible.

And unlike the European pension countries there is no CAK construction, in which you stay insured through the Netherlands with S1 forms and country-of-residence factors. Pensioners are simply insured as residents, like everyone else.

When can you register, and with what?

Only after you are in the population register of Bonaire. Then you go to the ZJCN counter with:

• your sédula;
• your declaration of admission (or proof that the extension is pending);
• an employer's statement, if you work for a local employer;
• the proof of the end date of your Dutch insurance.

Whoever has an employment contract of more than three months with a local employer can register on that employer's statement for the duration of the contract.

After that you register with a GP. Switching is possible twice a year, on 1 April and on 1 October.

One gap needs your own attention: between arrival and that registration you are uninsured. The care office itself advises bridging those weeks with temporary health insurance. Arrange it before departure, not after.

What does the package cover, and what not?

Care	What ZJCN reimburses
GP, laboratory and tests on referral	in full
Prescribed medicines	reimbursed, in principle by generic name
Physiotherapy up to and including age 17	9 sessions a year, with a follow-up request another 9
Physiotherapy from age 18	only for conditions on the list; the first 20 sessions at your own expense
Psychologist	at most 9 sessions per indication, including intake
Occupational therapy	at most 10 treatment hours a year
Dietitian	at most 3 treatment hours a year
Dentist up to age 18	the full package
Dentist from age 18	dentures, medically necessary and surgical care; no crowns, bridges, implants or ordinary fillings
Medical referral abroad	treatment, flight, accommodation and daily allowance, also for an escort where indicated

For physiotherapy, long-term care and a stop-smoking programme the care provider requests permission from ZJCN in advance. In urgent cases that can be done afterwards for long-term care.