Healthcare in Cyprus: GeSY, the GP and the S1 route

In Cyprus you are insured for healthcare through GeSY, the universal health system that started in 2019. Just as in the Netherlands, a personal GP is the gatekeeper: they refer you on where needed. With a Dutch pension or a statutory benefit you get in via the CAK and the S1 form, the European proof of your right to healthcare.

What it costs:

• The CAK deducts a contribution from your pension.
• Anyone with income in Cyprus pays 2.65 percent to GeSY there.
• At the doctor you pay small co-payments, capped at € 150 a year.

If you skip the GP, you pay € 25 per visit to a specialist without a referral. That is not an ordinary co-payment but a separate personal contribution.

How do you get in with a Dutch pension?

Via the CAK. If you live in a treaty country with a Dutch statutory pension or a benefit, and no longer work, you register with the CAK. You may do so once your departure date is at most five months away.

Within four weeks you receive a letter. If approved, it comes with the S1, with which you register in Cyprus. From the start date the CAK deducts a contribution from your pension or benefit every month. You also receive a European Health Insurance Card for care in the Netherlands and other treaty countries.

The S1 is doubly useful. When you apply for your yellow slip, the Migration Department asks pensioners for health insurance, and the S1 meets that requirement.

If you leave before your AOW age, watch the date. From 1 November 2026, as expected, new customers in the EU will only be entitled to health insurance via the CAK with AOW, Anw, WAO, WIA or Wajong. Anyone leaving with an early retirement pension, an RVU benefit (a benefit for stopping work early) or wachtgeld will then have to arrange health insurance themselves until AOW age. Existing customers keep their rights. What exactly changes.

How do you enrol in GeSY?

In two steps: first in the register of beneficiaries (everyone entitled to GeSY care), then with a GP.

For the register you need to be known to the Civil Registry and Migration Department or to social insurance. For someone from outside Cyprus that usually means a valid residence document, your yellow slip. You enrol online through the beneficiary portal, or you let the GP of your choice do it for you.

Then you choose a personal doctor contracted with the Health Insurance Organisation, which runs GeSY. The doctor confirms your registration at your first visit, where you sign a form together.

• Children under 15 are with a children's doctor.
• Between 15 and 18 you may choose.
• Anyone over 65 can also take a GP specialised in geriatrics (care for older people).

You may only switch to another GP six months after registering.