Emigrating on early retirement: the CAK route is expected to close as of 1 November 2026

For many people it's the core of the emigration plan: stop working before the AOW age (the Dutch state-pension age), and go with that early retirement or that RVU scheme to Spain, Portugal, France, Germany or Switzerland. Healthcare seemed the least of the problems — you arrange that via the CAK, with an S1 form with which your country of residence takes you into the local system.

That's precisely the door that's closing to a crack.

What changes

The CAK reports that the rules for the treaty health insurance are changing. New customers living in the EU, the EEA or Switzerland will soon only be entitled to health insurance via the CAK if they receive one of these statutory benefits:

• AOW
• Anw (survivor's pension from the SVB)
• WAO, WIA or Wajong

Whoever has only an early retirement pension or a bridging benefit — an RVU benefit, wachtgeld, or a company pension taken early — falls outside it. They have to arrange a health insurance themselves in the country of residence, until the moment the AOW starts.

The background is European: the institutions have provisionally agreed to an amendment of Annex XI to Regulation 883/2004, the regulation on which the whole treaty entitlement rests.

Who it applies to, and who not

The new rule only affects people who meet all three of these conditions: they aren't yet a customer of the CAK, they emigrate or take early retirement on or after the effective date, and they live in or move to an EU/EEA country or Switzerland.

That means three reassurances. If you're already a customer of the CAK on the basis of early retirement, nothing changes — you keep your current rights. If you receive AOW (or Anw, WAO, WIA or Wajong), nothing changes either. And if you move outside the EU/EEA and Switzerland — to England, Curaçao, Australia or America — this change doesn't affect you, although those destinations have their own healthcare route that you have to arrange separately anyway.

The date, with the caveat that belongs to it

The CAK writes that the change is expected to take effect on 1 November 2026, and that the European institutions have provisionally agreed. That's not formality language you can think away: the date can shift, and until the decision is final the precise details aren't fixed. So don't count on a postponement, but don't assume either that the door slams shut at midnight on 1 November with nothing to be done about it.

What this means in practice

If you're in this group, the conversation changes from "which route do I take" to "what does a policy of my own cost, and can I carry that until my AOW age". That difference isn't small. In Spain there's the convenio especial, a public scheme you can take out yourself but which doesn't cover medicines. In France you enter the PUMa after three months of residence, with a contribution of your own. In Germany a voluntarily insured person without income quickly pays several hundred euros a month. And in Switzerland there's no escape anyway: an insurance obligation of around CHF 465 per adult per month applies there, regardless of which route you thought you'd take.

So work out that difference before you pick a date, not after. And if you're already far along in the planning: this is the first question you ask the CAK, not the last. They alone can say whether your situation falls under the old or the new rules.