Long-term stay abroad and withdrawal from the Czech public health insurance VZP
Persons with a permanent right of residence and/or Czech citizens are legally obliged to register with the statutory health insurance scheme VZP and pay contributions.
This contribution mainly concerns stays in non-EU countries or stays in EU countries without gainful employment, because in the case of gainful employment in another EU country, health insurance is compulsory in this other EU country (and the insured person is obliged to deregister with VZP for another reason).
Deregistration from insurance under Section 8(4) of Act No. 48/1997 Coll. is possible under the following conditions:
- The uninterrupted stay abroad lasts at least 6 months.
- The health insurance abroad is valid for the entire duration of the stay abroad.
- A written declaration of the long-term stay abroad (external link to form) has been submitted to VZP in advance.
The written declaration must of course be received by VZP in advance. Subsequent notification is not possible. If the insured person returns before the end of the 6-month period, contributions are also due for the entire period. Furthermore, the stay abroad must be uninterrupted, i.e. there is no provision for a return to CZ.
For the sake of completeness, however, it is also advisable to take a look at the law.
§ Section 2 (5) of Act No. 48/1997 Coll. states, among other things:
Persons are excluded from health insurance […] and persons who are staying abroad for a long period of time and are not paying premiums (Section 8(4)).
§ Section 8(4) of Act No. 48/1997 Coll. states, inter alia:
An insured person is not obliged to pay premiums for the period they are abroad for an extended period of time, if they have health insurance abroad and have made a written declaration with the relevant health insurance company. However, the obligation to pay premiums only expires on the date the insured person declared in the statement according to the first sentence, but not earlier than the date following the date when the declaration was delivered to the relevant health insurance company. The insured person is not entitled to the provision of covered services from the same day to the date when the insured person registers with the relevant health insurance company again. When the insured person registers again with the relevant health insurance company, they must additionally submit documentation demonstrating the conclusion of health insurance abroad and its duration to this health insurance company. If the insured person fails to submit to the relevant health insurance company proof of the conclusion of health insurance abroad and its duration, they must pay the premiums retrospectively as if they had not deregistered; no penalty shall be sought in such a case. If an insured person presents documentation about the conclusion of health insurance abroad that does not cover all the time when they were obliged to pay premiums in the Czech Republic pursuant to the first sentence, they must pay the premiums retrospectively for each calendar month in which they did not have health insurance abroad for a whole calendar month; no penalty shall be sought in such a case. An insured person may submit another declaration pursuant to the first sentence to a health insurance company at the earliest 2 full calendar months following the date of re-registration. Long-term residence abroad is considered a continuous stay of longer than six months.
According to the wording of the law, problems with the authorities are already pre-programmed, as the law requires the presentation of the foreign health insurance together with the re-registration. The relevant documents should therefore always be submitted together when you return.
Whether and to what extent this regulation is at all compatible with EU law for EU citizens is something I cannot yet conclusively assess, but I will soon add a corresponding addendum. This is because the acquisition of the actually advantageous right of permanent residence leads to a deterioration in the legal position with regard to precisely this aspect of health insurance.