An employee posted to work abroad in an EU or EFTA country or coming to work in Poland that wants to ensure safe use of a local public healthcare is required to obtain an appropriate document confirming insurance in the home country. Obtaining such a certificate also makes it easier for the members of the employee's family to use medical care.
A person going to work abroad within an EU or EFTA can pay social insurance contributions solely in one country, based on the obtained A1 certificate confirming the affiliation to the social insurance system of the home country. However, such a certificate is not enough to confirm full entitlement to the public healthcare.
For persons employed in one of the EU / EFTA Member States, the competent authority (in Poland - the National Health Fund) issues documents entitling them to use health services in the country of a posting: the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) or an S1 certificate.
Both EHIC and S1 documents will entitle the employee to use health benefits in kind abroad at the expense of the National Health Fund. The process of obtaining an EHIC card may be shorter, but only the S1 certificate entitles an employee to use a full range of medical services. In each case, it should be assessed which of these documents will be appropriate for an employee. Below we present a brief comparison of how these documents function.
|
EKUZ |
S1 |
|
|
Scope of services |
the scope of treatment with the EHIC is limited and entitles only to a necessary and unplanned (NECESSARY CONDITION) medical assistance, taking into account the state of health and the expected duration of stay in a given country |
a full range of healthcare assistance in accordance with the rules in force in the country of residence - an employee has access to the full range of medical services offered by the public health services in the country of a posting |
|
Costs |
issued free of charge |
issued free of charge |
|
Duration |
for employed persons - issued for 3 years |
S1 is usually issued for the same period as the period of a posting indicated on A1 certificate, this period, however, cannot be shorter than 12 months |
|
Entitlement |
persons entitled to health services in the home country |
persons that:
|
How do I get an S1 certificate?
First of all, the insured persons (or their family members) are obliged to register with the competent institution of the country to which they have temporarily moved. This obligation is defined in Regulation (EC) 987/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council.
In order to obtain an S1 document it is necessary to:
- have an A1 certificate issued by the competent authority in the home country,
- submit an application for an S1 document to the appropriate office in the home country,
- register the obtained S1 document with the foreign health insurance institution (in the host country),
- indicate family members entitled to health services.
Despite the explicit regulation indicated above, the issue of obtaining an EHIC or registering an S1 document is often omitted.
What does this mean to me?
Employers should analyze whether, in the event of a need to use public healthcare in the host country, employees posted to work abroad are adequately protected in the event of emergencies, planned medical procedures or the need for a long-term rehabilitation due to disease complications. In certain cases, it would be also very important to verify the scope of private medical packages provided to employees and to consider providing them in the light of the entitlement for the posted workers to obtain S1 documents for the time of travels.
What in the case of posting workers from outside the EU / EFTA to Poland?
Persons posted to work in Poland that are not subject to obligatory insurance in Poland or in another EU / EFTA Member State and are not citizens of a country with which Poland has signed a bilateral agreement, as a rule may insure themselves voluntarily in order to guarantee access to free basic benefits of the public healthcare in Poland.
In the light of the coronavirus epidemic, ensuring safe use of medical services is a valuable component of the employee benefit package. It is extremely important that all formalities related to the use of public healthcare in the country of a posting are completed prior to the beginning of the travels.
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