Healthcare in Belgium
Belgium has a universal healthcare system,[1] which is composed of three parts: first, there is a primarily publicly funded health care and social security service run by the federal government, which organises and regulates healthcare; independent private/public practitioners, university/semi-private hospitals and care institutions.
Appeals: Court of Labour (Arbeidshof / Cour du travail) First Instance: Labour Court (Arbeidsrechtbank / Tribunal du travail) Public Health Safety of the food chain Environment Plants and animals Competent minister for welfare and social affairs, as of 2015[update] Herr Antonios Antoniadis,[19] Minister für Familie, Gesundheit und Soziales responsibility for welfare and social affairs.
In larger cities these public services manage large budgets, with a substantial administrative burden.
[22] (Care Network Antwerp) employs another 7000 people, and in 2010, had a budget of approximately 568 million euros.
Generally speaking, health care is organised in three layers: For common conditions like the cold, the flu, injuries and pain, patients contact their GPs.
In larger cities, the fire department operates the ambulances, which elsewhere may be allocated to hospitals or ran by private organisations.
The operator is qualified to decide to dispatch a regular ambulance, a Medical Emergency Response vehicles (MUG/SMUR) or a paramedical Intervention Team (PIT).
They do not participate in the daily emergency services network, but they free the it from allocating too many assets and resources during those mass events.
In the case of (potential) mass casualty events, the Red Cross assists the regular emergency services to avoid occupying all other medical resources in the area by deploying First Intervention Teams (FITs), ambulances, intervention vehicles and more.
They are independent units or part of larger organizations that get funding from the public health service based on factors like the activities that they perform, the number of beds operated, and their specialist knowledge.
Belgian patients may legally buy over-the-counter painkillers such as paracetamol in the Netherlands, where they are cheaper, and take them to Belgium.
[26] Health insurance is only one of the pillars of the system of social security provided for every Belgian citizen.
Every Belgian citizen has access to the social security system—it is compulsory—but there are gaps in the system where people can drop out.
Every wage-earning worker or employee in a factory, office, working as house personnel (maids, chauffeurs etc.
The government forms its tax earnings finances in part the social security system.
With it the federal government of Belgium introduced a "national number", that identified each individual uniquely based on their birthday.
Social security encompasses health, old-age (and other) pensions, unemployment, disability and handicap, both managing the finances (collection of contributions, subsidies and payment of refund, allowances etc.
