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Understand · Payroll glossary

What is health and disability insurance?

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Health and disability insurance is the branch of social security that reimburses your health care and pays you a replacement income when you are ill. In 2026: 60% (sickness benefit in the first year, on pay capped at €189.36 a day (since 1 September 2026)). In Dutch: ziekte- en invaliditeitsverzekering (ZIV).

Definition of health and disability insurance

It has two parts: health care, reimbursed by your health insurance fund (mutualité / ziekenfonds), and benefits (incapacity for work, maternity, birth). It is managed by the National Institute for Health and Disability Insurance (NIHDI).

It is partly funded by your contributions: 3.55% for health care and 1.15% for benefits on an employee’s salary. A statutory civil servant pays only the health care share (3.55%).

The key figure in 2026

60%Sickness benefit in the first year, on pay capped at €189.36 a day (since 1 September 2026)

Source: Votre plafond salarial en cas d’incapacité de travail, NIHDI. Value in force on 1 October 2026.

Worked example

At €3,000 gross, an employee pays €106.50 for health care and €34.50 for benefits, included in their €392.10 of contributions. A statutory civil servant on the same salary pays €106.50. If ill after the guaranteed wage period, the benefit is at most €113.61 a day.

In Dutch: ziekte- en invaliditeitsverzekering (ZIV)

In a Dutch-language contract or letter from the employer or the National Employment Office (NEO), health and disability insurance is called ‘ziekte- en invaliditeitsverzekering (ZIV)’; in French-language ones, ‘assurance maladie-invalidité (AMI)’. NIHDI (INAMI), which runs it, is called ‘RIZIV’ in Dutch. In English: health and disability insurance.

Dutch term taken from: Crossroads Bank for Social Security (CBSS), National Social Security Office (NSSO).

Not to be confused with…

  • Guaranteed wage: the pay your employer keeps paying during the first days of an illness or accident, before the health insurance fund.
  • NSSO: the NSSO collects social security contributions from employees and employers, then distributes them among the branches of social security.

Calculate it for your situation

The guaranteed wage, then the health insurance fund’s benefits, compared with your usual net pay.

Illness

Related terms

Sources

Parameters in force on 1 October 2026. Each parameter links to its source, the official one where it exists; a secondary source is flagged as such.