Tradelicense.cz

Public Health Care for a Czech Trade License

Although the Social Charges are easily explained (everybody needs to pay, no difference in nationality), unfortunately the public health care / commercial health insurance choice is more difficult to understand because it depends on nationality, visa status, employment status, bi-lateral agreements and who provides family income.

We will explain this in more detail during the first consultation, because there are many variations and non-logical regulations. Roughly speaking there are 2 main types: Public Health Care, which is paid monthly (information on this page), and Commercial Health Insurance which is completely paid in advance (information on the next page)

VZP (Všeobecná Zdravotní Pojišťovna) is the biggest provider of Public Health Care, but there are actually more providers - OZP, MZVP to name a few. However, there are good reasons for foreigners to take the VZP. VZP is not to be confused with PVZP. PVZP sells commercial health insurance - not Public Health Care. The amount of times I detected that people were sold PVZP instead of VZP (by crook brokers who get up to 30% provision on PVZP - and nothing on VZP) is, well, sickening.

1 - Monthly Public Health Care for a Trade License for EU Citizens, US Citizens, non-EU with Permanent Residence Permit or employment:

If you are in this group, you will start in the first year of your Trade License with the minium Public Health Care Contributions, independent of the (expected) Revenue, but if that is not enough, you need to pay the difference once you file the Tax Return.

• The minimum Public Health Care Contribution for 2023 is 2722 CZK / month. for 2024 this is 2968 CZK / month. Each year it will go up a few 100 CZK.
• The total sum of the Public Health Care Contributions depends on your annual Revenue (it is about 2.7% of Revenue up to 2 M CZK, using the 60/40 rule, for 2023)

If you have a job as employee / receive salary as director of an sro and using the Trade License as secondary income, then the monthly health insurance contribution is 0 CZK / month for the first year and all the following years - of course, you need to pay up when your Tax Return and overview for the VZP is ready.

2 - Public Health Care for Citizens from Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey, Israel and Japan:

Because of the bi-lateral agreement between Czech Republic and Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey, Israel and Japan those citizens pay monthly health contributions just like EU Citizens, instead of the expected 'emergency' or 'complex care' health insurance 3rd-Country Nationals pay normally.

Mixed EU & non-EU couples + children and Public Health Care

An non-EU spouse or registered partner will enjoy all rights of an EU-citizen - except for one thing: Public Health Care. Even with a Temporary Residence Permit, the non-EU person does not automatically have rights to enroll into Public Health Care.

Having said this, under certain conditions non-EU spouses and children can be put under the Public Health Care of the EU-spouse. Since the regulations are quite complex, we recommend talking to our consultant about the specifics.

Health Insurance & Pregnancy

People that have Public Health Care and a Trade License that plan to or are pregnant do not need to take special measures for the health insurance. Public Health Care covers the costs for checks, birth and newborn.

For people on commercial Complex Care Health Insurance it is a different story; usually nothing is covered and a special, very expensive, Pregnacny Insurance needs to be concluded in the very early stages of pregancy!

NOTE: In order to get maternity benefits, Premiums must be paid on top of the Social Security contributions !!! Confusingly, this is called 'health insurance' - but it is paid to the Social Security. See Nemocenské pojištění OSVČ (external link)

Calculating annual Public Health Care Contributions

Just like the Social Charges, when the Income Tax Return is being prepared, we will also calculate if the minimum health care contributions were enough or that you must pay extra for the previous year (this is always much less than the Social Charges, but still can be 10.000s of CZK). Also, based on the income of the previous year, we will calculate the new monthly health care contributions for the next year.