Basic Health Insurance Is Compulsory for Anyone Actually Living Here, Whatever Their Status
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of Venezuela on this topic. That is the answer, not a gap - everything below is the rule you get, unchanged.
81 exceptions recorded across 33 countries · none match Venezuela to Suriname · Access to healthcare
The Wet Nationale Basiszorgverzekering of 2014 makes basic health insurance compulsory for every ingezetene, and it defines ingezetene more broadly than any other Surinamese statute: anyone who has his domicile, main residence or actual residence in Suriname. Nationality does not appear in the definition and neither does a residence permit. A foreigner who is in fact living in Suriname is inside the scheme, must take out at least the basic cover, and where employed has the premium split equally with the employer unless they agree otherwise, with the employee's share never exceeding the employer's. The Act prices the cover by age band and caps individual treatments by amount, and it says those figures are the maxima at its entry into force and may be changed by State decree, so the 2014 numbers in the text are a floor on how out of date they can be rather than a statement of what is charged now.
At a glance
- Who must insure
- Anyone with domicile, main residence or actual residence in Suriname
- Nationality or permit condition
- None in the Act
- Premium split in employment
- Fifty-fifty, and the employee's share may never exceed the employer's
- Premium at the Act's entry into force
- SRD 55 up to 16, SRD 75 for 17 to 20, SRD 165 for 21 to 59, SRD 240 for 60 and over, per monthas of 2014-09-09
Stated by the Act as maxima at its entry into force and alterable by State decree. We did not find a decree changing them, so these are the only published figures and they are twelve years old.
- Grace on non-payment
- Three months of continued cover
- Means test for the indigent
- An assets test at the implementing body, which can produce full or partial subsidy
Requirements
- Domicile, main residence or actual residence in Suriname
- A basic health insurance policy with an authorised insurer
- For a breadwinner: cover for the partner and children as well, unless they already have equivalent cover
- For an employer: a policy for each employee, timely remittance of the premium and proof of the deduction to the employee
In detail
The widest definition of residence in the statute book
Three Surinamese statutes define who is a resident and they do not agree. The nationality law says domicile. The skilled citizens Act makes residence in another member state a qualifying link only so far as the right in question accrues to residents of Suriname. The health insurance Act says domicile, main residence or actual residence, which is as wide as the concept goes and catches someone whose presence is a fact rather than a status. The aliens department meanwhile tells a recognised CARICOM skilled citizen with indefinite stay that he is not a resident of Suriname. For the health insurance Act that statement is beside the point: if he is actually living here, he is inside it.
Country-level policy
Suriname replaced the Surinamese guilder with the Surinamese dollar in 2004, and the consolidation of its statute book was done in 2005 without restating the amounts. Every money figure in a text from that collection is therefore printed in a currency that no longer exists: the naturalisation charge of Sf. 200,000, the work permit fee of Sf. 75,000, the income tax bands in millions of guilders, the fine of five hundred thousand guilders in the work permit Act. What the conversion did is stated in one place in the statute book, the explanatory memorandum to the Act of 1 December 2022 that replaced the work permit fee: the general rate was converted from Sf. 75,000 to SRD 75, a division by a thousand, and had since been thoroughly overtaken. Acts passed after 2005 are in Surinamese dollars from the start, which is why the skilled citizens Act of 2006 charges SRD 75 and the health insurance Act of 2014 prices cover in SRD. Nothing here converts a guilder figure on its own authority.
What applies to you
Nothing changes for a citizen of Venezuela
We have no rule recorded that treats your citizenship differently here, so the general rule above is the one that applies to you. That is an answer, not a gap.
What the law says
«g. ingezetene: een ieder die zijn woonplaats, hoofdverblijf of feitelijk verblijf in Suriname heeft;»Our translation - not official
(g) resident: everyone who has his domicile, main residence or actual residence in Suriname;
Compare the nationality law, article 20(1), where residents of Suriname are those who have their domicile in Suriname and nothing more. The health insurance Act deliberately adds main residence and actual residence, which is what brings a foreigner living here inside it.
«1. Iedere ingezetene is verplicht zich te verzekeren tegen de kosten van de basiszorgvoorzieningen.»Our translation - not official
Every resident is obliged to insure himself against the costs of the basic care provisions.
This instrument is published only as an image. The wording above was read off that picture and checked by eye, so it did not pass the machine verbatim check the other quotations passed. Treat it as accurate but re-read the scan before relying on it.
«2. Iedere ingezetene is verantwoordelijk voor de financiering van de kosten van de persoonlijke gezondheidszorg en is verplicht hiervoor tenminste de basiszorgverzekering af te sluiten.»Our translation - not official
Every resident is responsible for financing the costs of personal health care and is obliged for this purpose to take out at least the basic health insurance.
Sub-section (1) puts public health on the state and funds it from the budget. The division is between public health, which the state pays for, and personal health care, which the resident insures.
«1. Bij de inwerkingtreeding van deze wet bedraagt de maximale hoogte van de premie voor onderstaande leeftijdscategorieën per deelnemer per maand als volgt:
a. 0 tot en met 16 jaren SRD 55 (vijfenvijftig Surinaamse Dollar); Dollar);
b. 17 tot en met 20 jaren SRD 75 (vijfenzeventig Surinaamse Dollar);»Our translation - not official
On the entry into force of this Act the maximum level of the premium for the following age categories per participant per month is as follows: (a) 0 up to and including 16 years SRD 55 (fifty-five Surinamese Dollars); (b) 17 up to and including 20 years SRD 75 (seventy-five Surinamese Dollars);
The provision continues with SRD 165 for 21 to 59 and SRD 240 for 60 and over. Sub-section (2) allows all four to be changed by State decree. The recognition of this scanned Staatsblad interleaves the Act's schedule of treatment caps with the articles, so the four bands are not contiguous in the stored text.
«1. Ingezetenen van Suriname zijn zij, die hun woonplaats in Suriname hebben.»Our translation - not official
Residents of Suriname are those who have their domicile in Suriname.
Cited for the contrast. Suriname has two statutory definitions of residence that do not coincide, and the health insurance one is the wider.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The National Assembly's legislation portal, and the only public collection of Surinamese law we found. Four collections, divided by one date. `Geldende teksten t/m 2005` holds consolidated texts: amendments were worked into the parent Acts in a project in 2005. `Wetten na 2005`, `Wijzigingen na 2005` and `Overeenkomsten/verdragen` hold the Acts, amending Acts and treaty-approval Acts published since, each as a facsimile of the page of the Staatsblad van de Republiek Suriname in which it was promulgated. Together about five hundred instruments. It also publishes `Naturalisatie wetten`, because in Suriname naturalisation is granted by an Act of Parliament.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The consolidation stops in 2005 and the portal says so on its own index page: "De nieuwe wetten en wetswijzigingen zijn daarna niet opgenomen in de geldende tekst." So a text from the first collection shows the law as the 2005 project left it and nothing more - the Income Tax Act's consolidated text carries amendments only to S.B. 2003 no. 30, prints its rate table in a currency withdrawn in 2004, and has ten later amending entries in the portal's own list. Every money figure in that collection is in Surinamese guilders. Instruments in the other three collections are as enacted and carry no cut-off, but they are scans with no text layer, so they are readings of a picture. The collection carries Acts, amendments, treaties, naturalisation Acts and budgets, and does NOT carry staatsbesluiten, ministeriële beschikkingen or resoluties - which is where much of Surinamese immigration practice lives, so the absence of a measure here is never evidence that it was not made. It also does not always carry the parent Act: the Rijwet 1971 and the Wet Tarief van Invoerrechten 1996 appear only through instruments amending them, and the 1989 Act amending the Rijwet has a page with no document attached.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
Practical notes
The premium figures are the Act's own maxima at commencement in 2014 and are expressly alterable by State decree. We did not find a decree altering them in the National Assembly's collection, which carries Acts, amendments and treaties rather than State decrees. Treat them as the last published figures, not as the current ones.
The Act was read from a recognition of a scanned Staatsblad. Its articles run 1 to at least 15 and the text is continuous, but the recognition interleaves the annexed schedule of treatment caps with the body of the Act, so article numbers and schedule headings alternate in places.
What the state provides outside insurance is in article 3: public health from the budget, a revolving fund for treatments and medicines the basic insurance does not cover, and provision for costly investigations and low-frequency conditions. The Act does not say what any of those pay for.
- consolidatesWet Nationale Basiszorgverzekering (S.B. 2014 no. 114)
De Nationale Assemblee van de Republiek Suriname
About this source
The National Assembly's legislation portal, and the only public collection of Surinamese law we found. Four collections, divided by one date. `Geldende teksten t/m 2005` holds consolidated texts: amendments were worked into the parent Acts in a project in 2005. `Wetten na 2005`, `Wijzigingen na 2005` and `Overeenkomsten/verdragen` hold the Acts, amending Acts and treaty-approval Acts published since, each as a facsimile of the page of the Staatsblad van de Republiek Suriname in which it was promulgated. Together about five hundred instruments. It also publishes `Naturalisatie wetten`, because in Suriname naturalisation is granted by an Act of Parliament.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The consolidation stops in 2005 and the portal says so on its own index page: "De nieuwe wetten en wetswijzigingen zijn daarna niet opgenomen in de geldende tekst." So a text from the first collection shows the law as the 2005 project left it and nothing more - the Income Tax Act's consolidated text carries amendments only to S.B. 2003 no. 30, prints its rate table in a currency withdrawn in 2004, and has ten later amending entries in the portal's own list. Every money figure in that collection is in Surinamese guilders. Instruments in the other three collections are as enacted and carry no cut-off, but they are scans with no text layer, so they are readings of a picture. The collection carries Acts, amendments, treaties, naturalisation Acts and budgets, and does NOT carry staatsbesluiten, ministeriële beschikkingen or resoluties - which is where much of Surinamese immigration practice lives, so the absence of a measure here is never evidence that it was not made. It also does not always carry the parent Act: the Rijwet 1971 and the Wet Tarief van Invoerrechten 1996 appear only through instruments amending them, and the 1989 Act amending the Rijwet has a page with no document attached.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
- consolidatesWet op de Nationaliteit en het Ingezetenschap (S.B. 1975 no. 4)
De Nationale Assemblee van de Republiek Suriname · consolidated to 2005
About this source
The National Assembly's legislation portal, and the only public collection of Surinamese law we found. Four collections, divided by one date. `Geldende teksten t/m 2005` holds consolidated texts: amendments were worked into the parent Acts in a project in 2005. `Wetten na 2005`, `Wijzigingen na 2005` and `Overeenkomsten/verdragen` hold the Acts, amending Acts and treaty-approval Acts published since, each as a facsimile of the page of the Staatsblad van de Republiek Suriname in which it was promulgated. Together about five hundred instruments. It also publishes `Naturalisatie wetten`, because in Suriname naturalisation is granted by an Act of Parliament.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The consolidation stops in 2005 and the portal says so on its own index page: "De nieuwe wetten en wetswijzigingen zijn daarna niet opgenomen in de geldende tekst." So a text from the first collection shows the law as the 2005 project left it and nothing more - the Income Tax Act's consolidated text carries amendments only to S.B. 2003 no. 30, prints its rate table in a currency withdrawn in 2004, and has ten later amending entries in the portal's own list. Every money figure in that collection is in Surinamese guilders. Instruments in the other three collections are as enacted and carry no cut-off, but they are scans with no text layer, so they are readings of a picture. The collection carries Acts, amendments, treaties, naturalisation Acts and budgets, and does NOT carry staatsbesluiten, ministeriële beschikkingen or resoluties - which is where much of Surinamese immigration practice lives, so the absence of a measure here is never evidence that it was not made. It also does not always carry the parent Act: the Rijwet 1971 and the Wet Tarief van Invoerrechten 1996 appear only through instruments amending them, and the 1989 Act amending the Rijwet has a page with no document attached.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source