Romanians Without Income To Pay 5.5% Of Min Wage As Monthly Healthcare Contribution

According to the National Health Insurance House, in Romania, there are 10.8 million people exempt from paying health insurance contributions, including 4.2 million children, 3.5 million retirees with pensions below RON740 and 3.1 million people under the incidence of special laws.

The 8.28 million contributors include 4.98 million employees and 0.3 million authorized natural persons.

A further 2.1 million people receive pensions between RON740 and RON1000 and, as of 2011, are required to pay 5.5% as contribution, while 900,000 people are unemployed, work as farmers, have voluntary health insurance or have no income.

People without income must file a request with the local town hall to receive social assistance, in which case the health insurance contribution will be paid by the town hall. Otherwise, they must pay this contribution themselves, as per the law on healthcare reform.

People who earned no income in the past five years and received no social aid are required to pay the contribution for the last six months.