The Joint Sickness Insurance Scheme (JSIS) and the COVID-19 virus make it urgent for the European Institutions to act and to increase its cover.
Note for the attention of Commissioner Hahn Johannes
RE : The Joint Sickness Insurance Scheme and COVID-19 – time to act.
While providing a rather generous coverage, the Joint Sickness Insurance Scheme (JSIS) also foresees high payments for its affiliates: 15% to 20% of the health care cost, limited further by specific ceilings.
The only mitigation is contained in Article 72(3) of the Staff Regulations: the affiliates payments over a 12 month period cannot exceed a half month basic salary. In case of serious illness all costs are covered 100% of the costs, up to 150% of any specific ceiling. The only problem: serious illness has to be recognized individually by the settlements office thorough the medical council and the criteria are rather strict.
Whether COVID-19 (Corona virus) falls under the definition of serious illness is not clear and can dependents on the particular situation of the person affiliated to the JSIS. It is quite likely that Corona virus is not recognized as a serious illness in all cases, leaving the affiliate to face substantial payments.
JSIS has a high reserve, that could easily absorb the extra costs in case the criteria for serious illness are applied in a liberal way when it comes to Corona.
