How do I register with the CNS in Luxembourg?

If you are an employee, you do nothing: your employer declares you to the Centre commun de la sécurité sociale (CCSS) within eight days of starting, and CNS affiliation is automatic. The self-employed register themselves with the CCSS. Family members are co-insured with a simple application. You must be a registered resident first, and your social security card arrives by post about three weeks later.

How long does a CNS reimbursement take, and what if I have no Luxembourg bank account?

Reimbursements are paid by bank transfer, usually within a few weeks of the CNS receiving your bills. You provide your IBAN — which can be a foreign SEPA account — once with your first claim, and it stays on file. You have two years from the date you paid the invoice to submit a claim.

What does the CNS not reimburse?

The CNS pays its share of the official tariff only. It does not cover your ticket modérateur (12–20% co-payment), fees charged above the tariff, single hospital rooms, most glasses and contact lenses, or dental prostheses beyond the basic rate. Supplementary cover such as CMCM or a private mutuelle fills these gaps.

Are cross-border workers covered by the CNS?

Yes. Cross-border workers employed in Luxembourg are insured by the CNS on the same terms as residents, and so are their family members. An S1 form lets them also use healthcare in their country of residence, and the EHIC on the back of the social security card covers temporary stays elsewhere in Europe.

Healthcare

Health Insurance in Luxembourg: How the CNS Works and Reimburses

Statutory cover through the CNS is mandatory for almost everyone who works or lives in Luxembourg. Here is how to register, what you get back for doctors and medicines, and where the gaps are.

By Léa Hoffmann · 5 July 2026 · 4 min read

A green Luxembourg social security card and a few euro coins on a pharmacy reception counter in soft daylight. — Statutory cover through the CNS reimburses most medical costs in Luxembourg. Illustrative image. Illustration: AI-generated — Status

If you work or live in Luxembourg, health insurance is not optional: almost everyone is covered by the statutory Caisse nationale de santé (CNS), the national health fund. You are usually affiliated automatically through your employer, contributions come out of your salary, and the CNS then reimburses the bulk of your medical costs — typically 88% of the official tariff for a standard doctor's visit. This guide explains who is covered, how to register, how reimbursement works in practice, and which costs you have to cover yourself.

Who does the CNS cover, and how do you register?

Statutory health insurance is mandatory and near-universal. It covers employees, the self-employed, pensioners, students and their dependent family members. Affiliation is handled by the Centre commun de la sécurité sociale (CCSS), and for most people it happens without any paperwork:

Employees: your employer must declare you to the CCSS within eight days of your start date, and CNS affiliation follows automatically.
Self-employed: you register yourself with the CCSS using a start-of-activity declaration, also within eight days.
Family members: a non-working spouse, registered partner or child (generally under 30) can be co-insured (coassurance) on your affiliation with a simple application to the CNS.
Residents first: register at your local commune before affiliating — you need to be a registered resident.

A few weeks after affiliation you receive a social security card by post, carrying your 13-digit national identification number (matricule) — the reference used for every health and social-security transaction. Cover is funded from contributions deducted from your gross pay and shared between you and your employer.

How does CNS reimbursement work?

Luxembourg has historically used a pay-and-claim system: you pay the doctor in full, then get most of it back from the CNS. Rates are fixed by an official schedule (the nomenclature), so every doctor charges the same for the same act.

A standard GP consultation in the surgery is tariffed at €59.50. The CNS reimburses 88% — €52.36 — and the patient's share, the ticket modérateur, is 12%, or €7.14. Children under 18 are reimbursed in full.

Typical rates:

GP or specialist in the surgery: 88% reimbursed, 12% patient share.
Home visit: 80% reimbursed, 20% patient share.
Medicines: 40%, 80% or 100%, depending on the drug's classification on the CNS's monthly "positive list"; medicines not on the list are not reimbursed.
Dental care: routine care 88% for adults (100% for under-18s), with an annual preventive allowance — €83.88 from 1 June 2026 — reimbursed at 100%.
Hospital medical fees: 100%, but a daily flat charge of about €26 applies, capped at 30 days a year (under-18s exempt).

To claim under the traditional method, send the CNS the original itemised bills and fee statements — they must show the patient's 13-digit matricule — and keep proof of payment. Provide your IBAN once with your first claim and it stays on file. You have two years from the date you paid to submit a claim; after that it is refused.

Since 2024 this is changing. Under Paiement Immédiat Direct (PID), you pay only your own share on the spot and the CNS settles its part with the doctor directly — no advance, no claim form. Piloted with GPs in 2023 and extended to all doctors and dentists on 19 March 2024, PID now covers a majority of medical acts, though not every practitioner uses it yet.

What does the CNS not cover?

Statutory cover is broad but not total. The CNS pays its share of the official tariff and nothing beyond it, so several everyday costs stay with you:

the ticket modérateur — your 12–20% co-payment;
fees above the official tariff, for example for personal convenience or first-class treatment;
the single hospital room supplement and the daily hospital charge;
most glasses and contact lenses;
dental prostheses beyond the basic rate (80%, or 100% with a check-up in each of the two preceding years; implants are generally excluded and need prior authorisation).

To plug these gaps, many residents take supplementary insurance. The best-known option is the non-profit mutual CMCM, whose entry-level Régime Commun starts around €20 a month and covers a whole household on a single contribution, topping up hospital, dental and optical costs. Private insurers such as DKV, Foyer and AXA offer mutuelles with higher ceilings for first-class hospital rooms, orthodontics and similar extras.

How are cross-border workers and travellers covered?

If you work in Luxembourg but live in France, Belgium or Germany, you are insured by the CNS on exactly the same terms as a resident, and so are your dependent family members. You pay contributions to the CNS and can be treated in Luxembourg like any resident. To also be covered where you live, you register with your local fund using an S1 form issued via the CNS, which lets you use healthcare in your country of residence as if insured there. For short trips elsewhere in Europe, the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) is printed on the back of your social security card and covers medically necessary care during a temporary stay in the EU, EEA, Switzerland and the UK.

Frequently asked

How do I register with the CNS in Luxembourg?: If you are an employee, you do nothing: your employer declares you to the Centre commun de la sécurité sociale (CCSS) within eight days of starting, and CNS affiliation is automatic. The self-employed register themselves with the CCSS. Family members are co-insured with a simple application. You must be a registered resident first, and your social security card arrives by post about three weeks later.
How long does a CNS reimbursement take, and what if I have no Luxembourg bank account?: Reimbursements are paid by bank transfer, usually within a few weeks of the CNS receiving your bills. You provide your IBAN — which can be a foreign SEPA account — once with your first claim, and it stays on file. You have two years from the date you paid the invoice to submit a claim.
What does the CNS not reimburse?: The CNS pays its share of the official tariff only. It does not cover your ticket modérateur (12–20% co-payment), fees charged above the tariff, single hospital rooms, most glasses and contact lenses, or dental prostheses beyond the basic rate. Supplementary cover such as CMCM or a private mutuelle fills these gaps.
Are cross-border workers covered by the CNS?: Yes. Cross-border workers employed in Luxembourg are insured by the CNS on the same terms as residents, and so are their family members. An S1 form lets them also use healthcare in their country of residence, and the EHIC on the back of the social security card covers temporary stays elsewhere in Europe.

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