r/AskBelgium • u/nemomnis • 3d ago
Hospitalized in the Netherlands, need to rehab, mutuelle still has no solution. What are my options?
Hi everyone,
I broke my leg in a bad fall a few days ago and ended up hospitalized here in the Netherlands. The hospital now says I'm ready to leave the acute ward but I can't go home, I need to be transferred to a rehabilitation center for assistance, physiotherapy and regular checks over the coming weeks to make sure the leg is healing properly.
I called the medical phone service of my Belgian mutuelle and they've opened a case, but so far there's no solution. They told me they need to wait until Monday to contact a few rehabilitation hospitals in Belgium, and they warned me to be prepared for the possibility that none of them can take me.
So I'm a bit stuck. I can't go home in my current state, and I don't really know what happens if the rehab centers say no.
A few questions for anyone who's been through something similar:
- What options do I actually have if the mutuelle can't place me right away?
- Is there a way to speed up the process or contact rehabilitation centers directly myself?
- Has anyone dealt with a cross-border transfer like this (NL to BE) and knows the practical steps?
- Anything I should be asking the hospital or my mutuelle that I might not be thinking of?
Any advice or shared experience would mean a lot right now. Thanks so much.
EDIT FOR ADDITIONAL INFO: I live in Belgium, I have a mutuelle in Belgium as well as a private hospitalization insurance from my employer. I was in the Netherlands for leisure, and got a trauma while cycling there.
2
u/PowerfulMango5799 3d ago
You aren’t allowed to leave and wait for untill one has got a spot?
1
u/nemomnis 2d ago
They would let me go if I wanted to (they're not keeping me here against my will), but I don't have any place I can get to in my current condition (my apartment has many stairs, and I live alone).
2
u/Emilia_S 3d ago
Normally the social worker of the hospital where you are staying can also help with this. I'd start by contacting them.
They won't put you on the streets if that's what you are worried for, they are mandatory to help you if you can't take care of yourself. That probably means that your hospital stay will be a little longer then expected.
1
u/No-Minimum3259 2d ago
He's in the Netherlands, wher the difference between social workers' and book keepers' attitude is even narrower than in Belgium...
1
u/nemomnis 2d ago
That's reassuring, thanks. On the other hand, they made it clear they have no reason to keep me as I need rehab right now, no acute care anymore. But the Belgian counterpart (mutualiteit) doesn't seem so keen to act, and it's only saying they can try and reach out to some centers but the answer could be negative, hence the option is to be sent home (impossible at the moment, as I cannot climb stairs, take care of myself etc).
1
u/PowerfulMango5799 2d ago
Do not listen to Emilia. This counts within the country for residents sometime that are really disabled when they’re still in a hospital setting. Even then, it was a waiting kind of situation for my 92th grandma. I don’t see dutch nurses arranging a spot for you in Belgium
2
u/Forward-Ant-9554 3d ago
If you can't go home you can get care in a hospital even if it is not a rehabilitation center.
1
u/nemomnis 2d ago
In Belgium? The alarm center of the mutualiteit said they cannot transfer me to a hospital...
1
2
u/CautiousInternal3320 3d ago
Could you not temporarely go to a rehab center in NL?
1
u/nemomnis 2d ago
No. The Dutch hospital won't send me there as it's not covered by my Belgian insurance.
1
1
u/No-Minimum3259 2d ago
Impossible to answer. What was your status in The Netherlands? What was the purpose of your visit? Were do you live officially?
1
u/nemomnis 2d ago
I was visiting as a tourist (cycling trip). I officially live in Belgium (Brussels)
1
u/PowerfulMango5799 2d ago
Talk to your GP in brussels. It’s the person that knows you a bit and has more leverage than you alone.
1
1
u/No_Armadillo_6910 2d ago
Do you have any type of travel insurance or roadside assistance from your employer? They’d take care of your repatriation.
My wife had a bike accident in Germany a couple of years ago. My employer’s roadside assistance took care of everything. They made sure she had god an EU-health card (which she didn’t have), took care of the payments and settlement with her mutuelle etc. They did this, although we were only dating and hadn’t even become legal co-habitants at that point.
1
u/nemomnis 2d ago
I was travelling while on holiday, not for work, so I don't think a travel insurance from my employer would apply...
1
u/DreamFeeling3185 2d ago
I think he meant like DKV, do you have such an insurance through work?
1
u/nemomnis 1d ago
I do. But DKV claims they won't take action because the original claim while abroad was opened via MediPhone (Partenamut's assistance abroad), and not with them.
1
u/PowerfulMango5799 2d ago
Yes they are asking if you have a hospitalisation insurance. 80% of Belgians has that, even more in the working age group
1
u/Xaphhire 2d ago
The hospital should have a transfer service that helps with the transition to the next facility.
1
u/nemomnis 2d ago
I'm in a hospital in the Netherlands, not in Belgium... And the transfer system doesn't work across countries.
1
u/PowerfulMango5799 2d ago
That is incorrect info. NL only does this within the country and also for residents.
1
1
u/RollingKatamari 2d ago
Contact the insurance company you're insured with through work. A lot of those contracts have an entire sub section in the "algemene voorwaarden" about what you are entitled to if you have an accident abroad.
Even if there's no room in rehab centers, hopefully they could manage to transport you to a Belgian hospital where you can wait on a place in rehab.
2
u/nemomnis 1d ago
The insurance company I'm insured with through work (DKV) claims they would not take action since my initial claim was opened with the social insurance (Partenamut), hence they say they need to drive the process... I don't know if this is true, but I haven't been succesful with them.
6
u/tgj74 3d ago
My gf had transport from Austria to BE, all managed by the alarm center of the mutualiteit, worked smooth....