Specialists from the regional branch of the Social Health Insurance Fund explained the risks of losing mandatory social health insurance (OSMS) status to residents of the Akmola region during meetings with labor collectives, reports infohub.kz.
According to fund expert Shankhi Golubeva, new employees and those planning to resign are most at risk of losing their insured status.
"To maintain status, the law requires that contributions have been paid for the last 12 months. New workers may have missed unpaid months for various reasons, leading to loss of status. The previous employer is not responsible for this period. Therefore, it is important for employees to understand that the missed period must be paid by the previous employer or by the employee themselves," Golubeva explained.
If a person plans to resign but has not yet found a new job, to avoid losing status they must officially register as unemployed or pay contributions independently as a self-payer.
"The consequences of losing status include inaccessibility to a full range of medical services: visits to specialists, certain laboratory tests, CT and MRI diagnostics, ultrasound, and planned hospitalization," the expert added.
The fund reminded that all citizens of Kazakhstan, regardless of their insurance status, have access to medical care within the guaranteed volume of free medical care. This includes emergency care, outpatient visits to a general practitioner, services for socially significant diseases, and palliative care.