Health insurance  

Health insurance is any period of health insurance, if the break in-between them was a break of no more than 30 days, or it was directly caused by parental or unpaid leave.   

The right to sickness benefit is given from the very first day to:  

• school or university graduates who were covered by the health insurance, or they acquired the right to the health insurance within 90 days of graduating from school or receiving a diploma  
• people who gained the inability to work through an accident on the way to or from work  
• senators  
• Customs Service Officers  
• people with at least 10 years of mandatory health insurance   
• insured people who were unable to work during the period of health insurance  

The right to the sickness benefit does not apply in the situation of parental or unpaid leave.   

How long does sickness benefit last during an employment?  

During employment, benefit period lasts 182 days after 30 days of uninterrupted health insurance. In case of voluntary health insurance, the benefit period lasts the same amount, but there must be 90 days of uninterrupted health insurance. Pregnancy or sickness such as tuberculosis causes the sickness benefit to be up to 270 days.   

What about sickness benefit after termination of employment?  

Individuals are entitled to sickness benefit if they are unable to work after losing health insurance, provided that inability to work lasts at least 30 days and has begun:  

• 14 days from the loss of health insurance  
• 3 months from the loss of health insurance – in case of infectious disease, the incubation period of which lasts more than 14 days   
• as a result of another disease which symptoms do not begin to appear until after 14 days   

The periods of 14 days and 3 months are calculated from the date of loss of health insurance.   

Conditions that must be fulfilled to gain the sickness benefit:  

• being entitled to sickness benefit  
• inability to work must happen no later than 14 days or 3 months in the situation described in Article (7) of the Law from 25th June of 1999  
• inability to work must last at least 30 days  

Who is not entitled to sickness benefit?  

Individuals who are unable to work acquire the right to sickness benefit for a period of 182 days, unless the inability to work is the result of an illness such as tuberculosis or is caused by pregnancy – in this situation the benefit lasts 270 days.   

The right to sickness benefit does not apply to employees who are unable to work, whose health insurance has ended and:  

• are entitled to pension due to the inability to work  
• continue their activities or have taken part in activities that cover them by mandatory or voluntary health insurance  
• do not have a period of uninterrupted health insurance  
• are entitled to unemployment benefits, pre-retirement benefits or parental benefits  
• are covered by social insurance for farmers, that is mandatory 

Text based on: https://poradnikprzedsiebiorcy.pl/-prawo-do-zasilku-chorobowego-w-trakcie-zatrudnienia-i-po-ustaniu-zatrudnienia