The National Health Fund (Caisse nationale de santé or 'Gesondheetskeess' - CNS) is the central contact point for all insured persons in the private sector (employees and other workers, such as self-employed workers) as well as the public-sector manual workers, for health insurance and long-term care insurance.

The role of the CNS covers the settlement of:

• payments in kind (reimbursement of health care paid for in advance by the insured person);
• payments in cash (maternity allowance, sickness benefit after the continuation of salary payments ('Lohnfortzahlung'), funeral payments, etc.);
• long-term care insurance benefits.

The CNS is accessible to all insured persons in one of their 16 agencies located throughout the country, which are open from 8.30 to 11.30 and from 13.00 to 16.00 (Bettembourg, Clervaux, Diekirch, Differdange, Dudelange, Echternach, Esch-sur-Alzette, Ettelbruck, Grevenmacher, Luxembourg-Gare, Luxembourg-Centre, Mersch, Redange, Remich, Rumelange and Wiltz). These agencies can provide general and personalised information as well as administrative documents.  

The CNS resulted from the merger of the Union of Health Insurance Funds (Union des caisses de maladies - UCM) and the 6 private-sector health insurance funds:

• private-sector workers' health insurance fund (Caisse de maladie des employés privés - CMEP);
• manual workers' health insurance fund (Caisse de maladie des ouvriers - CMO);
• Arbed employees' health insurance fund (Caisse de maladie des employés de l'Arbed - CMEA);
• Arbed manual workers' health insurance fund (Caisse de maladie des ouvriers de l'Arbed - CMOA);
• agricultural workers' health insurance fund (Caisse de maladie agricole - CMA);
• liberal professions' health insurance fund (Caisse de maladie des professions indépendantes - CMPI).

The CNS covers the activities of the different merged institutions:

• the sickness benefits department handles all the sick leave declarations from private-sector employees. Medical certificates must be sent to the head office of the CNS, in order to receive payments in cash. A medical certificate is not necessary for sick leave which lasts only 1 or 2 working days;
• the payments in kind department at the head office of the CNS is responsible for reimbursing medical expenses paid for in advance by insured persons. Reimbursement applications sent by post must include the invoice paid or the fees with proof of payment. However, local branches may reimburse payments in kind directly and in advance (for example in the case of doctor's invoices) on the condition that the invoices were settled less than 15 days prior to the date of their presentation and the total amount is at least EUR 100. The reimbursement is made by cheque, which may be cashed free of charge at any branch of the Banque et Caisse d’Epargne de l’Etat (BCEE);
• the (long-term care insurance) services department centralises long-term care insurance applications and settles the payments relating to long-term care in kind, in cash or using a combination of these, after the Assessment and Guidance Unit has evaluated the level of long-term care.