Mandatory Health Insurance in Armenia (2026): What Employers of Foreign Staff Need to Know

Since 1 January 2026, an employee in Armenia whose salary at one employer reaches AMD 200,001 a month pays a compulsory health insurance contribution of AMD 4,800 a month (about USD 13), or AMD 10,800 (about USD 30) once that salary passes AMD 500,000, withheld by the employer under the Universal Health Insurance Law HO-459-N. USD figures on this page use the house rate of AMD 361.36 per USD, CBA rate of 19 October 2026. A foreign employee is covered only if they also hold a legally recognised right of residence in Armenia.

When the scheme started, and who joins when

Article 45 of the law sets a phased timetable. Two things are separate for each group: when the contribution obligation starts, and when the person becomes insured. For employees who first cross the threshold during 2026, insured status generally begins on the first day of the month after the contribution is paid.

2026 contribution amounts for employees

The full statutory premium is AMD 10,800 a month, or AMD 129,600 a year (about USD 359). For an employee in the AMD 4,800 band, the state transfers AMD 6,000 a month to the Health Insurance Fund to make up the full premium. That AMD 6,000 is a payment from the budget to the Fund; no income tax credit or cash reimbursement to the employee has been enacted. Recipients of a social package earning up to AMD 500,000 pay an additional AMD 6,000 a month themselves.

The threshold is tested at each employer

Salaries are not added together. An employee paid AMD 150,000 by each of two employers triggers nothing. An employee paid AMD 300,000 by one and AMD 150,000 by another is withheld only by the first. Where two employers each have an obligation, both withhold; any amount above the AMD 10,800 monthly premium can be refunded by the Health Insurance Fund on application, and one application covers later refunds.

A pay cut does not stop the contribution

Once the obligation has arisen, a later fall below AMD 200,001 does not end it during the following 12 months. The SRC example: a salary that drops from AMD 250,000 to AMD 190,000 still carries the AMD 4,800 deduction. If no salary is calculated in a month for a continuing employee, the employer must still remit the AMD 4,800.

What a payslip looks like

For an employee on AMD 300,000 (about USD 830) to whom 20% income tax and 5% pension contribution apply, the SRC arithmetic is: AMD 300,000 minus AMD 60,000 income tax, AMD 15,000 pension, AMD 1,000 stamp duty and AMD 4,800 health insurance, leaving AMD 219,200 net (about USD 607). This is an illustration; pension and tax treatment differ for some foreign employees.

The stamp duty that funds compensation for servicemen was cut at the same time. Law HO-477-N replaced the former AMD 1,500, 3,000, 5,500 and 8,500 monthly amounts with AMD 1,000 from 1 January 2026 (from 1 December 2025 relations for employees earning AMD 200,001 or more). The AMD 15,000 band for salaries above AMD 1 million is unchanged. For a salary in the AMD 200,001 to 500,000 band, the stamp duty saving of AMD 4,500 covers most of the AMD 4,800 contribution.

What changes in 2027

Under the law as enacted, the reduced AMD 4,800 rate applies only to December 2025 and 2026 payroll. From 1 January 2027 the employee amount becomes the full AMD 10,800 a month, and employees earning up to AMD 200,000 enter the scheme. In September 2026 the government consulted on a draft that would split the cost for lower-paid employees (AMD 2,000 employee, AMD 4,400 employer, AMD 4,400 state). That draft had not been enacted by 27 October 2026, so budget 2027 payroll on the enacted figure until it is.

What the employer has to do

• Calculate and withhold the flat monthly amount from each in-scope employee’s salary.
• Remit it to the state budget by the 20th of the following month (February liability is due by 20 March).
• Reporting: 2026 health insurance amounts are not entered in the monthly income tax and social payment calculation, although the salary data in that calculation is used to work out who owes the contribution.
• The cost is the employee’s. Withholding adds nothing to gross salary. An employer may choose to fund some or all of it, and a contract that promises a fixed net salary changes who bears it in practice.
• Employers exempt from tax-agent duties: their employees calculate and pay the contribution themselves, by the same deadline.

Unpaid contributions can be recovered from the employer as tax agent. The law’s late-payment penalty regime is postponed to 1 January 2027, and no separate 2026 fine for failing to withhold has been identified.

Do foreign employees have to join?

Yes, if two conditions are met. The foreign national must have a legally recognised right of residence in Armenia, and must fall in one of four contribution categories: salaried employee, individual entrepreneur or notary, individual agricultural worker, or voluntarily enrolled family member (Article 11(1)(2) of HO-459-N).

• Residence type does not matter. Temporary, permanent and special residence are treated alike.
• A work permit alone is not enough. Under the Law on Foreigners a work permit is the basis for obtaining temporary residence; the health insurance law requires the residence itself.
• No 183-day test for employees. The law’s own 183-day residence definition applies to categories that require it, such as voluntary family members, and is unrelated to tax residency.
• Through an Employer of Record: where the Armenian EOR is the actual employer and tax agent, ordinary withholding applies to a foreign employee who holds residence. See our EOR services.
• Paid only from abroad: the test is who calculates the salary, not where the money comes from. Salary calculated by a person who is not an Armenian tax agent falls in a category that starts only in 2027 and is not open to foreigners, so whether a seconded employee pays in 2026 depends on the employing entity and its Armenian tax-agent status.
• Excluded: foreign diplomatic, consular and international-organisation staff and their families where a treaty governs their healthcare.
• Refugees and asylum seekers in a qualifying category were added from 8 May 2026 by law HO-135-N.

Foreign children, older people and people with disabilities do not receive state-funded cover on the basis of age or disability: those categories require Armenian citizenship. Whether stateless residents are covered has not been clarified by the Fund or the SRC. For the residence step itself, see residence permits and work permits.

Spouses, children and other family members

Family members are not insured through the employee. From 1 January 2027 an insured employee, entrepreneur, notary or agricultural worker can apply to enrol a related person: father, mother, spouse, child, adoptive parent, adopted child, guardian or ward who is not already in a covered group. The fee is AMD 10,800 a month per person (about USD 30), paid by the applicant. The procedure is set by Ministry of Health Order 48-N of 30 June 2026.

The related person must be resident in Armenia under the law’s definition: actual presence of at least 183 days in the preceding 12 months. A foreign family member must also hold a right of residence. An Armenian-citizen child can qualify on their own as a state-funded child; a foreign child does not qualify because a parent is insured. Until 2027, a relocating family needs private cover for dependants.

What the state package covers, and the gaps private cover fills

The package is set by Government Decision 1979-N of 25 December 2025. It covers listed services subject to referral rules, limits and some co-payments: primary care, specialist consultations, diagnostics, hospital care and maternity care, plus listed prescribed medicines. Adult dental care is limited to urgent examination and extraction, dentures for insured people aged 65 and over, and a preventive check in pregnancy. Government Decision 1980-N sets the Fund’s contracts with providers and pharmacies.

Gaps to plan private cover around:

• Treatment abroad is outside the scheme; cover is limited to Armenia.
• Pre-employment and periodic workplace medicals are excluded.
• Self-referred tests and consultations without a required referral are excluded.
• Private hospital rooms are excluded.
• Waiting times: there is no general contractual waiting period after enrolment, but cover starts only on the statutory dates above, and queues for non-emergency planned care can reach six months under Ministry of Health Order 25-N.
• Dependants until the voluntary route opens in 2027.

A commercial policy gives no exemption from the contribution. Reimbursement of package services through voluntary insurance is scheduled for 1 January 2029. A package amendment, Government Decision 1539-N of 22 October 2026, takes general effect on 5 November 2026. For choosing private cover, see our guide to insurance for foreign entrepreneurs and health insurance in Armenia.

Individual entrepreneurs and notaries

An individual entrepreneur or notary whose declared 2025 gross income (turnover) was AMD 2,400,001 or more (about USD 6,642) pays AMD 129,600 for 2026. The deadline was moved from 20 April to 20 July 2026 by law HO-135-N. Cover starts on the first day of the month after full payment. Formally suspended activity and some state-funded statuses change the position. Those with 2025 income up to AMD 2,400,000 enter on 1 January 2027.

How the law’s monthly self-payment rule for entrepreneurs fits with the 2026 annual payment, and when 2026 cover ends, has not been explained by the Fund or the SRC. For tax treatment of sole proprietors, see taxes in Armenia.

When employment ends

Dismissal does not end insured status at once, and it does not start a fresh 12 months. For 2026, a dismissed employee must pay the full AMD 10,800 a month themselves for the rest of the insured-status period, which runs 12 months from when that status was acquired. The Fund must notify the dates, amount and deadlines; check the exact final month against that notice.

Checklist for employers relocating foreign staff

1. Confirm each foreign employee’s residence status and date. Without a right of residence, the employee is outside the scheme.
2. Check the salary at your entity against AMD 200,001 and AMD 500,000, and note the month the threshold was first crossed.
3. Set payroll to withhold AMD 4,800 or AMD 10,800 and remit by the 20th of the following month; keep it out of the monthly income tax calculation for 2026.
4. Decide whether the company funds the contribution or net-salary promises cover it, and write it into the employment contract.
5. Budget for the full AMD 10,800 from January 2027.
6. Arrange private cover for family members until 2027 and for treatment abroad, private rooms and faster planned care.
7. For staff paid from a foreign entity, establish who is the employer and tax agent in Armenia before assuming either way.

Frequently asked questions