Right to healthcare services in Norway
Healthcare rights when you live in Norway
If you are registered as living in Norway, you are entitled to a general practitioner/family doctor (fastlege). This is irrespective of whether you are working or not. If you are ill or injured, you should first contact your general practitioner (GP). If your GP surgery is closed and you cannot wait until the next day for treatment, contact the out-of-hours healthcare service (legevakten) in your municipality. To contact the out-of-hours healthcare service, call 116 117.
If there is an immediate risk to life and health, always call the emergency number, 113.
When you move to Norway and register in the Population Registry, and are given a personal identity number, you will also be assigned to a GP. You can switch to a different GP on the website, Helsenorge.no. People with D numbers are not counted as residents of Norway, and are not entitled to a GP.
Children under 16 are automatically assigned the same GP as their mother, if both parents live together. If the parents do not live together, the child is assigned the same GP as the parent with whom the child shares a registered address.
In emergency situations, you may be sent to a hospital for treatment. You may also be referred for further treatment at a hospital if the doctor decides this is necessary. In such cases, the doctor sends a referral to a hospital or a specialist. In Norway, you are entitled to choose your treatment centre, providing there is spare capacity where you want to be treated.
On the HelseNorge website, you can read more about your rights to healthcare services, the GP scheme, and choosing a treatment centre.
What services are you entitled to if you are working in Norway and become ill, but you live in another country?
If you are an employee working in Norway, and you live in another EU/EEA country, you are generally a member of the Norwegian National Insurance Scheme (folketrygden). Necessary costs for healthcare services within the national health service will be covered, but you must pay the patient/user fee (egenandel) for treatment.
If you work in Norway and only have a D number, you are entitled to healthcare services when needed. However, you cannot be part of the Norwegian general practitioner scheme. If you become ill, contact a doctors’ surgery and see if they have any appointment times available. The municipality is responsible for ensuring that you receive the medical care you are entitled to. Some municipalities have lists of doctors who accept patients who are not entitled to a GP. Check on the municipality’s website.
If you are a cross-border worker in Norway, i.e. every day or every week you return to your country of residence, you are entitled to healthcare services both in your country of work and your country of residence.
For acute illness and injury during evenings and weekends, contact the nearest out-of-hours healthcare service. To contact the out-of-hours healthcare service, call 116 117.
If your life and health are in danger, call 113.
On the Helsenorge website, you can read more about what applies for employees working in Norway who live in another country.
If you become ill during a temporary stay in Norway
If your stay in Norway is temporary (holiday, short educational course, or similar) you are entitled to healthcare in the event of serious injury or illness. You should have with you an approved ID document and a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC).
Patients living in another Nordic country may be entitled to payment of additional expenses for the journey home. This applies only in connection with essential healthcare services that are provided because of illness or injury that occurred during a temporary stay in Norway.
In general, students from other Nordic countries do not need to show a European Health Insurance Card, but must provide their home address in their home country.
Read more about what applies for tourists and students in Norway on the Helsenorge website.
Payment and support schemes for healthcare services in Norway
In Norway, you pay a user fee (egenandel) when you visit a national health doctor or out-of-hours healthcare service. However, there is a limit on how much you pay during the course of a year. You receive an exemption card for the cost of healthcare services when you are a member of the Norwegian National Insurance Scheme and you have paid over a certain amount in user fees. When you have reached the ceiling for the exemption card, you pay no more user fees for the rest of the calendar year.
If you are admitted to a hospital and are a member of the Norwegian National Insurance Scheme, you do not pay for treatment, medicines or your stay in hospital. Pregnant women do not pay for checks in the national health service during the pregnancy. Children under 16 do not pay user fees, but pay for medical equipment. Children under 18 do not pay for mental health treatment.
Certain patient groups may be reimbursed for expenses relating to medicines, food, and medical necessities.
Children receive free dental treatment in the public dental health service, but this does not apply for dental braces. Adults generally pay dental fees themselves, but there are many exceptions.
Read more about what applies regarding reimbursement, user fees, and dental care in Norway on the Helsenorge website.
Are you entitled to planned treatment in another country?
Planned treatment is treatment that is not related to an acute need. You are offered such treatments in Norway. If certain conditions are satisfied, you can be reimbursed for specialist healthcare services in another EU/EEA country. If you live in another Nordic country and want treatment in Norway, you must check the regulations in the country in which you live.
Read more about reimbursement of expenses on the Helsenorge website.
Which Norwegian healthcare services are you entitled to if you are temporarily outside Norway?
If you are a member of the Norwegian National Insurance Scheme and are staying temporarily in another EEA country/Switzerland, you may be entitled to reimbursement of expenses regarding essential healthcare services during your stay. If you are entitled to the European Health Insurance Card, this serves as proof that you are entitled to healthcare services. You can order the card online. In other Nordic countries, you should not need to show this card, but you are nevertheless recommended to have it with you.
In general, students from Norway do not need to show a European Health Insurance Card when they are in another Nordic country, but must give their home address in their home country.
Read more about the European Health Insurance Card on the Helsenorge website. On the Info Norden pages you can find information about rights to healthcare services in the other Nordic countries.
Reimbursement of expenses for healthcare services in another Nordic country
If you have incurred expenses for treatment abroad, keep the receipts and contact HELFO when you return home to see if you are entitled to reimbursement of your expenses. You are not reimbursed for expenses relating to user fees.
On the Helsenorge website, you can see an overview of the medical treatments in other countries you can be reimbursed for.
Who should you contact if you have questions?
On helsenorge.no, you can find all the information about healthcare services and right to treatment in Norway. There is also contact information if you wish to contact them.
Please fill in our contact form if you have any questions or if you have encountered an obstacle in another Nordic country.
NB! If you have questions regarding the processing of a specific case or application, or other personal matters, please contact the relevant authority directly.