European Healthcare Coverage

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Your Personalized Treatment Plan

Do not limit your treatment options.
We offer the most effective, quick and affordable treatments,
thanks to the world’s largest hospital network.

Do not limit your treatment options. We offer the most effective, quick and affordable treatments, thanks to the world’s largest hospital network.

As a citizen or of the European Union or of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland or the United Kingdom, your national healthcare system may cover your entire medical treatment in our hospitals in advance (Direct Coverage) or it may reimburse you fully or in part for the costs you incurred (Indirect Coverage).

Direct Coverage

In case of Direct Coverage your country’s healthcare authority (list below) will pay the cost of your medical treatment directly to the country in which the hospital you have chosen is located. That country will then pay the hospital for the care you have received.

The treatment you receive will be subject to the same conditions as the citizens of that country when they utilise that National Healthcare System. This means there may be a waiting lists, you might not be able to choose the doctor that will treat you in the hospital you have chosen and that you may not get a single room.

Travel expenses and lodging outside the hospital may also be covered, as well as the cost of an accompanying person, if required by your medical condition.

To receive Direct Coverage, you must obtain authorization before traveling from your competent healthcare authority. Authorization will be granted only if the requested treatment is available under your country’s healthcare system, but it cannot be provided in your home country within a medically justifiable time, taking into account your current health condition and the likely progression of your illness. The treatment requested cannot be experimental nor part of a clinical trial and is not an emergency treatment.

You must provide a written statement from a physician stating that you have undergone a full clinical evaluation and that you need to receive specialized care to treat your disease. Your competent healthcare authority will determine, based on the information provided by the doctor, if the same or equivalent treatment cannot be provided to you by your national healthcare system within a medically justifiable timeframe.

If the authorisation is granted, your competent healthcare authority will issue the S2 form, which you must submit to the competent healthcare authority for the country where the hospital where you’ve chosen to receive treatment is located.

Please keep in mind that you must find a hospital willing to accept treatment using this type of coverage and that it can only apply for public hospitals or privately owned hospital that have public accreditation meaning that they treat patients from the national healthcare system. Private hospitals without public accreditation are not eligible and cannot accept this type of coverage.

Indirect Coverage

In case of Indirect Coverage, you will pay for your treatment directly to the hospital you have chosen and will then request reimbursement from the competent healthcare authority (list below) in your home nation upon your return.

You will be reimbursed the cost that your home country’s healthcare service would have incurred had the treatment been provided on its territory. The amount reimbursed cannot to exceed the actual cost of the treatments received. However, your home country may decide to reimburse the full cost of the cross-border treatment, even if it exceeds the costs it would have incurred had the services been provided on its territory or even to anticipate the entire sum if it is unaffordable for the patient; therefore, it advisable to verify the exact conditions with the competent healthcare authority for each single case.

Only treatments provided by the healthcare system of your home country are eligible for reimbursement. Nursing home care, organ transplants, and public vaccinations are explicitly excluded from refunds by European Union regulations.

The healthcare authority of your home country may also require you to get prior authorization if the treatment you plan to do abroad requires hospitalization for more than one night or the use of expensive medical equipment.

If the conditions for Direct Coverage are met, but you request authorization under the Indirect Coverage scheme, your request will be approved as Direct Coverage. However, if you prefer to receive treatment as a private patient and not under the terms imposed by the Healthcare System of that country to its citizens, you can still opt for the Indirect Coverage.

Make sure to keep your medical records, invoices, and payment receipts as you will need to submit them after the treatment along with your refund request to the healthcare authority in your home country.

NHS Refund after Brexit

After Brexit, refund regulations have changed for UK citizens, leaving two options:

  • Emergency or essential medical care. When traveling in an European Union country, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, or Switzerland, you require urgent or essential medical assistance that cannot be posponed until your return home. In other words, all medical services you received abroad were unplanned. It is possible to submit a refund request to the NHS even if you did not have an EHIC/GHIC or the clinic did not accept it.
  • Planned inpatient treatment. After Brexit, some European hospitals have agreed to treat British NHS patients with the S2 form (see Direct Coverage above). In order to obtain the S2 form, a private consultation with a surgeon is required (online or physically) in order to receive a referral for treatment. Once the appropriate form has been filled out, the NHS will grant permission to travel abroad within four weeks. After that, you will be placed on the hospital’s waiting list, and depending on your condition, you will receive treatment within a few months. Please be aware that following Brexit (31 December 2020) it is no longer possible to use the Indirect Coverage for treatment abroad, in which you would pay the hospital abroad upfront and then claim eligible costs from the NHS upon your return.

Contact Information

National contact point for cross-border healthcare
Stubenring 6
A-1010 Vienna (Austria)
Website: https://www.gesundheit.gv.at/service/patientenmobilitaet/kontaktstelle-patientenmobilitaet
E-Mail: patientenmobilitaet@goeg.at

 

Soins de santé transfrontaliers
Website: www.crossborderhealthcare.be / https://www.health.belgium.be/nl/gezondheid/zorg-voor-jezelf/patiententhemas/grensoverschrijdende-gezondheidszorg/geneeskundige-zorg
Email: information@crossborderhealthcare.be

 

National Health Insurance Fund
Website: https://www.nhif.bg/bg/abroad/cross-border-healthcare
Email: crossbordercare@nhif.bg

 

Croatian Health Insurance Fund
Website: https://gov.hr/hr/upucivanje-na-lijecenje-u-inozemstvo/650 / https://hzzo.hr/zdravstvena-zastita-u-inozemstvu/europska-unija-europski-ekonomski-prostor-svicarska
Email: ncp-croatia@hzzo.hr

 

Ministry of Health
Website: www.moh.gov.cy/cbh
Email: ncpcrossborderhealthcare@moh.gov.cy

 

Health Insurance Bureau
Website: www.kancelarzp.cz
E-mail: info@kancelarzp.cz

 

Danish Patient Safety Authority
Website: https://stps.dk/da/eu-sygesikring/koeb-af-behandling-i-udlandet/#:~:text=Hvis%20du%20planl%C3%A6gger%20at%20k%C3%B8be,f%C3%A5%20tilskud%20til%20alle%20behandlinger
E-mail:EUS-jura@stps.dk

 

Estonian Health Insurance Fund
Website: https://www.haigekassa.ee/kontaktpunkt/plaaniline-ravi-valisriigis
Email: info@haigekassa.ee

 

Kela
Website: https://www.eu-terveydenhoito.fi/terveyspalvelut-ulkomailla/haluan-matkustaa-hoitoon-ulkomaille/
Email: yhteyspiste@kela.fi

 

Centre des Liaisons Européennes et Internationales de Sécurité Sociale (CLEISS)
Website : https://www.cleiss.fr/particuliers/partir/soins/ue/soins-programmes-ue-eee.html
Email : soinstransfrontaliers@cleiss.fr

 

Deutsche Verbindungsstelle Krankenversicherung – Ausland (DVKA)
Website: https://www.eu-patienten.de/de/behandlung_ausland/geplante_behandlung_1/geplante_behandlung_3.jsp
Email: info@eu-patienten.de

 

National Organization for the Provision of Health Services – EOPYY

Website: www.eu-healthcare.eopyy.gov.gr/gr/home.aspx

Email: ncp_gr@eopyy.gov.gr

 

For Hungarian citizens seeking healthcare in EU
Website: www.eubetegjog.hu/
E-mail: info@eubetegjog.hu

 

Icelandic Health Insurance- International Department
Website: www.sjukra.is/english
Email: international@sjukra.is

 

Cross-Border Healthcare Directive Department
Website: https://www2.hse.ie/services/schemes-allowances/cross-border-directive/how-to-get/
Email: Crossborderdirective@hse.ie; treatmentabroad.scheme@hse.ie

 

Ministry of Health, Directorate-General for health planning
Website: https://www.salute.gov.it/portale/cureUE/dettaglioContenutiCureUE.jsp?lingua=italiano&id=3897&area=cureUnioneEuropea&menu=cureeuropa
Email: ncpitaly@sanita.it

 

National Health Service
Website: www.vmnvd.gov.lv
Email: nvd@vmnvd.gov.lv

 

Amt für Gesundheit (AG)
Website: www.llv.li/#/117345/patientenmobilitat-im-euewrraum
E-mail: patientenmobilitaet@llv.li

 

State Health Care Accreditation Agency under the Ministry of Health Website for NCP where patients could find the information in one place: https://www.ncp.lt/
For EU citizens intending to use Lithuanian healthcare
Website: www.vaspvt.gov.lt/en
Email: contact.point@vaspvt.gov.lt; ncp@vlk.lt

 

Service national d’information et de médiation santé For EU citizens intending to use Luxemburgish healthcare
Website: https://mediateursante.public.lu/fr/soins-transfrontaliers/points-contact-transfrontaliers.html
Email: info@mediateursante.lu
Ministry of Social Security (Caisse nationale de santé) For Luxemburgish insured persons seeking healthcare in the EU
Website: www.cns.lu
Email: cns@secu.lu

 

Ministry for Health
Website: www.health.gov.mt/en/cbhc/Pages/Cross-Border.aspx
Email: crossborderhealth@gov.mt

 

Netherlands NCP Cross-border Healthcare
Website: www.cbhc.nl
E-mail: treatmentabroad.scheme@hse.ie

 

HELFO (The Norwegian Health Economics Administration)
Website: www.helsenorge.no/norwegian-national-contact-point-for-healthcare1
E-mail: servicesenteret@helfo.no

 

National Health Fund
Website: https://www.nfz.gov.pl/dla-pacjenta/nasze-zdrowie-w-ue/leczenie-planowane-wymagajace-uprzedniej-zgody/
Email: ca17@nfz.gov.pl; leczeniezagranica@nfz.gov.pl

 

The Central Administration of the Health System
Website: www.diretiva.min-saude.pt/
Email: diretiva.pcn@acss.min-saude.pt

 

National Health Insurance House
Website: www.cnas-pnc.ro
E-mail: pnc@casan.ro

 

Healthcare Surveillance Authority
Website: www.udzs-sk.sk
Email: web@udzs-sk.sk

 

Health Insurance Institute of Slovenia (HIIS)
Website: http://www.nkt-z.si/wps/portal/nktz/home/abroad/planned/!ut/p/z1/04_Sj9CPykssy0xPLMnMz0vMAfIjo8ziTQxdPd2N_Q08LSzdDAwcDcI8QtwCLI0MnAz1g4tz9AuyHRUBk4BHtw!!/
Email: kontakt@nkt-z.si

 

Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equity
Website: www.mscbs.gob.es/pnc/home.htm
Email: oiac@msssi.es

 

Försäkringskassan For Swedish insured persons seeking healthcare in the EU
Website: www.forsakringskassan.se
Email: kundcenter@forsakringskassan.se; huvudkontoret@forsakringskassan.se