Healthcare in Norway for Foreigners: How the System Works

Norway has a public, tax-funded healthcare system, and if you live here legally for 12 months or more, or work here, you are covered by it. You get a regular GP (fastlege), pay a user fee of NOK 179 for a daytime GP visit in 2026, and once your fees reach NOK 3,278 in a calendar year you get an exemption card (frikort) and pay nothing more for covered services. Emergencies are 113, the out-of-hours doctor is 116 117, and adult dental care is the big thing you pay for yourself.

How does the Norwegian healthcare system work?

Responsibility is split in two. Your municipality (kommune) runs primary care: GPs, the out-of-hours service (legevakt), health visitors for children and home care. The state runs the hospitals through regional health authorities. Funding comes from taxes and the National Insurance Scheme (folketrygden), which your salary contributions pay into. Our guide to the Norwegian tax system shows how much of your pay goes to national insurance.

The key thing for newcomers: your fastlege is the front door to almost everything. You cannot book a hospital specialist directly. Your GP refers you, and the hospital calls you in. Private clinics exist and you can pay to skip some queues, but most Norwegians use the public system for anything serious.

Who is covered by Norwegian healthcare?

Coverage follows membership of the National Insurance Scheme. According to NAV, you are a member if you live in Norway and your stay is legal and lasts, or is intended to last, at least 12 months. Membership starts on your date of entry. You are also a compulsory member, even without residence, if you work in Norway or on the Norwegian continental shelf. Workers posted here temporarily from another country may instead stay covered at home under a social security agreement.

Membership is one thing; a fastlege is another. The right to a regular GP depends on being registered in the National Population Register as living in Norway, which in practice means having a Norwegian national identity number (fødselsnummer). That is why your paperwork order matters: see D-number, BankID and first steps in Norway.

What if you only have a D-number?

Helsenorge is clear that D-number holders are generally not entitled to a regular GP. The exceptions are asylum seekers, NATO personnel and foreign diplomatic or representative staff, with their families. Everyone else with a D-number can still get necessary medical treatment from the municipality, which usually means the legevakt or a GP surgery that will see non-list patients. You pay the normal user fees.

If you are unsure where you stand, Helsenorge's helpline (Veiledning helsenorge.no) is on +47 23 32 70 00. EEA citizens can also use a European Health Insurance Card, covered below.

How do you get or change a fastlege?

Once you have a fødselsnummer, here is the process:

1. Get an electronic ID (BankID or MinID) so you can log in to helsenorge.no.
2. Open the Bytte fastlege service. It is in Norwegian only, but simple: you search by municipality and see which doctors have free places.
3. Pick a doctor. You can choose one in a different municipality from where you live, for example near your office.
4. If the doctor you want is full, join their waiting list. You can be on one waiting list at a time, and you can check your place in the queue on Helsenorge.
5. The change takes effect from the first day of the following month, and you get a receipt in your Helsenorge inbox.
6. Ask your old surgery to transfer your medical records. Helsenorge says that is your responsibility.

You can change GP twice per calendar year. Changes after you move address, or because your GP leaves or cuts their list, are handled separately. Some municipalities have a shortage of GPs, so in popular areas you may sit on a waiting list for a while. Pick any doctor with a free place first and switch later.

What does a doctor visit cost in 2026?

Most public health services charge a user fee (egenandel). These are the 2026 fees for GP and out-of-hours care, from Helsenorge:

Lab tests, X-rays, physiotherapy, psychologists and hospital outpatient clinics have their own fees, listed on Helsenorge's payment for health services pages. Exempt from GP fees: everyone under 18, pregnant women at antenatal check-ups, people with an approved occupational injury and people being examined for certain communicable diseases, among others.

What is the frikort and the egenandelstak?

The user fee cap (egenandelstak) for 2026 is NOK 3,278. When your approved fees for the calendar year pass that amount, you receive an exemption card (frikort for helsetjenester) within three weeks, and you pay no user fees for covered services for the rest of the year. It is automatic: GPs, pharmacies and other providers report your fees to Helfo, and if you paid too much after reaching the cap, the refund is automatic too.

What does not count: costs you pay yourself such as dressings and equipment, medical certificates, copying your records, the seasonal flu vaccine, and anything from private providers without a public reimbursement agreement. Keep your receipts anyway; Helsenorge recommends it, and you can check your registered fees after logging in.

What do you do in a medical emergency?

• Life-threatening emergency: call 113.
• Urgent but not life-threatening, GP closed: call the legevakt on 116 117. The call is free and routes you to the nearest out-of-hours centre. Call before you turn up; they will tell you whether to come in. Typical reasons: high fever in a child, moderate breathing problems, a suspected fracture.
• Everything else: book your fastlege, often online or through the Helsenorge app.

The legevakt is not free: you pay the same user fee as at the GP, and it counts towards your frikort.

Does the EHIC work in Norway?

Norway is part of the EEA, so a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) from another EEA country or Switzerland gives you the right to emergency and necessary medical treatment on the same terms as Norwegian residents. You still pay the normal user fees. The EHIC is for visits and short stays. If you move to Norway to live and work, you become a member of the Norwegian scheme and should register properly. Non-EEA visitors should have travel insurance.

Is dental care covered?

For most adults, no. As Oslo municipality puts it, most adults pay for dental treatment themselves, and dentists set their own prices. Children get free public dental care. Young adults pay at most 25% of the official rates in the public dental service from the year they turn 19 through the year they turn 28, though young adults on a temporary residence permit must have lived in Norway for five years first (EU/EEA nationals are exempt from that requirement). National Insurance covers only a short list of conditions, such as some jaw malformations and certain forms of gum disease. Budget for a check-up and cleaning as a private expense.

How do pharmacies and prescriptions work?

Prescriptions in Norway are electronic (e-resept): your doctor sends it, and any pharmacy (apotek) can pull it up when you show ID. Medicine for long-term or serious conditions can be on blue prescription (blå resept), where the state pays most of the bill. From 1 January 2026 you pay 60% of the price, up to NOK 400 per dispensing, and those fees count towards your frikort. Ordinary (white) prescriptions you pay in full.

Over-the-counter medicine is more restricted than many newcomers expect: smaller pack sizes in supermarkets, and many products only at pharmacies. Our guides to OTC medicine in Norway and cold medicine in Norway explain what you can buy where.

What happens if you are off sick from work?

Short absences you can usually cover with a self-certification (egenmelding); longer ones need a sick note (sykmelding) from your doctor, often issued after a simple contact or e-consultation. Your employer pays the first 16 days and NAV takes over after that, for up to 52 weeks. The rules on pay and self-certification days are in our guide to sick pay in Norway, and your wider rights at work are in employee rights in Norway.

What should newcomers do first?

• Sort your fødselsnummer and BankID first. Without them, Helsenorge is closed to you.
• Choose a fastlege the week you can log in, even if it is not your dream doctor. You can switch twice a year.
• Save 113 and 116 117 in your phone.
• Find a private dentist and ask for the price list before your first appointment.
• Until you are in the system, bring your EHIC or travel insurance details if you have them.

Moving budget still taking shape? Healthcare is one of the cheaper parts of life here; the cost of living in Norway guide covers the rest.

Sources

Membership: NAV, membership of the National Insurance Scheme. GP rights and changing GP: Helsenorge, the right to a doctor and Helsenorge, changing your regular doctor. Fees and frikort: Helsenorge, user fees at the family doctor, Helsenorge, exemption card and Helsenorge, frikort (Norwegian). Emergencies: Helsenorge, out-of-hours medical service. Sick pay: NAV, sickness benefit. Prescriptions: Helsedirektoratet, blue prescription user fees. Dental and EHIC: Helsedirektoratet, dental care for young adults and Oslo municipality, healthcare services.