Insurance and health care

Insurance for researchers, staff, and doctoral students

Make sure you are fully insured throughout your entire stay in Sweden. As an employee at the University, you are generally covered by various kinds of insurance, both at work and on the way to your workplace, but also during business travels. 

Guest at the University for maximum 3 months
If you are a guest i.e. not employed by the University and here for a limited time you are covered by the Insurance for foreign visitors (log in with X-account to access the information).

Workplace and Personal Injury Insurance

All employed individuals are covered for work-related injuries. It can an compensate for dental care, special aids needed after an injury, and if the injury results in a permanent reduction in work capacity, a disability pension may be granted. As an employee, you are covered by a group life insurance policy. You are insured throughout your employment.

Information about employee insurances, on Staff Portal (Log in with X-account is required to access the information)

Staying for less than a year

EU citizens

EU/EEA citizens staying for less than a year are strongly advised to bring their European health insurance card, EHIC card. The card gives you the right to necessary, emergency health care at reduced cost.

If you do not have an EHIC card you should look into purchasing a private health insurance. At the hospital you will pay tariffs based on your home country. Read more on 1177.se website Healthcare in Sweden if you come from another country

Non-EU citizens

If you are a non-EU citizen staying for less than a year, speak to your host at the University about the Insurance for foreign visitors (Log in with X-account is required to access the information) This insurance provides the following coverage:

• medical and dental coverage
• home transport
• personal property coverage
• liability and legal assistance
• legal expenses.

EU and non-EU citizen staying for a year or longer

If you plan to stay in Sweden for at least one year, you must be entered into the Swedish population register. You do this by registering with the Swedish Tax Agency 

Once you are registered in Sweden, you are entitled to healthcare under the same conditions as other residents of Sweden. This means that you pay the regular Swedish patient fee for medical care in the public healthcare system. You may also be entitled to different types of compensation and allowances from the Social Insurance Agency (Försäkringskassan). You must purchase a Swedish ID-card and bring with you when you visit a health care center. 

Until you are registered at the Swedish Tax Agency you are generally covered by the Insurance for foreign visitors (see more above) unless you are an employee from an EU country, in which case you should use your EHIC card instead. 

FAQ

Health care in Sweden

If you feel unwell, we strongly recommend that you call 1177 (+46 771-11 77 00 if you have a foreign number), the free medical advice line. They will determine what kind of care you need, and tell you whom to contact.

How health care works in Sweden

Tip: watch our recorded webinar on Navigating the Swedish health care system on GU play. In the lecture we talked about how the Swedish healthcare system works, specifically from the perspective of international students. The aim was  to provide an overview of what to expect when seeking medical care in Sweden, what rights and entitlements students have, and how to navigate the system effectively.

Vårdcentral

If you are staying in Sweden for more than one year and have a personummer (personal identity number) you will automatically be listed with a health care centre near your home and pay the same prices as Swedes do ca 50-300 SEK per visit. 

For non-emergency care, and if you do not have a Swedish personal identity number, you will pay as a tourist would do. Please note that the cost is often very high, instead of 50-300SEK you will pay ca 2900SEK to see a doctor. Prices are listed in the Tourist Handbook (unfortunately only in Swedish):

Tourist handbook, cost of health care in Västra Götalandsregion
 

Seek care

1. Call 1177 or go to the Hitta vård (Find care) page on 1177.se.
2. In the search bar select ”Var vill du söka” (what city, place or address do you want to find care in)
3. In the search bar “Vilken typ av vård söker du?” (What type of care are you looking for?), type or choose between:
   • Vårdcentral (health care centre)
   • Jourcentral (out-of-hours clinic)
   • Akuten (emergency clinic)
   • Tandvård (dental care)
4. A list of health care centres/clinics will appear, including their contact details, opening hours, and address. In most cases, you need to contact the centre in advance to book an appointment. 
   
   If you have a Swedish BankID, you can log in to 1177.se to book appointments, send messages, view your medical records, and more.

Payment

If you are staying for less than one year and are covered by the University's insurance, you must pay the full amount for any medical visit. After your visit, contact your program coordinator or HR staff, who will help you fill out the reimbursement form.

If you are staying for more than one year and have an ID card with your Swedish personal identity number, you will pay a nominal fee of 50–300 SEK per visit, depending on the type of care received. You are also covered by the Swedish high-cost protection (högkostnadsskydd), which means that once you have paid a certain amount in patient fees within a 12-month period, further visits are free for the remainder of that period. This also applies to medication.

If you have been granted a residence permit (permanent or temporary) but have not yet received your Swedish personal identity number (personnummer) at the time of treatment, paying is a bit trickier:

• If a patient has applied for registration in the Swedish Population Register before receiving medical care, the healthcare invoice may be written off once the registration decision is issued after the treatment date. 
  
  The condition for this is that, during the healthcare visit, the patient presents a stamped copy of their application for the population registration/ personnummer from Skatteverket.
  
  When the patient has been registered and received their personnummer, they must contact the healthcare unit to inform them that the registration has taken effect. The invoice for the healthcare costs can then be cancelled, and the patient will instead be charged the regular patient fee. This applies if the registration date is earlier than the date of the healthcare visit

Health care in Sweden if you come from another country 1177.se

Dental care 1177.se

Call 1177

If you’re unsure what to do or where to go, we recommend calling 1177. If you are calling from a foreign number dial +46 771-11 77 00. 1177 will help you understand your symptoms, decide if you need care, where to go, and how urgent it is.

This is 1177 explained

Emergency health care

Know when to seek emergency care in Sweden

In Sweden, the emergency room ("akuten") is only for serious or life-threatening conditions. It’s important to understand that emergency care here may differ from what you're used to in other countries. For example, long waiting times are common unless your condition is urgent. We recommend that you call 1177 (+46 771-11 77 00) or 112 before visiting an emergency ward. 

Read more about the insurances above for information on insurance coverage for emergencies and prices if you are not insured.

1177

This is a national free medical advice line, open 24/7.  You will speak directly to a nurse who will assess your symptoms. They will tell you if you need to go to the ER or not, schedule you for a visit at an out-of-hours clinic (jourcentralen) or direct you to a open health care clinic. They can also connect you with 112, the police, fire brigade et cetera if it is an emergency. 
If you are calling from a foreign number dial; +46 771-11 77 00

112

If it is a life-threatening emergency, call 112 immediately. This is the Swedish emergency number and connects you to ambulance services, police, fire department, mountain rescue, sea rescue, and on-call priests. It also connects you to the Poisons Information Centre.

We recommend that you download the 112 app.
In an emergency, you can use the app to call 112, and it will automatically share your location with the emergency services, such as the police or ambulance.
The app also sends notifications about important public announcements (VMA) and other crisis information.

Other important phone numbers are for example 113 13 and 114 14. Read more about them on Krisinformation.se website on Important phone numbers