The Healthcare System in Denmark: Organisation, General Practitioner, Hospitals, Emergencies and Medicines

The official portal lifeindenmark.borger.dk describes three levels: the State, which provides regulation and supervision, the regions and the municipalities. The 5 regions are responsible for hospital care, including emergencies and psychiatry, as well as for the services of general practitioners and self-employed specialists. The 98 municipalities provide primary health and social services: care for older people, rehabilitation outside hospital, home nursing, dental and nursing care for children, physiotherapy. The founding principle is equal rights: most services are funded by tax and offered at no cost to the patient.

CLEISS sums up the system as universal health insurance open to everyone with resident status, funded by national and municipal tax, with preventive, curative, outpatient and hospital services. The website sundhed.dk lets you search for a professional or a hospital, and each region has a patient office that advises on treatment options. The Danish Patient Safety Authority publishes information on health insurance and access to care, and a patient wrongly billed can lodge a complaint with the Danish Patient Complaints Agency.

Everyone who works legally in Denmark falls under the Danish health insurance system, and the yellow health card, which shows the CPR number, proves the right to benefits (lifeindenmark.borger.dk). For a French national, the sequence is as follows: EU residence document for a stay of more than three months, permanent address, CPR number, registration with a general practitioner, then receipt of the card about two to three weeks later. A digital version, the Sundhedskortet app, gives the same rights as the plastic card.

• During the registration period: the EHIC (European Health Insurance Card, CEAM in French) gives access to necessary public care on the same terms as Danish insured people; it covers neither planned care, nor care from professionals or in private hospitals outside the public system, nor the return to the home country.
• Seconded employee: the A1 form keeps the French scheme for up to 24 months; the EHIC serves as a support for local care.
• Retiree: the S1 form is requested before departure from the French pension fund and opens care under the rules of the country of residence (CLEISS).

The general practitioner (læge) is the entry point to the system. CLEISS describes two membership groups, between which the patient chooses.

• Group 1: the patient registers with a general practitioner of their choice, practising within a maximum radius of 15 km. Medical consultations are free, and a specialist consultation can be fully covered when it follows the general practitioner’s recommendation.
• Group 2: the patient freely consults any general practitioner and any specialist without a referral; the region reimburses up to the cost of group 1, and the excess remains payable by the patient.

Dentists, physiotherapists and other professionals are partly paid by the patient in group 1. Outside emergencies, admission to hospital is by medical referral, and France Diplomatie (the French foreign ministry) specifies that a hospital may refuse to treat a patient who has not been referred beforehand.

Public hospitals are run by the regions, and treatment in these establishments is not billed to covered patients (CLEISS). France Diplomatie states that public establishments are well equipped, with emergency departments.

• 112: accident, fire or serious crime, with ambulance, fire brigade and police; emergency consultations are free for insured people (CLEISS).
• 1813: number for non-life-threatening emergencies according to France Diplomatie; the out-of-hours medical service (lægevagt) is open in the evening and at weekends when the general practitioner is closed, with a telephone consultation, an appointment at the emergency centre or a home visit for serious cases (lifeindenmark.borger.dk).
• 114: police service number for situations that are not emergencies.

Some regions ask you to call before going to the emergency department: check the website of your region of residence. The page on repatriation and assistance presents the cover that is useful when evacuation is necessary.

For prescription medicines, reimbursement by the regions is automatic: it is deducted from the price at the pharmacy (Lægemiddelstyrelsen). In 2026, for a person over 18, annual spending from 0 to 1,135 DKK remains payable by the patient, then reimbursement reaches 50% between 1,135 and 1,910 DKK, 75% between 1,910 and 4,155 DKK and 85% beyond 4,155 DKK. For those under 18, the rate is 60% from the first expenses. When purchases exceed 22,596 DKK for an adult, or 26,998 DKK for a minor, reimbursement reaches 100%, with the patient’s contribution capped at 4,850 DKK.

Conditional reimbursement exists for certain groups of patients or certain diseases, the doctor writing “tilskud” on the prescription. General reimbursement applies to medicines dispensed on prescription at the pharmacy.

• Children’s dental care: municipal dentistry is free up to the age of 18 (borger.dk). For adults, the region pays a subsidy rate for a series of treatments at self-employed dentists, with a rate of 65% for the regular check-up of 22 to 25 year olds; CLEISS cites cover of up to 40% of the cost of certain treatments, at a dentist who is part of the public scheme.
• Optical and appliances: CLEISS includes prostheses, optical and hearing devices among the medical devices covered by the scheme; the precise conditions should be checked with the region and the municipality.
• Maternity: with a CPR number, general practitioner consultations, midwife consultations, two ultrasound scans at the hospital and the delivery are free; an uncomplicated pregnancy includes about 4 to 7 consultations with a midwife and 3 with the general practitioner (lifeindenmark.borger.dk).

France Diplomatie recommends being up to date with the French vaccination schedule, in particular against diphtheria, tetanus, polio, whooping cough and measles, with a health alert published on 13 March 2026 on the rise in measles cases. Tick-borne encephalitis, transmitted by tick bite mainly in spring and summer, mostly concerns Bornholm and northern Zealand; vaccination is discussed according to the conditions of the stay, in particular in rural or forested areas.

The pages on healthcare reimbursement in Denmark and expat health insurance help you choose cover according to your status, and the page on living in Denmark details the settling-in formalities. Expavy helps you compare options for the period before the health card.