Living in Iceland · Healthcare
Health care in Iceland is for everyone. But it does not start on your first day. After you register your address, you usually wait three months before the state insures you. If you are planning a move, this gap is one of the first systems to understand. If you are already here, this page shows what to do now.
Last verified 4 August 2026 · island.is (Iceland Health / Sjúkratryggingar)
First, Registers Iceland (Þjóðskrá, the national register of people and addresses) registers your legal home address (lögheimili). Then you apply to Iceland Health (Sjúkratryggingar Íslands, the state health insurance office). Cover normally starts three months after that. Until then you pay the full price for care. Once you are insured, you choose a local health centre (heilsugæsla, your first-stop clinic). The state pays most of the cost of a visit, there is a yearly limit on what you pay, and emergency care is given to everyone, insured or not.
Pick the line that fits how you feel right now.
What a visit costs when you are insured: ISK 1,000 for a daytime appointment (weekdays 8:00 to 16:00), ISK 3,500 outside those hours. Children under 18, pensioners, disabled people and maternity care pay nothing. Source: health centre fee list, set by the Ministry of Health from 1 January 2026, checked 1 November 2026. If you are still in the three-month wait, you pay the full price, so ask the cost before you book.
Editor's note · personal experience, not law
Right now, a non-urgent appointment at a health centre can mean waiting one to two months. This is what residents are experiencing in late 2026, not an official rule, and it can differ between centres. If your problem could get serious in the next days or weeks, do not just wait for the date: call 1700 and describe what is happening, or call your health centre again and say it is getting worse. They can often move you earlier or send you to the right place.
Hello, do you speak English? I moved to Iceland recently and I am not insured yet. I would like to book an appointment. Can you tell me what the visit will cost without insurance before I come?
Choose one heilsugæsla (health centre), usually the one closest to your home. Register online with your rafræn skilríki (electronic ID), or go to the centre in person with your passport and kennitala. You can change centres later.
There is no paper. The doctor sends your lyfseðill (prescription) to a national system. Go to any apótek (pharmacy) in Iceland and give your kennitala. Once you are insured, the state pays a growing share of your medicine costs over 12 months. Check the current medicine payment steps at Iceland Health.
Yes, once you are insured. Your fees for doctors and public clinics stop at a monthly ceiling: ISK 37,794, or ISK 25,198 for children, pensioners and disabled people. Source: Iceland Health, checked 1 November 2026.
Not for most adults. Adult dental care and eye tests for glasses are private, and you pay the full price. Children's dental care is mostly paid by the state. Glasses are different: the state helps pay for children under 18, and your union may help pay for you.
Children under 18. The state helps pay for glasses or contact lenses for every child under 18. How often depends on the child's age: twice a year up to age 6, once a year from 7 to 12, and once every two years from 13 to 17. Only the lenses are covered, not the frames. Apply with an eye-test certificate and an itemised receipt.
Adults. Usually there is no help. You can apply once every three years only if you have one of a short list of eye conditions, for example no natural lens in the eye after cataract surgery, double vision that needs prism glasses, or a very strong prescription. The state never pays more than half the price of the lenses.
Your union may pay part of it. Many stéttarfélög [unions] run a sjúkrasjóður [sickness fund] that pays back part of the cost of glasses, contact lenses and dental treatment. The rules differ by union, and most ask that you have paid membership for at least six months. Efling, for example, pays up to ISK 35,000 every 24 months and never more than half the cost. Keep the receipt and the eye-test certificate, because both are asked for. Check your union's styrkir [grants] page or ask them directly.
Sources: Ísland.is: glasses for children, Ísland.is: glasses for adults, and Efling: grants. Checked 1 November 2026.
Short answers, with the official page for the details. Rules and costs change, so the link always shows the current version.
Was this page helpful?
We are still building this site. If something was missing, wrong, or hard to understand, tell us. One line is enough. You do not have to give your name, and we do not track you.
Write to hello@yourcompanion.is
Tell us what you were looking for and what you could not find. It is how the next version of this page gets written.