Luxembourg

Accessing care

With the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC), you can receive medically necessary treatment during a temporary stay in Luxembourg. Medically necessary treatment means treatment that cannot wait until you return home. You may need such treatment, for example, due to sudden illness or an accident.

You can also receive treatment related to pregnancy, childbirth, or chronic illnesses. If you have a condition that requires regular treatment while you are staying abroad, contact a health care provider in advance to arrange the treatment.

The European Health Insurance Card does not guarantee free treatment and you will be charged the same amount as local residents. We recommend carrying additional copies of your card. If you do not have a European Health Insurance Card or if it is not accepted, you will need to pay the cost of treatment yourself. You can then apply for reimbursement from Kela afterward.

In Luxembourg, you must pay the costs of medical care yourself first. Afterwards you can apply for reimbursement from the Luxembourg National Health Fund, (Caisse nationale de santé, CNS). It has a number of local agencies in Luxembourg. Contact information can be found on the CNS website.

Your claim for reimbursement must include the following documents: the original bill, your bank details (in the form of a “relevé d’identité bancaire, RIB”, a certificate of banking details issued by your bank) and a copy of the European Health Insurance Card. If the invoice is paid by a person other than the patient, the CNS website has a form that must be filled in and attached to the application for compensation.

Show your valid European Health Insurance Card whenever you use any health service (doctor, hospital, pharmacy). In this way, the staff knows that Luxembourg´s official lists (nomenclatures) of fixed charges must be applied in your treatment.

Sudden illness

Doctor

You are free to choose a general practitioner or specialist. All doctors work with the CNS. You do not need a referral from a general practitioner to see a specialist. All doctors have a public health insurance contract, and therefore you can seek reimbursement in Luxembourg for the costs of treatment. Show your European Health Insurance Card and ID.

At the appointment, you pay the full cost of treatment yourself. Request a receipt for payments made so that you can seek reimbursement from the CNS. If you pay the invoice immediately at the doctor’s office, the invoice will be dated and signed. This serves as a proof of payment. The level of reimbursement varies between 80 and 100 per cent. Costs may be higher outside appointment times as well as at weekends and on public holidays.

Dentist

You may consult any dentist. All dentists work with the CNS. Beyond an annual amount fully reimbursed, dental consultations are reimbursed at the rate of 88 per cent. However, specific reimbursement rates and conditions apply for dental prostheses.

For some dental treatment, you must seek approval from the CNS in advance, and therefore you should contact the CNS before your appointment and ask whether the costs of your treatment will be reimbursed.

Certain procedures are subject to the prior presentation of an estimate and dentists are then free to set the price for such procedures. It is important to ask in advance a detailed estimate and contact the CNS to check the reimbursement level, if any.

Medication

You can collect medicines prescribed by a doctor in Luxembourg from any pharmacy. Show your European Health Insurance Card and keep the receipt for your purchases. You can seek reimbursement from the health fund on the basis of the original receipts and the original medical prescription. The level of reimbursement varies between 0 and 100 per cent. Medications are covered at the rate of 40%, 80% or 100%, if they are included in the positive list of medications published on a monthly basis on the website www.cns.lu.

Be aware that in Luxembourg a prescription is required for nearly all medicines (for example, anti-allergy medicines). Some prescriptions must also be authorised by the CNS before you will be given the medicine. Check with your doctor whether you should contact the CNS before purchasing a medicine.

Hospital treatment

If necessary, a doctor can send you to hospital for treatment. All hospitals in Luxembourg have a contract with the CNS. When you arrive at the hospital, show the referral, your European Health Insurance Card and your ID at the reception desk. In this way, the CNS will cover the invoice for hospital services directly and you will be charged a small standard fee. This standard daily fee does not apply to children under 18. Each doctor consulted as part of a hospital treatment (outpatient or inpatient) issues his or her own medical invoices. The insured person must pay the costs upfront and send the reimbursement claim to the CNS.

If you are hospitalised and for your own comfort you want to be treated in a first-class hospital room, the doctor has the right to charge a payment that is 66 percent higher than the official fee for all doctor’s fees that are charged during your treatment. First-class hospital rooms also have higher fees. Health insurance of Luxembourg does not cover these additional fees.

Not all hospitals in Luxembourg have an emergency service outside office hours. The hospitals organise emergency service according to a rotating schedule. Information about which hospital is on emergency duty can be found in newspapers, pharmacies, doctors´ surgeries and on lists on the doors of all the hospitals. More information can be found on Luxembourg’s Health Portal (Portail Santé) in French.

You should take with you, along with documentation relating to treatment, towels, soap, a toothbrush and other personal items, as the hospitals invoice these separately.

Emergency ambulance transport (provided by the Emergency Medical Aid Services, SAMU) is free of charge for persons with a valid European Health Insurance Card or replacement certificate. Non-emergency transport is covered up to 70%. Only transportation arriving at or departing from a hospital is covered and the prescription must specify that, for medical reasons, the patient needs to be transported in a lying or semi-seated position.

Read more about suddenly falling ill in Europe.

Read more about reimbursement of costs of treatment abroad.

Useful websites

If you want to travel to Luxembourg to use healthcare services there, you should read our website for general information about seeking treatment abroad.

You should direct your questions about healthcare in Luxembourg to the National Contact Points of Luxembourg. Luxembourg has two national contact points for cross-border healthcare, Médiateur Santé and CNS, which you can contact if you have any questions about healthcare in Luxembourg.

Useful information about healthcare and medical care is also available on Luxembourg’s Health Portal (Portail Santé) in French.

Quality and safety of treatment

In the event of treatment injuries, the legislation and patient insurance of the country providing the treatment is always applied. In case you are unhappy with the treatment you received, you should primarily try to sort the matter out with the treatment provider. The national contact points can help you with finding the right authority if you wish to make a complaint.

Healthcare system

Luxembourg has a state-funded healthcare system based on compulsory health insurance. Patients are free to choose their healthcare provider. In Luxembourg, all health service providers (such as doctors, dentists, physiotherapists, etc.) have an agreement with Luxembourg National Health Fund (Caisse nationale de santé, CNS), which means that they are obligated to operate in accordance with the official compensation lists (nomenclature) and tariffs. The state system covers most of the services of general practitioners and specialists. In addition, it covers laboratory tests, care related to pregnancy and childbirth, rehabilitation, prescriptions and hospital care.