JANUARY

The Norwegian Health Care System, 2015
Anne Karin Lindahl
Norwegian Knowledge Centre for Health Services
What is the role of government?
Government is responsible for providing health care to the population. Norway’s 428 municipalities are
responsible for providing primary health and social care, with the Ministry of Health playing an indirect role,
mainly through legislation and funding mechanisms. The ministry plays a direct role, however, in specialist care,
through its ownership of hospitals and provision of directives to the boards of regional health care authorities
(RHAs), as well as through legislation and funding.
Who is covered and how is insurance financed?
Publicly financed health care: Total health expenditure represented 9.2 percent of GDP in 2014, which
is about the average for countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
But Norway ranks among the highest in the OECD in terms of absolute expenditure per capita (NOK56,400,
or USD5,965) in 2014) (Statistics Norway, 2015). 1
The nationally managed and financed health system, providing more than 95 percent of all health care, is built on
universal coverage and on the principle of equal access for all regardless of socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and
area of residence. It is financed through national and municipal taxes. Social security contributions finance public
retirement funds, sick leave payment, and reimbursement of extra health care costs for some patient groups.
For acute hospitalization, there is no private alternative.
Through common agreements, European Union residents and other legal residents have the same access to
health services as Norwegians. Other visitors are charged in full. Undocumented adult immigrants have access
only to emergency acute care, while undocumented children receive the same care as citizens.
Private health insurance: Private health insurance is provided by for-profit insurers and purchased for quicker
access to examinations and care but also for choice among private providers. Private health insurance accounts
for less than 5 percent of planned services. About 8 percent of the population (or nearly 15% of the workforce)
have some kind of private insurance. About 92 percent of policies are paid for by an employer (Finans, Norge 2014).
What is covered?
Services: Parliament determines what is covered, although there is no defined benefits package except for new
and costly treatments and technologies (see below). In practice, national health care covers planned and acute
primary, hospital, and ambulatory care, rehabilitation, and outpatient prescription drugs on the formulary (the
“blue list”). It also covers dental care services for children up to 18 years of age and other prioritized groups,
such as people with rare diseases or chronic diseases that increase the risk of dental problems, patients with
chronic mental disabilities, and patients in permanent nursing homes. Dental care for 19-to-20-year-olds and
dental orthopedics (braces) for children are partially covered. Nonmedical eye care, aesthetic surgery, and
complementary medicine are not covered.
1
Please note that, throughout this profile, all figures in USD were converted from NOK at a rate of about NOK9.45 per USD,
the 2014 purchasing power parity for GDP reported by OECD (2015) for Norway.
International Profiles of Health Care Systems, 2015 133