Foreign travelers who are admitted to Icelandic hospitals require on average more intensive care than Icelandic patients. Serious traffic accidents are the primary reason.
The number of foreign travelers who need medical care at emergency rooms has increased by 150% in five years, while the number of days foreign travelers spend in intensive care has increased by 200%, which suggests that the seriousness of accidents has increased. During summer foreign travelers make up 17% of all beds in the emergency room.
The National Broadcasting Service reports that most of the foreign travelers who have been treated for critical injuries at the emergency room of the National University Hospital in Reykjavík are 20-29 year old. Treating these pations has put significant stress on the hospital, both because the injuries are in many cases very serious, but also because treating foreign patients requires extensive paperwork, the help of interpreters and assistance to relatives who come from abroad.
Foreign travelers who do not have Icelandic health insurance, do not carry a European health insurance card or cannot show proof that their health insurance provider will pay the full cost of their treatment need to pay for their treatment out of pocket. The full cost of the medical treatment can be several million ISK (tens of thousands of US dollars or Euro). The out of pocket cost of an emergency room visit to anyone with Icelandic health insurance is approximately 6,000 ISK (57 USD/48 EUR) but 63,000 ISK (595 USD/510 EUR) to uninsured patients.
Foreign travelers who are admitted to Icelandic hospitals require on average more intensive care than Icelandic patients. Serious traffic accidents are the primary reason.
The number of foreign travelers who need medical care at emergency rooms has increased by 150% in five years, while the number of days foreign travelers spend in intensive care has increased by 200%, which suggests that the seriousness of accidents has increased. During summer foreign travelers make up 17% of all beds in the emergency room.
The National Broadcasting Service reports that most of the foreign travelers who have been treated for critical injuries at the emergency room of the National University Hospital in Reykjavík are 20-29 year old. Treating these pations has put significant stress on the hospital, both because the injuries are in many cases very serious, but also because treating foreign patients requires extensive paperwork, the help of interpreters and assistance to relatives who come from abroad.
Foreign travelers who do not have Icelandic health insurance, do not carry a European health insurance card or cannot show proof that their health insurance provider will pay the full cost of their treatment need to pay for their treatment out of pocket. The full cost of the medical treatment can be several million ISK (tens of thousands of US dollars or Euro). The out of pocket cost of an emergency room visit to anyone with Icelandic health insurance is approximately 6,000 ISK (57 USD/48 EUR) but 63,000 ISK (595 USD/510 EUR) to uninsured patients.
