If you are coming from the EU, Norway, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Iceland, bring your European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) and upon arrival, register at the Insurance Centre for Foreigners. The centre will issue an official document which will ensure you to get health service whilst in the Czech Republic for free.
If you are coming from a non-EU country, in order to get a visa, you are obliged to have health care insurance. Upon arrival in the Czech Republic you have to get a “long-term complex health insurance” for the time of your enrolment. The average price for one year insurance is approximately 300 Euro. There are several health insurance companies which offer health insurance for foreigners, e.g. VZP/PVZP, Maxima/AXA, Slavia, UNIQA, and Victoria Volksbanken.
For further information regarding the medical insurance of expats living in the Czech Republic, please visit the following website where you can choose from variaty of insurance plans:
Remember that public general practitioners (first-instance doctors) have a contract with one or more of the health insurance companies. You should sign up with a local doctor soon after you arrive – we recommend the student health centre on the main Dejvice university campus. Before you sign up with a local doctor, check that he or she has a contract with your insurance company. You can visit a doctor who has a contract with a different healthcare company only in cases of “essential” and “urgent” treatment. You will probably have to pay, and then ask your insurance company to reimburse you (retain all documentation). Note that public healthcare insurance does not cover you if you visit a private clinic, dentist, or hospital. As far as dental treatment is concerned, your insurance will probably only cover ‘emergencies’, and not routine treatment or orthodontic services.
Prescriptions are issued through doctors and dispensed by pharmacies. You will probably be asked to pay for the medicines and reclaim the money from your insurance company. In the Czech Republic all medication, including aspirin, can be bought only in a pharmacy. Pharmacies sell some medicines over-the-counter, without a prescription. By international standard prices of medicines, and of public medical and dental services, are low and the quality is good.
