Healthcare in Iceland

Iceland has a state-centred, publicly funded universal healthcare system and health insurance that covers the whole population.

The healthcare system is largely paid for by taxes (84%) and to some extent by service fees (16%)[1] and is administered by the Ministry of Health.

[4] Although local authorities have limited influence over the national health care system, Iceland has adapted to similar structures to other Nordic countries, implementing decentralized structure by dividing the country into seven local health care regions.

Although healthcare is to a great extent funded through taxation, some out-of-pocket expenses are still required, such as service fees, of which some groups are exempted, for example children, the disabled and elderly people [5][6] As of 2018, out-of-pocket expenditure is at 16% of total healthcare expenditure, similar to levels of 2007 and 2008 but significantly lower than it was both at 2001 (19.5%) and 2021 (18.5%).

[10] Specialist services are provided mainly by general practitioners, privately operated or publicly funded.