Health insurance for foreigners in Poland

Yes. For a Polish national (D) visa, the Act on Foreigners requires health insurance with the Polish National Health Fund or travel medical insurance with a minimum sum of EUR 30,000, valid for the whole planned stay.

The insurance must cover return home for medical reasons, urgent medical care, emergency hospital treatment and death, and the insurer must pay the medical facility directly (Article 25 of the Act on Foreigners). The consulate assesses the documents in your case.

Go Safe is on the list, published by the Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs, of insurance that meets the conditions of Article 25 of the Act on Foreigners. Plans from Standard (EUR 30,000) upwards meet the minimum sum; the Mini plan (EUR 20,000) does not.

The consulate or office that handles your case makes the final decision, so check its requirements before you buy. Choose the dates of the policy so that they cover your whole stay.

For a temporary residence permit for studies, the Act on Foreigners requires health insurance with the National Health Fund or confirmation from an insurer that it will cover the costs of treatment in Poland. The act does not set a minimum sum.

The voivode’s office that handles your application decides whether a policy is accepted (Article 144 of the Act on Foreigners). If you already live in Poland on a temporary permit, write to us before buying Go Safe: we have asked the insurer whether such a stay counts as permanent residence.

No. Treatment is free only for people insured with the Polish National Health Fund and, for necessary care in public facilities, for holders of an EHIC or a UK GHIC. Other visitors pay for treatment themselves or claim it from their travel insurance.

In an emergency, a hospital must help you without delay (Act on healthcare services, Article 19). If you have an EHIC but did not have it with you, you can show it within 14 days, or within 7 days after leaving a hospital ward; otherwise the hospital charges you (Article 50).

Not always. The EHIC covers necessary treatment in public facilities on the same terms as for Polish patients, but not private clinics, rescue or transport back to your country.

The European Commission states that the EHIC does not cover private healthcare, rescue and repatriation. Travel insurance such as Go Safe covers medical costs, rescue and transport back to your country of residence within its sums insured.

From the date stated in the policy, but not before you have crossed the border of your country of residence on leaving it and paid the premium.

Go Safe General Terms § 5 sec. 2. The cover ends when the period stated in the policy ends, or earlier if you return to your country of residence before then.

It depends on your country of permanent residence. If you live outside Poland and are coming to Poland, you need Go Safe. If you live permanently in Poland and travel abroad, you need Travel World.

Go Safe insures only people whose country of residence is not Poland (Go Safe General Terms § 2 pt 32) and covers them in Poland and worldwide, except in their country of residence. Travel World covers trips outside Poland and outside your country of permanent residence; for a foreigner living in Poland, the country of citizenship also counts as a country of permanent residence (Travel World General Terms § 1 pt 11).

In Go Safe, skiing and snowboarding need the high-risk sports surcharge, which you tick in the purchase form. In Travel World, skiing and snowboarding on marked runs are covered with no surcharge, but only in the VIP, VIP Plus and The Best plans.

In the Go Safe purchase form the high-risk sports surcharge (“Uprawianie sportów wysokiego ryzyka”) lists downhill and cross-country skiing and snowboarding. Off-piste skiing and ski touring count as extreme sports in Travel World and need an extension.

Go Safe excludes events connected with an illness diagnosed, treated or monitored in the 24 months before the contract, unless you buy the extension for chronic diseases. Travel World covers a sudden worsening of chronic and mental illnesses in every plan, with no surcharge.

Go Safe General Terms § 7 sec. 2 pt 2. In Travel World the cover does not apply if, before departure, there were medical contraindications to travel or indications for surgery or a hospital stay.

No. The insurance agent’s purchase system is in Polish only.

We have prepared a step-by-step guide to the Go Safe form, and you can write to us in English before you pay.