Travel insurance for foreigners in Poland: questions and answers

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.

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.

In the Polish mountains, you do not pay to be rescued: TOPR (Tatras) and GOPR (other mountains) are financed from the state budget, and TOPR states that its rescue is free. On the Slovak side of the Tatras the rescued person pays the costs of the Slovak mountain rescue service (HZS). Go Safe covers rescue costs up to EUR 5,000.

Funding of Polish mountain rescue: Act on safety and rescue in the mountains, Article 17. Slovakia: act 544/2002, § 11. Treatment in hospital after the rescue is ordinary medical care, covered within the medical sum insured.

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.

In Go Safe, no: the insurer is not liable if the event happened under the influence of alcohol and the alcohol contributed to it (General Terms § 7 sec. 1 pt 1). In Travel World, yes: the General Terms provide “cover for people under the influence of alcohol” in all five plans.

In Travel World the exclusions remain for driving a motor vehicle while drunk (more than 0.5 per mille in the blood or 0.25 mg/dm³ in exhaled air), for alcoholism and for events after taking drugs.

Only emergency dental treatment: up to EUR 250 in Go Safe and up to EUR 300 in Travel World.

Routine treatment, such as fillings or root canal treatment, is not covered.