Lithuania has a public health system funded by compulsory insurance, and as soon as you are inside it, care is largely free. The delicate point for expats is the moment before that, when you are not yet inside and the question is who pays.
Here is how healthcare in Lithuania works for newcomers.
How does healthcare in Lithuania work?
The scheme is the privalomasis sveikatos draudimas (PSD), compulsory health insurance managed by the health insurance funds (Ligonių kasa). Public care is free for insured people, including private facilities that have a contract with a territorial fund, except for some tests or procedures. Without PSD, you pay yourself.
Some groups are covered automatically: employees, minors, pensioners, registered unemployed people, students and a few others. The others pay a monthly contribution themselves.
Who pays PSD, and how much?
- Employees: 6.98% of salary, withheld by the employer.
- People who insure themselves (self-employed, inactive): at least 6.98% of the minimum monthly wage, which Sodra gives as €80.48 a month in 2026. A self-employed person pays Sodra by the last day of each month.
- Self-employed activity: PSD is due even if you earn nothing, for as long as your address is declared in Lithuania.
Check your insured status with the health insurance fund after your first payment. A foreigner with a temporary residence permit who pays alone is insured only once the month's contribution is paid.
What does your EHIC cover?
Before leaving, ask your home fund for the European Health Insurance Card. It covers necessary care during a temporary stay while you stay insured at home. It does not replace PSD for regular care: family doctor and specialist follow-up assume PSD. Plan the transition: EHIC for the first weeks, then PSD through work, an automatically covered group, your own contribution or a registered S1.
Unsure whether you will be covered from your first day of work, or which form to request from your home fund? Moovy can check your profile and draft the request to the right insurance body, in the right language.
How do retirees and cross-border insured people use the S1?
If you are retired or insured in another country, ask your home fund for an S1 form and have it registered in Lithuania with a territorial health insurance fund (teritorinė ligonių kasa, TLK), the body competent for the S1 according to the European Commission guide (July 2026). Your home country then pays for your care in Lithuania. A retired person without an S1 who is inactive must pay the contribution alone.
How do you register with a doctor?
Once your residence document is issued and your address declared (residence in Lithuania), register with a primary care facility of your choice: a polyclinic, a medical centre or a family doctor's office. You can be registered with only one at a time. Basic dental care also goes through it. Book appointments online on esveikata.lt or directly with the facility.
Dental materials can remain at your expense. Private facilities without a contract with a territorial fund are paid for in full.
What about emergencies?
Hospital emergency departments treat people 24 hours a day, insured or not, and the general emergency number is 112.
What mistakes should you avoid?
- Counting on the EHIC for routine care.
- Believing you are covered without paying. If you are not in a group covered automatically, the contribution is yours.
- Keeping your address declared after leaving. PSD contributions can accumulate; declare your departure if you leave for more than six months.
- Choosing a private clinic without a contract.
What about British citizens?
With a temporary residence permit and a job in Lithuania, the employer registers you for PSD. Without a job or state coverage, a temporary-permit holder cannot pay the contribution alone and must take private insurance or pay for care. A permanent-permit holder who does not work pays PSD alone (moving to Lithuania from the UK).
What does healthcare in Lithuania look like for a worker?
For an employee, the process is mostly invisible. Your employer registers you with Sodra, withholds the 6.98% contribution and you are insured. The practical to-do is on your side: choose a primary care facility, register, and learn to use esveikata.lt for appointments. Check that your insured status shows in the system a few weeks after your first payslip (working in Lithuania).
What happens if you are self-employed or not working?
Then no one withholds the contribution for you. A self-employed person pays Sodra each month, at least €80.48 in 2026 according to Sodra, and a foreigner with a temporary residence permit pays in advance and is insured only once the month's contribution is paid. People who are not in an automatically covered group, such as an inactive resident, pay the same minimum themselves. This is why the cost of living in Lithuania should always include a health line, even if your income is low (cost of living in Lithuania).
What does your family doctor handle?
The primary care facility is your first stop: consultations, referrals to specialists and basic dental care go through it. You can be registered in only one facility at a time, and you choose which. Public facilities, and private ones under contract with a territorial health insurance fund, do not charge insured patients, apart from some tests or procedures.
What should you do before you leave your home country?
Ask your health fund for your European Health Insurance Card. If you are a pensioner or insured elsewhere, ask for an S1 and have it registered in Lithuania. Keep your medical records, prescriptions and vaccination certificates, translated where useful, so your new doctor can see your history.
Healthcare in Lithuania is easiest if you handle these three things before you arrive: the card, the S1 if relevant, and the paper trail of your medical history.
What does it cost to see a doctor once you are insured?
Care in public facilities, and in private ones under contract with a territorial health insurance fund, is free for insured patients, with the exceptions already mentioned. The cost you feel is the monthly contribution, not the visit. If you use a private clinic without a contract, you pay the full price. Before booking a private appointment, ask whether the clinic has a contract with a territorial fund, and keep receipts for anything you pay. For dental work, ask the dentist for the price of materials before you accept the treatment.
If you plan a long stay, make a short folder for health: your insurance card or S1, the name of your family doctor, the address of your nearest emergency department and a list of your regular medicines with their generic names. Generic names are the same everywhere, which saves time at the pharmacy. Ask your home doctor for a summary of your history in English, and have it translated if you expect to see specialists.