In Slovenia, getting into the health system is mostly a matter of being registered. You get insured through your job, or your own registration, or your pension country; you pick a doctor; you show a card. What confuses people is not the care itself but two details: the monthly contribution that replaced top-up insurance, and the difference between a visitor's card and living cover. This guide covers health insurance in Slovenia as ZZZS, the Zavod za zdravstveno zavarovanje Slovenije (the national health insurance institute), describes it.
How does health insurance in Slovenia work?
Slovenia runs a compulsory health insurance scheme managed by ZZZS. Employees, the self-employed, pensioners, people on unemployment benefit and several other groups are inside it, and children and some relatives are covered through an insured person.
How you get in depends on your situation:
- Employee: your employer registers you with ZZZS, using form M-1, from the start of your job.
- Self-employed: you register yourself. Businesses in the Slovenian business register file electronically through SPOT, the one-stop business portal; private individuals can file a paper form at a ZZZS regional office or by post. Forms are completed in duplicate, and ZZZS returns one copy as your certificate.
- Pensioner or insured elsewhere in the EU: you use the certificate of entitlement from your home institution, usually the S1. You or the ZZZS regional unit can request it. The ZZZS page covers people whose permanent residence is in Slovenia, so for a temporary residence ask ZZZS which procedure applies.
- Family: a spouse or partner and children qualify with permanent residence, or temporary residence of at least three months. The insured person registers them.
The page we reviewed states no deadline for filing, so register as early as you can, ideally before your first appointment. First, though, your residence must be in order: see the residence registration guide.
What is the OZP contribution?
The obvezni zdravstveni prispevek (OZP) is a flat monthly contribution of €39.36, for the period from March 2026 to the end of February 2027, up from €37.17 before. It is revised once a year on 1 March.
Who pays and how:
- Employees: the employer withholds it from pay.
- Pensioners with a Slovenian pension: the pension institute withholds it.
- Other insured people receive a payment slip from ZZZS each month.
- Children insured as family members are exempt, and the state pays for certain groups without income who qualify for social assistance.
- Foreign insured persons who are not insured in Slovenia, such as holders of a foreign card or an EHIC, do not pay it.
If you are unsure whether your case counts as "insured in Slovenia" or "insured abroad", for example with a foreign pension and a Slovenian part-time job, Moovy can walk you through the questions and what to ask ZZZS. It cannot register you, but it tells you what to bring.
Can you still buy supplementary health insurance in Slovenia?
You do not need it, and the old product no longer exists. The voluntary supplementary insurance (dopolnilno zdravstveno zavarovanje) was abolished on 31 December 2023. The OZP replaced it from 1 January 2024. ZZZS says basic insurance now covers the full basket of rights at 100%, so no extra policy is needed to avoid co-payments, and it warns that some offers are misleading.
Any private cover you buy is optional and should be for something the public basket does not give you. Read the small print before paying twice for the same thing.
How do you choose a family doctor in Slovenia?
Once you are insured you choose a personal doctor (osebni zdravnik). At your first visit you sign the Izjava o izbiri, the declaration of choice. You choose a general practitioner and a dentist, and women also choose a gynaecologist. The doctor records the choice in the ZZZS system.
From then on you show your health insurance card at each appointment. It is an official document, so keep it safe.
Two practical points. A doctor can refuse you if their list is full, and once you have chosen, you cannot change doctor without a reason before a year has passed. If no one near you is accepting patients, ZZZS publishes lists. Adults over 19 without a personal doctor can register at an additional family medicine clinic (dodatna ambulanta družinske medicine), a scheme open from 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2026.
Does the EHIC work for a longer stay?
The European Health Insurance Card is for temporary stays. It covers necessary or urgent care from public providers and private ones contracted with ZZZS, but not planned treatment or childbirth. It is not a substitute for registering when you settle.
Care is also limited to providers who work with the public system. A private clinic outside the system will charge you, with the EHIC as with the Slovenian card.
What happens if you do not pay the contribution?
ZZZS is firm on this point. The OZP cannot be written off, deferred or paid in instalments. If the unpaid debt rises above 8% of the average monthly gross wage, your rights can be suspended, and you keep emergency care only. For an employee this is academic, because the employer withholds it. For a self-employed person, a freelancer between contracts or someone paying from a slip, it is worth setting up a standing order the day you receive the first one.
The self-employed also see the OZP inside their monthly social contribution bill. In 2026 the minimum full-time contribution for an individual entrepreneur is €651.04 a month, which includes the €39.36, according to the FURS table. Part-time entrepreneurs who work alongside a job pay smaller flat health amounts instead. Ask ZZZS or FURS which amounts apply to you.
What should you do in your first month?
A sensible order, once your residence is registered:
- Check how you are insured: employer, self-registration, S1 or family member.
- Keep the copy of the M-1 form that ZZZS returns to you; it is your certificate.
- Wait for your health insurance card, or ask the ZZZS regional unit if it does not come.
- Visit a practice that is taking patients, sign the declaration of choice for a GP and a dentist.
- Note the numbers that matter in an emergency: 112 for medical help, fire and rescue, and 113 for the police.
The ZZZS contact centre is on 01 30 77 300. Regional units keep reduced hours, with a long morning and an afternoon opening on some days, so check before you go.
What changes for Swiss and British citizens?
ZZZS applies the same rules to Swiss citizens, for the EHIC and for the certificate of entitlement. For British citizens, the ZZZS page on temporary stays does not name the UK. The NHS says the GHIC covers medically necessary state healthcare in EEA countries, so Slovenia is included for visits. To settle, a British citizen first needs a residence permit; see moving to Slovenia from the UK.
What are the common mistakes?
- Buying a top-up policy you do not need.
- Living on an EHIC. It is for visits.
- Missing the payment slip. If you are not an employee, the OZP is not withheld; watch your post and your online banking.
- Ignoring a refusal. If a doctor says no, try another practice or the additional clinics.
If you are retiring here, use the S1 route described above and ask ZZZS which procedure applies to your residence; if you are self-employed, the contribution is part of your monthly bill. For the order of the other steps, see our moving to Slovenia guide.