Medicines bought in another EU/EEA country
If you buy prescription-only medicines in another EU/EEA country, you are generally entitled to reimbursement according to the rules that apply to prescription-only medicines bought at a pharmacy in Denmark. In Denmark, any reimbursement of medicine is deducted at the pharmacy when you pay for your medicine. When you buy prescription-only medicine in another EU/EEA country, you can apply to us for reimbursement.
The other EU/EEA countries are: Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Croatia, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary and Austria.
How do I apply for reimbursement?
You fill in our electronic application form.
Link to electronic application form (in Danish)
Who can receive reimbursement for medicine bought in another eu/eea country?
You are entitled to reimbursement if you are registered in the CPR register (central national register) and have a yellow health insurance card. However, this does not apply if you are entitled to healthcare services in Denmark and the costs are borne by another EU country, e.g. if you are a frontier worker living in Denmark. You can also receive reimbursement if you live in another EU/EEA country, but are entitled to healthcare services in Denmark the costs of which are borne by Denmark, and you have a special health insurance card. For example if you are a frontier worker in Denmark living in another EU/EEA country. However, this does not apply to medicine bought and supplied in your country of residence. For more information about who is entitled to reimbursement, please see sections 2-5 and section 18 in executive order no. 1073 of 31 May 2021 and items 3.2. and 3.3. in Guideline no. 9733 of 5 July 2016 (both texts are in Danish only).
Which medicines can I receive reimbursement for?
The conditions for receiving reimbursement of medicines are the same as if you buy medicines in Denmark. If you are not entitled to reimbursement in Denmark, you cannot receive reimbursement of medicines bought in another EU/EEA country.
This means that:
- The medicine must be prescribed to you.
- The medicine must be eligible for reimbursement (if the medicine that you bought in another EU/EEA country is not marketed in Denmark, reimbursement is granted if an identical reimbursable medicine (same active substance, strength and pharmaceutical form) is available in Denmark). Alternatively, you can apply for single reimbursement of the relevant medicine. You can get an overview of all reimbursable medicines in Denmark at www.medicinpriser.dk
- To obtain reimbursement of medicines, which carry general conditional reimbursement in Denmark, your doctor has to declare on the prescription that you meet the reimbursement condition (in Danish).
- If the medicine you bought would have formed part of hospital treatment in Denmark, you are not entitled to reimbursement pursuant to the Danish Health Act's general rules on medicines. In such case you should not apply for reimbursement from the Danish Medicines Agency, but from the region you live in, which administers the rules on the right to hospital treatment in other EU/EEA countries. The same applies to medicines that you received as part of hospital treatment in another EU/EEA country. Read more on the website of the Danish Patient Safety Authority’s about your right to hospital treatment in another EU/EEA country.
No reimbursement is granted for vaccines purchased in another EU / EEA country, regardless of whether the vaccine is reimbursed in Denmark.
How is my reimbursement calculated?
The reimbursement is calculated in the same way as if you had bought the medicine at a Danish pharmacy.
Generally, your reimbursement is calculated on the basis of the reimbursement price of the medicine in Denmark, subject to a maximum of the retail price of the medicine you bought in another EU/EEA country. Read more about Reimbursement prices
The reimbursement rates and thresholds are the same as those applicable to the calculation of reimbursement of medicines bought in Denmark. Read more about the applicable rates and thresholds under Reimbursement thresholds
Example of reimbursement calculation
Your CTR balance is DKK 4,000, and you are entitled to reimbursement of 85%. You buy medicine for an amount corresponding to DKK 110 in another EU/EEA country. In Denmark, the reimbursement price is DKK 100. You will receive DKK 85 from your region. Your CTR balance after this purchase is DKK 4,100.
Your CTR balance is DKK 4,000, and you are entitled to reimbursement of 85%. You buy medicine for an amount corresponding to DKK 70 in another EU/EEA country. In Denmark, the reimbursement price is DKK 100. You will receive DKK 70 from your region. Your CTR balance after this purchase is DKK 4,070.
Which documentation does the Danish Medicines Agency need to process my application for reimbursement?
We need:
- Your Danish civil registration number
- Your name and address
- The name of the region you live in (Capital Region of Denmark, Central Denmark Region, North Denmark Region, Region of Southern Denmark or Region Zealand)
- Digital copy of the receipt of your purchase
- The date of your purchase
- The country in which you made the purchase
- The medicine’s name, strength, pharmaceutical form and package size
- The price of the medicine
- The currency
- A photo of the package
- The prescription
Link to online application form (in Danish)
Your right to reimbursement expires one year after the time of purchase
Please note that your application for reimbursement of medicines bought in another EU/EEA country must be submitted to the Danish Medicines Agency no later than one year after the time of purchase. If this deadline expires during a weekend, on a holiday, on the Danish Constitution Day (5 June) or on 24 or 31 December, the deadline will be changed to the preceding weekday.
If we have not received your application for reimbursement within this deadline, your right to reimbursement has expired.
Processing
We will process your application and send our decision to you. If the medicine is eligible for reimbursement, the decision will include a calculation of the reimbursement.
We report the Danish reimbursement price to the Central Reimbursement Register (CTR), so that the amount is added to your CTR balance in the same way as if you had bought the medicine at a Danish pharmacy.
We ask the region in which you live to reimburse you for the amount. The amount will be credited to your NEMkonto (Easy Account).
If the medicine is eligible for reimbursement, we will report your purchase to the Shared Medication Record.
Special procedure if you want to check whether you are covered by the blue European Health Insurance Card
When you are staying or travelling in another EU/EEA country, you are covered by the blue European Health Insurance Card.
The European Health Insurance Card covers expenses for treatment and medicine necessary during a stay in or a travel to another EU/EEA country under the same conditions as those applying to the citizens of the relevant country. Read more about the European Health Insurance Card
The European Health Insurance Card’s rules on reimbursement of expenses for treatment and medicine apply in parallel with the Danish rules on reimbursement of medicines bought in another EU/EEA country. However, you cannot obtain reimbursement under the Danish rules on reimbursement of medicines and under the European Health Insurance Card for the same purchase of medicine.
In our application form, we ask you whether you bought the medicine in connection with necessary treatment during a stay in another EU/EEA country. In that case, you may also be covered by the European Health Insurance Card.
If you do not want to check whether you can obtain a larger amount of reimbursement under the European Health Insurance Card, we will process your application as described under ”Processing” above.
However, if you want to check whether you can obtain a larger amount of reimbursement under the European Health Insurance Card than under the Danish rules on reimbursement of medicines, you need to apply for reimbursement from the Danish Patient Safety Authority (in Danish)
If you inform us in the application form that you have applied for or will apply for reimbursement of expenses for medicine from the Danish Patient Safety Authority under the European Health Insurance Card, we will inform the Danish Patient Safety Authority that you have applied to us for reimbursement of the same medicine.
We will process your application and make a decision as to whether the medicine is eligible for reimbursement under the Danish rules and we will also make a decision as to the amount of reimbursement, if any. In the decision, we ask you to inform us whether you want to have the reimbursement paid out to you.
When you inform us that you want to obtain reimbursement under the Danish rules, we report the Danish reimbursement price to the Central Reimbursement Register (CTR) so that the amount is added to your CTR balance in the same way as if you had bought the medicine at a Danish pharmacy.
At the same time, we ask the region in which you live to pay out the reimbursement to your NEMkonto and we inform the Danish Patient Safety Authority that you have decided to be granted reimbursement of your medicine purchase under the Danish rules.
If you decide to have your expenses for medicine reimbursed from the Danish Patient Safety Authority under the European Health Insurance Card, the Danish Patient Safety Authority will inform us that you have been granted reimbursement under the European Health Insurance Card.
Complain about the decision
You cannot complain about our decision to another administrative authority, see section 168(3) of the Danish Health Act.
Legal basis
Danish Health Act, see the consolidation act no. 903 of 26 August 2019 (in Danish)