Guide
The Special Health Insurance Card gives your employees the right to use the Danish Healthcare System on the same terms as citizens living in Denmark, even if he or she is not registered in the Danish population register. The card is typically relevant for frontier workers or employees who are posted abroad.
The card works just like the regular Danish Yellow Health Insurance Card. The employee must bring the card when he or she is visiting a doctor, going to the pharmacy, a hospital or another therapist in the Danish Healthcare System.
In Denmark, all citizens must pay parts of the cost of some health services themselves. This also applies when using the Special Health Insurance Card.
If the employee is to live in Denmark, he or she will receive the ordinary Yellow Health Insurance Card when registered in the population register and will not need to obtain a Special Health Insurance Card.
How long is the card valid for?
The Special Health Insurance Card is valid for a maximum of 2 years. It may be valid for a shorter period depending on the period the employee is employed or posted.
What does the card cost?
The card is free.
If the card is lost or destroyed, your employee will have to pay DKK 210 (2021) for a new card. The employee must apply for a new card on borger.dk and at the same time pay for the card.
You need a Power of Attorney
To apply for a special health card on behalf of an employee, you must attach a signed power of attorney from the employee.
Download Special Health Insurance Card Power of attorney - SSK (PDF)Fill in the information about the employee and the company on the screen
Print out the power of attorney and get the employee's signature
Scan the power of attorney and save it on your computer
Attach the power of attorney when you are logged in to 'Apply for a special health card'.
Special Health Insurance Cards are only issued to citizens and employees who do not live in Denmark but are socially insured in the country.
In special cases, an employee who resides in Denmark without being registered in the Danish population register may be entitled to the card - eg foreign diplomats working at an agency in Denmark.
To clarify whether the employee is covered by Danish social security, you must provide information about the employee's work situation when you apply for a special health card.
Bellow you can read about the several situations, where the employee may be entitled to the Special Health Insurance Card.
If the employee lives in an EU/EEA country or Switzerland and is a citizen of one of these countries, he or she may be entitled to the Special Health Insurance Card.
The employee must be socially insured in Denmark in order to be entitled to the card - for example:
The employee is a frontier worker who works in Denmark and lives in another EU / EEA country or Switzerland
The employee is sent by a Danish employer to work in another EU / EEA country or Switzerland
The employee is posted by a public Danish authority
The employee is a contract agent in an EU institution, who has chosen to be covered by Danish social security.
Particularly relevant for family members of frontier workers
Family members of a frontier worker are not entitled to the Special Health Insurance Card, but can usually apply for the Blue EU Health Insurance Card.
Read more about the Blue EU Health Insurance Card.
If the employee wants a Blue EU Health Insurance Card for himself or herself and his or her family members, the employee must fill in and send the application form that he or she will receive together with the decision on the Special Health Insurance Card.
Particularly relevant for family members of other Danish socially insured employees
Family members of employees who are socially secured in Denmark and who are not frontier workers are entitled to the Special Health Insurance Card.
They will receive the card once the foreign authority has confirmed that they are not independently socially insured in the country of residence. The employee will receive the EU Health Insurance form ‘E106’ together with the decision on the Special Health Insurance Card and must ensure that the form is confirmed by the foreign authority.
For stays of less than 1 year, the employee can contact Udbetaling Danmark for a Special Health Insurance Card for family members.
If the employee has been sent to a country with which Denmark has entered into an agreement on social security (convention countries), he or she may be entitled to the Special Health Insurance Card.
The employee must be a citizen of either Denmark or one of the convention countries.
Denmark has entered into an agreement with following countries:
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Macedonia
Serbia
Montenegro
Kosovo
Israel
Morocco
Turkey
Pakistan
Quebec.
If your employee lives in Denmark without being registered in the Danish population register, he or she may be entitled to the Special Health Insurance Card if he or she is:
A citizen of an EU/EEA country or Switzerland and is employed by NATO, WHO or some other international organization in Denmark (except the European Environment Agency)
A citizen of an EU/EEA country or Switzerland and seconded to serve in NATO, WHO or other international organization in Denmark
sent to an EU/EEA country or Switzerland's agency in Denmark
A third-country national covered by the legislation of a Nordic country and seconded to serve in NATO, WHO or another international organization in Denmark.
Particularly relevant for family members of expatriates
Family members of posted workers are entitled to the Special Health Insurance Card when they appear on the EU Health Insurance form ‘E106’ from the country from which the employee was posted.
The employee and family members must apply for an EU Health Insurance Card from the country from which the employee was sent.
Particularly for family members to other employees
Family members of other employees are entitled to the Special Health Insurance Card and a Blue EU Health Insurance card from Denmark if they are not independently socially insured in another country.
If the employee is a Danish diplomat and works at a Danish agency in Switzerland or another EU/EEA country than Denmark, he or she is still registered in the Danish population register and has a Yellow Health insurance Card.
Therefore, the employee is not entitled to the Special Health Insurance Card. Instead, the employee will receive the EU Health Insurance form ‘E106’ when you apply for the Special Health Insurance Card.
The form ‘E 106’ documents to the country in which the employee works that he or she is covered by a Danish health insurance.
An employee can also get the Special Health Insurance Card if he or she is socially insured in Denmark and are staying abroad temporarily, for example If he or she is:
on a study stay
in a practice
on family visits
on an au pair stay
volunteer stay.
In these situations, the company cannot apply for the Special Health Insurance Card. The employee must apply at borger.dk/saerligtsundhedskort.
It is always the employee who applies for the card.
If the company applies
When the company applies, you do so on behalf of the employee. The self-service solution here on businessindenmark.dk is an offer for companies to help the employee apply for the card. However, it is not the company’s obligation to do so.
You need a Power of Attorney
To apply for a special health card on behalf of an employee, you must attach a signed power of attorney from the employee.
Download Special Health Insurance Card Power of attorney - SSK (PDF)Fill in the information about the employee and the company on the screen
Print out the power of attorney and get the employee's signature
Scan the power of attorney and save it on your computer
Attach the power of attorney when you are logged in to 'Apply for a special health card'.
Apply for the card and attach the power of attorney
Apply for a special health card (the application is in Danish)
If the employee applies
The employee can apply for the card himself / herself in English or German at
lifeindenmark.dk/special-health-insurance-card
Or in Danish at
The case processing time limit is 6 weeks.
The case processing time limit period begins the same day Udbetaling Danmark receives your application.
You can help ensure that your application is processed as soon as possible by attaching the required documentation.
If your company wants to file a complaint on behalf of the employee, you need a Power of Attorney that covers the case.
You may file the complaint to ‘Styrelsen for Patientklager’. They must receive your complaint no later than four weeks after the employee received the decision.
As a general rule, you can only file a complaint digitally.
You cannot appeal a decision of the Formular E 106.
When you contact Udbetaling Danmark, the administration is obliged as a public authority to register and save your personal data.
This Policy for protection of personal data provides information on how Udbetaling Danmark handles your personal data and your rights in relation to the same.
