January 16, 2018
In the following paragraphs we aim to give you some idea about the complementary health insurance system, what it is, what it’s good for, and how to get it.
Complementary health insurance is something one gets after or at the same time as the compulsory health insurance in Slovenia.
Why would you need complementary health insurance if you already have the compulsory one? Because compulsory health insurance does not cover all possible medical expenses to their full amount. For example, regular heath checks and health counselling that is part of the national health programme, vaccinations, treatment of school-age children and students, child delivery, some sorts of contraception, treatment of malign diseases, transportation in case of emergency, and so on, are all medical services which are fully covered by compulsory health insurance.
However, the non-medical part of hospital treatment (bed & food), prosthetics, dental treatment of adults, fertility treatment and abortion, even some serious surgeries, like organ transplants and treatments carried out abroad, are only covered by the compulsory health insurance up to 80-70% of the total expense. Without complementary health insurance you might wake up to a medical bill that could give an additional headache if in hospital for a prolonged period of time.
To avoid such a shock in a time of rest and recovery, you must thus go to the insurance market and get some complementary health insurance.
There are three insurance companies, which offer the service, namely, Vzajemna, Triglav and Adriatic. None of them has a full English website, at least not after the introductory page.
Here's a link to the online application procedure for the complementary insurance policy with Vzajemna. Make sure you have someone who can read Slovenian at hand. The monthly insurance premium starts at 27.96 EUR with Vzajemna, if applied for online. The premium rises along with the number of years you’ve spent with only compulsory insurance. If you’ve just arrived and your compulsory insurance is fresh you’ll pay the lowest price, if you’ve spent about seven years on only compulsory insurance then your monthly premium will rise to about 30 to 32 EUR and your insurance will only start after the first three bills are payed (after three months). The final price will be calculated and shown to you in the online application process before you seal the deal, which is done with the first payment.
