Background information

The Minister of Health has issued a new executive order (442 of 09/04/2022) giving Ukrainians who have applied for a residence permit in Denmark under the special law access to necessary health services while their application is being processed.

All Ukrainians who are seeking a temporary residence permit will thus be issued a yellow health insurance certificate and be entitled to health services on an equal footing with others residing in Denmark. It does not matter if the citizen is living in a private home, a place given by the municipality or is placed in an asylum.

The special law for Ukrainian refugees and residence permit was overall extended on 3. November 2023 to last until 17. march 2025 which also means the access to health services was extended.

Content of measure

Before this measure, only Ukrainians who were seeking residence permits and were accommodated privately or by the municipalities, had the rights to get acute and continued treatment. Ukrainians living in asylums only had rights to necessary treatments.

This measure ensures that all Ukrainians seeking residence permit can get acute and continued treatment, which include:

Right to emergency and continued hospital treatment

Covers hospital treatment in case of accidents, sudden illness and birth or sudden worsening of chronic illness, etc. The regional hospitals can offer assessment and treatment that goes beyond the acute need for treatment if the hospital assesses that the specific circumstances make it unreasonable to refer the patient for treatment in the home country.

Right to necessary health services

A health service is necessary if it is pain relieving or urgent. A treatment is considered urgent if it can not wait until the alien is granted a residence permit or departure, because the condition can involve not insignificant risks of lifelong injury, development of severe disease progression or chronicity of the condition

Entitled to all benefits of the Health Act Ukrainians who have been granted a temporary residence permit under the Special Act are entitled to all the benefits of the Health Act if they are registered in the CPR register and have been issued the yellow health card.

Use of measure

There is no data that shows how many Ukrainians have made use of the health care system yet. However, currently 26,614 people have applied for the special law, and are thus entitled to the health care card and treatment on equal terms as others residing in Denmark.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Does not apply to workers	Does not apply to businesses	Migrants or refugees

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government Local / regional government	National funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Unknown	Unknown
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Unknown
• Main level of involvement: N/A

Involvement

There is no records found on how social partners have assisted in implementing this measure. However, the measure is still in the implementation phase and The Ministry of Health is currently, in dialogue with KL, the Danish Regions and the General Practitioners' Organization (PLO), in the process of determining how the assistance to the privately and municipally accommodated Ukrainians is to be organized. Ukrainians who are accommodated in an asylum centers receive treatment through the doctor who is connected to the place.

Views and reactions

There is no explicit views on this measure.

Sources

• 09 April 2022: Bekendtgørelse om adgang til ydelser efter sundhedsloven for personer uden opholdstilladelse fordrevet fra Ukraine (retsinformation.dk) (www.retsinformation.dk)
• 12 April 2022: Sundhedshjælp til ukrainske flygtninge (sum.dk)