La sanidad en Romania

Cómo funciona el sistema

Romania runs a single-payer social health insurance system. The National Health Insurance House (Casa Nationala de Asigurari de Sanatate, CNAS) and its 43 regional houses fund care, financed mainly by mandatory wage contributions plus state transfers, with the Ministry of Health setting policy. Insured residents get a broad benefits package (family doctor, specialists, hospital care, prescriptions) largely free at the point of use, though co-payments for specialist, hospital, lab and imaging services and high out-of-pocket spending on medicines exist. Romania has the EU's lowest health spending per capita (about EUR 1,800 PPP-adjusted in 2023 vs an EU average of EUR 3,832, and 5.8% of GDP vs the EU's ~10%), and roughly 11% of the population is uninsured. A fast-growing private sector (clinics and hospitals) handles a large share of outpatient demand, especially for expats and city dwellers seeking shorter waits and English-speaking staff.

Romania has a large, modern private healthcare sector concentrated in Bucharest and major cities (Cluj, Brasov, Timisoara, Iasi). Big chains such as Regina Maria, MedLife, Sanador, Medicover and Monza run their own clinics and hospitals, offer same-day or next-day appointments and commonly have English-speaking doctors. Prices are low by Western-European standards: a private GP/family-doctor consultation is roughly EUR 20-50 (around 300 lei for a short private visit in Bucharest), specialist visits about EUR 40-80. Many providers sell subscription plans, and local private health insurance typically runs about EUR 300-1,000 per year. Most expats and digital nomads rely on private clinics or international insurance rather than the public system, partly because public care can involve waits, uneven facility quality and informal payments.

Romania scores poorly on EU health outcome benchmarks. In the EU/OECD State of Health in the EU 2025 country profile, life expectancy was 76.6 years (2024), about 5.1 years below the EU average; treatable mortality (deaths avoidable through timely effective care) was the highest in the EU at 215 per 100,000 and preventable mortality the third-highest at 304 per 100,000 (both 2022). Out-of-pocket payments are about 23% of health spending, driven largely by medicines, and WHO has flagged that these payments and informal payments to providers create financial barriers to care. Private urban clinics are generally well-equipped and modern, but public-sector quality and access vary widely by region.