Healthcare in Iceland for visitors and new residents: how the system works and how to find a dentist, physiotherapist or psychologist

Iceland is a small country with a large share of newcomers, and its health system assumes that you have registered properly. Visitors, seasonal workers and new residents often discover the rules only when a bill arrives. This post explains who is covered, how to get a general practitioner, and how dental care, physiotherapy and psychology are paid for, using published figures from Statistics Iceland, the OECD, Iceland Health (Sjúkratryggingar) and the Council of European Dentists.

A small population, a growing foreign-born share

About one resident in five was born abroad. The public portal island.is publishes its health pages in English.

The workforce

About 64% of the population lives in the greater Reykjavík area (Council of European Dentists, 2026), where specialist services are concentrated.

Who is covered, and when

Public health insurance is administered by Iceland Health (Sjúkratryggingar Íslands). Its English guidance on island.is sets out the rules for newcomers.

Visitors from EEA countries should carry a European Health Insurance Card, which covers necessary care at public rates. Visitors from outside the EEA, including Kenya, pay the full price and should hold travel insurance. During the waiting period, newcomers can buy private medical-cost insurance to bridge the gap.

Getting a general practitioner

Primary care runs through health centres (heilsugæsla). Residents register with a health centre and can view or change the registration through Heilsuvera or island.is. The capital area service, Heilsugæsla höfuðborgarsvæðisins, operates 15 centres across the capital municipalities; its pages list the main switchboard on 513 5000, the line for urgent matters on 1700 and the emergency number 112. Appointments are requested by phone or by message through Heilsuvera, depending on the centre. A general practitioner at the health centre is also the usual route to specialist referrals.

Finding a dentist

Almost all dentists work privately, and adults generally pay the dentist's own fee. Iceland Health contributes in defined cases. The Council of European Dentists reports that children up to 18 are entitled to free dental care, provided they are registered with a family dentist, and that pensioners, people with disabilities and those with certain illnesses receive partial reimbursement. Adults outside those groups should expect to pay in full and can ask for a price list before treatment. There is one dental school, at the University of Iceland.

Physiotherapy and psychology

The practical sequence is to start at your health centre, because both the physiotherapy request beyond six sessions and the psychology referral come from there, and to confirm before the first appointment that the psychologist or physiotherapist has a contract with Iceland Health. Without a contract, you pay the full fee regardless of the referral.

How we checked these figures

Population figures are from Statistics Iceland's releases of 8 May 2026 (first quarter 2026) and 10 June 2026 (population by origin, 1 January 2026). Doctor and dentist densities come from the OECD health workforce dataset (data API, October 2026); OECD flags a slight definitional difference for Iceland. Dentist numbers and the children's entitlement are from the Council of European Dentists' European Manual of Dental Practice 2026, Iceland chapter, last revised 23 January 2026, which states 2025 data. Coverage, physiotherapy and psychology rules are quoted from the English pages of Iceland Health on island.is, read in October 2026. We could not open the Directorate of Health's workforce dashboard figures for physiotherapists and psychologists, so no headcount for those professions is given.

If you are in Iceland and looking for a general practitioner, a dentist, a physiotherapist or a psychologist, the general practice, general dentistry, physiotherapy and clinical psychology pages list providers with their verification level. You can also tell us what you need and we will help you find a suitable clinic; the service is free.