Government expects patients to provide one billion kroner in savings

The Icelandic government expects increased co-payments by health-insured people to bring the Treasury about one billion Icelandic kroner this year, mbl.is reports. No official breakdown has been published showing which charges were increased or how the changes affect individual patient groups.

The figure appears in the explanatory memorandum accompanying the 2026 budget. It says total healthcare spending restraints amount to 3.8 billion kroner, including “increased co-payments by health-insured people, totalling around one billion kroner.”

Guðlaugur Þór Þórðarson, a member of parliament for the Independence Party, has submitted a written question to the health minister about the issue.

He asks how the one billion kroner is divided among individual fee changes and what the estimated annual impact of each change will be.

Health Minister Alma Möller has not yet answered the question. It therefore remains unclear which services account for the billion kroner, how many people will pay more and the average increase for each patient.