“All Danish residents are automatically covered by the national health system. Financing comes predominantly from state-level general tax revenues and, to a lesser extent, a municipal income tax. The central government allocates block grants to regions and municipalities based on demographics and activity levels. The public share of health spending was 83 % in 2019. This was higher than the EU average (75 %) and has remained relatively stable over the past decade.”

Source: OECD/European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies (2021), Denmark: Country Health Profile 2021, State of Health in the EU, OECD Publishing, Paris/European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, Brussels.

“Healthcare expenditure is slightly higher than the average for EU15 countries. More than 80% of health care expenditure is financed by the state through a combination of block grants and activity-based financing. The importance of out-of-pocket payments differs markedly by service, playing a major role in financing drugs, dental services and glasses, while playing only a minor role for other services. VHI is available for the population. Since 2002, supplementary VHI subsidized by the state has played a small but rapidly growing role in financing elective surgery and physiotherapy – and has been the subject of intense political debate between politicians who argue that VHI contributes to a more effective health care sector or that it introduces inequality in access to care. The municipalities are financed through income taxes (rates set locally, collected centrally) and block grants from the state, while the regions are financed by the state (income tax, VAT, taxes on specific goods, etc.) and the municipalities. The financing structure reflects attempts to control costs through global budgeting and upper limits to private providers’ turnover. It also reflects efforts to strengthen health promotion, clinical production and responsiveness to patients by use of free choice of hospital in combination with activity-based hospital financing and by the introduction of reimbursement from the municipalities to the regions, thereby providing the municipalities with a financial incentive to keep their citizens healthy.”

Source: Olejaz M, Juul Nielsen A, Rudkjøbing A, Okkels Birk H, Krasnik A, Hernández-Quevedo C. Denmark: Health system review. Health Systems in Transition, 2012, 14(2):1 – 192.

“The share of health spending financed out of pocket in Denmark is low, at just 14 % of total health spending in 2019 – slightly lower than the EU average of 15 %. No co-payments are required for primary care visits or inpatient hospital care, including medicines prescribed during the stay, or specialist visits referred by a general practitioner (GP). Co-payments apply to partly covered services including outpatient medicines, dental services and physiotherapy. Although subsidies exist for these services, approximately four in ten Danes purchase complementary health insurance to cover cost-sharing. In addition, nearly one third of Danes hold supplementary health insurance, which provides expanded access to private providers and elective services, most often as a fringe benefit offered by employers. However, voluntary health insurance (VHI) represents only 2.5 % of health spending (see Section 5.2).”

Source: OECD/European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies (2021), Denmark: Country Health Profile 2021, State of Health in the EU, OECD Publishing, Paris/European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, Brussels.

“Danish health care expenditure as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) and per capita is higher than the average for EU15 countries (Figs 3.1 – 3.3). The share has increased consistently and reached a higher level than in comparable countries at the beginning of the present century (Fig. 3.2). It fell slightly during the 1980s and the 1990s, followed by a rise from 2000 and onwards (Table 3.1; Schieber, Poullier & Greenwald, 1994; National Board of Health 2010a), although a break in the time series by 2003 complicates interpretations of the data.”

Source: Olejaz M, Juul Nielsen A, Rudkjøbing A, Okkels Birk H, Krasnik A, Hernández-Quevedo C. Denmark: Health system review. Health Systems in Transition, 2012, 14(2):1 – 192.

Health Systems Facts is a project of the Real Reporting Foundation. We provide reliable statistics and other data from authoritative sources regarding health systems in the US and sixteen other nations.

Page last updated Sept. 28, 2022 by Doug McVay, Editor.