Healthcare in Bucharest: A Practical Guide for Expats on Doctors, Insurance and Medical Emergencies

Romania Insider · 20.10.2026, 06:30:00

Moving to Bucharest involves more than finding a home, arranging residency documents and adapting to a new working environment. For expatriates and their families, understanding how to access healthcare is an equally important part of settling into life in Romania. The Romanian healthcare system combines publicly funded services with a well-developed private medical sector. What many newcomers do not realize is that these two systems frequently overlap: privately operated clinics can also provide consultations covered by the national health insurance system. For international residents, this means that finding appropriate medical care is often less about choosing between public and private providers and more about understanding insurance eligibility, referral requirements and available services. Medical networks such as Clinica Prevencia , which operates outpatient facilities across Bucharest, illustrate this combined approach by bringing together family medicine, specialist consultations and access to both publicly funded and privately paid healthcare. Understanding public and private healthcare in Romania Romania's public health insurance system is administered by the National Health Insurance House (CNAS), through regional and local health insurance institutions, including CASMB in Bucharest. People insured under the Romanian system can access a range of medical services through providers contracted with the relevant health insurance house. These may include family medicine, specialist consultations, diagnostic investigations and hospital treatment, subject to eligibility and applicable coverage conditions. An important distinction for newcomers is that private clinics are not necessarily private-pay-only facilities . Many independent medical providers have contracts with the public health insurance system, allowing eligible patients to receive certain services without paying directly for the consultation. Clinica Prevencia follows this model, providing both CAS-