For an expat who has recently moved to Bucharest, choosing a family doctor may seem like a minor bureaucratic detail until a medical problem appears, a referral is needed, a compensated prescription is required, or proof of access to the public healthcare system becomes necessary. In Romania, the family doctor is the first point of contact with the public medical system and the person who can guide you further toward medical tests, specialists or preventive services.

For foreign citizens living in Bucharest, the procedure is not impossible, but it does involve several clear steps: checking your insured status, choosing a doctor who has a contract with the Bucharest Health Insurance House, preparing the required documents and submitting the registration request. The situation differs depending on each person’s status: employee, student, EU citizen, non-EU citizen, person with temporary residence rights, person with domicile in Romania or person who does not yet have public health insurance.

Why you need a family doctor in Bucharest

A family doctor is not just the doctor you visit when you have a cold or a minor health issue. In Romania’s public healthcare system, the family doctor has a central role. They can provide basic consultations, monitor certain chronic conditions, issue referrals to specialist doctors, recommend medical investigations, issue compensated prescriptions when the patient meets the legal requirements and provide preventive services.

For an expat, the family doctor is also important because they can become the person who explains the local medical route more clearly. Bucharest has private clinics, public hospitals, specialist outpatient clinics and medical practices working under contract with CASMB, and the difference between services paid entirely by the patient and those covered by public health insurance is not always obvious to someone who has recently arrived in the city.

The General Inspectorate for Immigration explains, on its page dedicated to access to medical services, that before accessing healthcare services as an insured person, it is necessary to contact the Health Insurance House and register with a family doctor. This information appears in the IGI guide about access to medical services for foreign citizens, a useful starting point for expats who do not know where to begin.

First step: check whether you are insured

Before actually looking for a doctor, it is useful to check whether you appear as an insured person in the public healthcare system. The National Health Insurance House provides an official page for checking insured status, and the verification is currently done through the SIUI/PIAS platform, at the address indicated by CNAS.

This step is especially important for expats who work in Romania and whose health contributions are withheld through their salary. Normally, if you have an employment contract and your employer declares the contributions, you should appear as insured. However, administrative delays, incorrectly entered data or situations in which the status is not updated immediately can occur.

For foreign citizens and stateless persons, the legal basis is Law no. 95/2006 on healthcare reform. The republished version of the law states that foreign citizens and stateless persons who have requested and obtained the extension of their temporary stay or have domicile in Romania may be insured, as well as EU/EEA/Swiss citizens who have residence rights in Romania, under the conditions provided by law. The legislative text can be consulted on the Romanian Legislative Portal.

How to find a family doctor contracted by CASMB

In Bucharest, family doctors who can provide services covered by the public healthcare system must have a contract with the Bucharest Health Insurance House. CASMB publishes online the list of family medicine providers under contract, and this is one of the most useful resources for an expat looking for a medical practice.

The list can be checked on the CASMB page dedicated to family medicine providers under contract. The published files usually include the name of the medical practice or doctor, the address, the sector and other administrative details. For someone living in Bucharest, it is practical to start the search by sector or neighborhood, not only by the doctor’s name.

After identifying several conveniently located practices, the next step is to call or send an email, if contact details are available. The most useful questions are simple: whether the doctor is accepting new patients, whether they have experience with foreign patients, whether the staff speaks English, what documents are required for registration and when you can schedule an appointment to submit the request.

Useful documents for registration

The documents may vary slightly from one medical practice to another, which is why it is recommended to check directly with the chosen doctor before the appointment. In general, for registration with a family doctor, you may need a valid identity document, the document proving your right of residence in Romania, the personal identification number or the identification code used in the medical system, proof of insured status, if available, and the registration request for the chosen doctor.

For EU citizens, residence documents may be relevant and, in some cases, European insurance documents may also be needed, depending on the person’s status. For non-EU citizens, the residence permit, proof of domicile or residence and documents showing whether the person is insured through employment, through an individual payment declaration or under another legal basis are usually important.

For people who do not yet appear as insured, a direct discussion with CASMB can be useful. The Bucharest Health Insurance House publishes contact details and information for individuals on its official website, including for requests and administrative checks. The CASMB portal also provides online services, forms and information regarding insured status verification through PIAS.

What to do if you are not insured

If you are not insured, this does not automatically mean that you cannot receive any medical help, but access to services is more limited. CNAS has a section dedicated to uninsured people and the service packages available to them, including information about the minimal package of medical services. The details are centralized on the CNAS page about information for uninsured persons.

The minimal package is not the same as the basic package available to insured people. In practice, this means that some consultations, investigations, prescriptions or services may not be covered under the same conditions. For expats, the difference can be important, especially if there is a chronic condition, regular treatment or the need for periodic medical tests.

If you live legally in Romania and do not have insurance through an employer or another category, you may need to pay the health contribution in order to obtain insured status. IGI states that people who are not included in one of the insured categories must pay for health insurance, and the amount is calculated by applying the 10% rate to a calculation base equal to six gross minimum wages, according to the information published on the page about access to medical services. For specific cases, the safest option is to check directly with CASMB or ANAF, because fiscal status and residence status may change the necessary steps.

Can you change your family doctor?

Yes, the family doctor can be changed, but not at any time and not under any conditions. The general rule is that the change can be made after at least six months from registration on the chosen doctor’s list. This rule appears in CNAS regulations regarding registration with and changing the family doctor, including in the official documents published by CNAS.

For expats, this detail matters. If you choose a doctor simply because the practice is close to home, but later discover that the schedule does not suit you, communication is difficult or the language barrier is too strong, changing doctors may be possible, but not immediately in ordinary situations. That is why it is useful to ask from the beginning about the schedule, appointment system, communication in English and how referrals or prescriptions are issued.

There are also special situations in which changing doctors may become necessary sooner, for example if the person moves to another area or if the doctor no longer has a contract or can no longer provide the respective services. For specific cases, the safest approach is for the patient to check directly with CASMB or with the new medical practice they want to register with.

How to choose the right doctor in practice

For an expat in Bucharest, the best family doctor is not necessarily the most well-known one, but the one who is accessible, communicates clearly and has availability for new patients. Location matters a lot, because there may be repeated visits, documents to submit, referrals to collect or consultations where it is easier to arrive quickly.

An important criterion is the language used for communication. Not all doctors or nurses speak fluent English, and in medical situations explanations must be clear. It is recommended that the expat ask directly whether communication in English is possible or whether they should come accompanied by someone who speaks Romanian.

The way the practice works also matters. Some medical practices work strictly by phone appointments, others accept communication by email or apps, and some may be more crowded than others. For someone who is still adapting to life in Bucharest, these details can make the difference between a medical system perceived as difficult and one that is relatively easy to navigate.

Quick guide for expats

A simple route looks like this: check whether you are insured in the CNAS system, consult the CASMB list of family doctors under contract, choose a few practices close to your home or workplace, check by phone whether they accept new patients, ask what documents are required and go to the practice to submit the registration request.

If you are not insured, the first step is to find out exactly what your status is: employee, student, person with residence rights, EU citizen with residence, non-EU citizen, person without income or person who must pay the health contribution individually. Depending on this situation, CASMB or ANAF can indicate the steps required to obtain insured status.

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For anyone moving to Bucharest long term, choosing a family doctor should be done as early as possible, not only when a medical problem appears. It is one of those formalities that may seem secondary at first, but can save time, money and stress when you need quick access to the medical system.