Half of the cash sickness benetifs may be paid while the applicant is inpatient or in day care in an approved alcohol and drug treatment in Iceland. No payment is made for treatment abroad. The applicant is then exempt from various normal conditions of sickness allowance.
If you have other rights for cash sickness benefits, it is better to apply for them, as sickness benefit for alcohol and drug treatments is subject to various conditions:
Payment cannot be made for longer than the applicant is inpatient or in day care
The approved applications for alcohol and drug treatment cannot be extended to traditional healthcare vouchers
Only half of the sickness benefit may be paid
How do you receive sickness benefit?
To receive sickness benefit for alcohol and drug treatment, you must:
Get a cash sickness benefit certificate from the institution you were at
Apply for sickness benefit
- it is easiest to apply electronically
- otherwise the signed person must come to Iceland Health or District Commissioners AgenciesReturn the cash sickness benefit certificate with your application
- it is easiest to attach the certificate to an electronic application when applying
- no original, scanned documents or clear images are needed
Grounds for payment
To receive approved cash sickness benefits for alcohol and drug treatment, you must:
have been treated for alcohol and substance abuse
- treatment abroad is not paid for
be insured in Iceland
be 16 years or older
have legal domicile in Iceland
The applicant may also not receive a concomitant payment of sickness benefits:
wages from the employer
payments from the Maternity/Paternity Leave Fund
payments from the Directorate of Labour
payments of accident-day allowance
full pension payments from the Social Insurance Administration
Amounts and periods
The payment is made from the 15th day of the period of in-patient and day-care, together with child support for children under 18 years of age on the applicant's behalf. No payment is made for outpatient treatment.
Note that sickness allowance is taxable. If you wish to use a personal tax credit, you must register the use of a tax card. Iceland Health employees are not allowed to register a tax card for the applicant
Application processing time
Applications are processed as soon as possible and in the order in which they are received. Waiting times are in general:
4 - 6 weeks for new applications
1 week or less from the receipt of the data requested
The following questions and suggestions are addressed: dagpeningar@sjukra.is
Service provider
Iceland Health