Sanatoria
You are entitled to sanatorium treatment if your health requires it. However, you must be aware that formalities connected with the trip must be ready even more than a year before, especially if you are counting on the National Health Fund (NFZ) for a partial refund.
You can wait for sanatorium treatment even up to 16 months. You need a referral issued by a health insurance physician. The specialist takes into account the patient’s current health or existing contraindications and the effects of spa treatment. The referral is sent to the voivodship branch of the National Health Fund. This, however, does not guarantee the trip. The final decision is made by a specialist in balneoclimatology and physical medicine or medical rehabilitation. If the doctor determines that there is no need for spa treatment or finds contraindications, the application is rejected.
A trip to the sanatorium must be preceded by some necessary tests. Enclosed with the referral of an adult ought to be the results of ESR (erythrocyte sedimentation rate), blood morphology, urine tests, chest MRI, EKG and a statement confirming the diagnosis, which is basis for spa treatment. Children should provide results of ESR, morphology, urine and faeces test for the presence of parasites.
It should also be borne in mind that some costs must be covered by the patient. As regards sanatoria, the National Health Fund does not refund, for example, a part of accommodation and meal costs or additional charges, e.g. climate fees, costs of stay of the patient’s carer.
It is also good to know what contraindications disqualify the therapy. They include pregnancy and breastfeeding, acute and chronic contagious diseases (active tuberculosis, scabies, STDs, giardiasis), full-blown circulatory and respiratory insufficiency, active cancers, shorter than 5-year treatment of malignant melanoma, leukaemia, lymphomas and renal cancers. Mental illnesses, profound mental retardation, addiction to alcohol and psychoactive drugs, total disability, and decrepitude are also factors that disqualify candidates for such trips.
If a patient decides to resign from sanatorium treatment, they ought to return the referral to NFZ with a written justification. The Fund will determine a new date in the case of disease or accident. Sanatoria help thousands of people a year, treating many diseases, illnesses and making the patients better. Such a trip is a good idea as it offers nothing but health!
