The Norwegian government presented its budget for 2027 on 7 October 2026. We read the 356-page health budget, and the word kidney does not appear once. Here is what still changes for people living with kidney disease: the exemption card threshold, medicines on blue prescription, patient travel, hospitals and a new AI service on Helsenorge.
By the Nyrami editorial teamPublished 7 October 20265 min read
The state budget is the government’s proposal for how the state will spend its money next year. The Storting, Norway’s parliament, debates it this autumn and votes on it in December, so the figures below may still change. We will update this guide once the budget is adopted.
Nothing. We searched the Ministry of Health and Care Services’ budget proposal for 2027, which runs to 356 pages. The Norwegian word for kidney, nyre, appears zero times. Dialysis is mentioned once, in a technical explanation of how hospitals are paid. By comparison, cancer is mentioned 54 times and diabetes 17.
| Search word | Matches |
|---|---|
| kreft (cancer) | 54 |
| diabetes | 17 |
| dialyse (dialysis) | 1 |
| nyre (kidney) | 0 |
That does not mean people with kidney disease get nothing. Dialysis, transplants and kidney specialists are paid for through the hospital budget, and the exemption card and medicines through national insurance. But kidney disease has no national plan of its own, as cancer and diabetes do, so there are no specific measures to fund either. Read more in the guide to a national plan for kidney health.
Chronic kidney disease is not a small disease. Around ten per cent of adults in Norway have it, and at least two in three of them do not know. According to forecasts published in The Lancet in 2018, chronic kidney disease may become the fifth leading cause of years of life lost worldwide by 2040.
A little. The government proposes raising the ceiling for patient charges (egenandelstak) from NOK 3,278 to NOK 3,406, which is NOK 128 more than this year. Once you have paid that much in charges, you get an exemption card (frikort) automatically and pay no more charges under the ceiling for the rest of the year. The ceiling covers GP appointments, outpatient clinics, medicines on blue prescription and patient travel, among other things.
For many people on dialysis, this means NOK 128 more a year in practice. With trips to treatment several times a week, they reach the ceiling early in the year anyway.
Children and young people under 18 pay no charges. The age limit was raised from 16 to 18 on 1 August 2026, and this continues in 2027.
The scheme stays the same. On blue prescription (blå resept) you pay 60 per cent of the price in 2026, but no more than NOK 400 per dispensing, and the charges count towards the exemption card. The government proposes adjusting the charges for prices in 2027, so individual amounts may rise slightly.
One thing is worth watching. The Norwegian Medical Products Agency is getting NOK 12 million to review whole areas of treatment, and diabetes is named first. The aim is for more people to use older and cheaper medicines where they work just as well. Some newer diabetes medicines, SGLT2 inhibitors, also protect the kidneys and are used in chronic kidney disease for that reason. If you take one, do not stop or switch without talking to your doctor. Read more in the guide to medicines and kidney disease.
Not yet. In May 2026 the Storting adopted eight demands for patient travel (pasientreiser). Among other things, total travel time should count, there should be minimum standards for waiting time and travel time, and quality should weigh more than the lowest price when transport is bought. The government has asked the regional health authorities to follow the demands up, but the budget contains no money of its own and no concrete changes.
For dialysis patients, who often travel to treatment several times a week, this is among the most important issues. Read more in the guide to life on dialysis.
Hospitals get NOK 250 billion in 2027, and NOK 3.1 billion more than is needed to cover wage and price growth. The government has a new goal that every patient should eventually have started treatment within 60 days of the referral being received, unless there are medical reasons to wait. The goal also covers referrals to a kidney specialist.
The government is setting aside NOK 20 million for a public AI service on Helsenorge that will answer questions about symptoms and health problems. It is to be based on quality-assured information and is planned for spring 2027. The service will be part of what the government calls a digital front line, which is also meant to give access to tools for managing illness at home.
The grants to the Norwegian organ donation foundation (Stiftelsen Organdonasjon) and the Norwegian resource group for organ donation continue as before. There is no increase. Read more in the guide to kidney transplants.
The state budget is only a proposal until the Storting has adopted it. If you want kidney disease to get more attention, you can sign the pledge for more people to be offered the two tests that find kidney disease early. If you have diabetes, high blood pressure or kidney failure in the family, you can ask your GP for the tests now, see How to detect kidney disease.
The exemption card and patient charges are one thing. What you do at home between check-ups is another. In the Nyrami app you can track blood pressure, weight and fluid, and scan food in the shop with potassium, phosphorus and salt assessed for you. The app is free for iPhone and Android.
Turns the advice into something you can use in the shop and the kitchen: scan food and see potassium, phosphorus and salt assessed for you, and follow your numbers over time. Free on iPhone and Android.
No, not any more. The Norwegian Directorate of Health made an action plan for preventing and treating chronic kidney disease for 2011 to 2015. It expired, and we have not found a new one. Cancer and diabetes have their own national plans today, and in 2025 the World Health Organization asked countries to bring kidney health into their health strategies.
Most kidney disease is not inherited, but caused by high blood pressure and diabetes, which often run in families. Some kidney diseases are passed on directly, especially polycystic kidney disease and Alport syndrome. If a close relative has kidney disease, you should have your blood pressure, blood and urine checked.
Acute kidney injury often gets completely or almost completely better. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) usually does not go away, but its progress can often be slowed so much that many people never need dialysis. How long people live depends mostly on stage, albumin in the urine, age and the heart. With dialysis or a new kidney, life can still be good.
