Support / Info
I have no insurance. Can I still be investigated?
What changes when a cancer is suspected
Yes. If your family doctor suspects a cancer, they can issue referrals from the insurance system even though you are not insured — for a specialist consultation, for investigations and for day hospitalisation, so that the disease is confirmed or ruled out.
This is an exception written on purpose. The general rule is that a family doctor does not use system forms for an uninsured person. Suspected cancer is on the short list of exceptions.
What to ask for, in plain words
- Tell your family doctor what worries you: the sign, how long it has been there, what changed.
- Ask them to tick the field for suspected cancer on the referral. Without that field ticked, the referral does not carry the right described above.
- Take the referral to the specialist consultation and to the investigations written on it.
- Keep every result. They are also the evidence, if the suspicion is confirmed and a file is opened for the national programme.
On private clinic websites you will see this referral called a "bilet cu S.O." (suspected cancer). The text of the norms says "by completing the corresponding field", with no letters — but the term is recognised at the desk.
If the suspicion is confirmed
Patients without income who are enrolled in the National Oncology Programme are treated as insured and receive the whole basic services package, until the disease is cured. Not only the medicines in the programme — the whole package.
Including the journey to treatmentDay hospitalisation does not stop for lack of money
Day-hospitalisation services for patients with cancer or with suspected cancer are covered "without financial conditioning". That means the hospital has no monthly ceiling that can run out and send you home until next month.
Where the exception stops
The exception is written for suspected cancer, not for any illness. For other conditions the general rule stands. There are two similar exceptions, unrelated to cancer: testing for hepatitis B and C, and HIV testing for pregnant women.
We cannot promise how it will go at the desk. The rights above are written into the norms; if you are refused, ask for the refusal in writing and ask your county health insurance house.
Questions that had no answer
What do I pay for the confirming investigations?
Nothing, provided the referral has the suspected-cancer field ticked and you go to a provider under contract with the health insurance house.
Do I need to be on a family doctor's list?
The referral comes from a family doctor, so yes, you need one. Registering on a family doctor's list does not require you to be insured.
And after it is confirmed? Do I stay uninsured?
If you have no income and you enrol in the National Oncology Programme, you are treated as insured until the disease is cured, and you receive the whole basic services package given to insured people.
Can only a family doctor issue the referral?
The exception in the norms is written for the family doctor, because that is where the prohibition needed lifting. A specialist who sees you can in turn recommend investigations, on the usual route.
What if I am refused?
Ask for the refusal in writing and call your county health insurance house. A refusal at the desk does not change what the norms say.
How we know
The exception for suspected cancer is in the norms implementing the framework contract (Order of the Ministry of Health and CNAS no. 1857/441/2023), in the note on what a family doctor may issue to an uninsured person. Day hospitalisation without financial conditioning, and the basic package for patients without income in the oncology programme, come from the CNAS release of 9 January 2026.
Checked on 05 Aug 2026. Rules can change. If you found something else at your county house, tell us.