Formalities · 12 min read

NFZ reimbursement for a prosthesis. What you actually get and what it depends on

Artur Wąsowicz · July 31, 2026 · updated August 4, 2026

NFZ funds a prosthesis up to the limit set against one particular device code. The amount is decided not by what you need, but by the mobility level ticked on the prescription.

The first question after an amputation is usually when will I walk. The second one turns up a few weeks later, at the prosthetics workshop, and it is how much does this cost. The answer to the second one starts with a single amount written into a regulation and a single digit somebody ticks on a form.

This text explains how that amount comes about, where its limits sit and what you can do when it is not enough. It does not replace a conversation with your prosthetist or with NFZ. It is meant to get you into that conversation knowing what to ask.

A word of orientation first, for readers coming from outside Poland. NFZ, the Narodowy Fundusz Zdrowia, is the single public payer for healthcare in Poland. It does not buy your prosthesis. It pays a fixed amount towards it, and the rest is yours to find.

Who can issue the prescription

Reimbursement is available to an insured person. The basis is the prescription for the supply of medical devices, zlecenie na zaopatrzenie w wyroby medyczne. Who can issue it is not up to the clinic. The annex to the regulation has a separate column listing eligible issuers, filled in separately for every single code.

For all limb prostheses, lower and upper, from a foot up to a shoulder disarticulation, the list is the same:

• a doctor specialising in orthopaedics and traumatology of the locomotor system, orthopaedic surgery or trauma and orthopaedic surgery
• a general surgeon, vascular surgeon, paediatric surgeon or surgical oncologist
• a doctor specialising in rehabilitation, medical rehabilitation, general rehabilitation or rehabilitation in disorders of the locomotor system
• a physiotherapy specialist

That last entry surprises people most often and gets left out of guides most often. A physiotherapist holding specialist status issues a prosthesis prescription on their own authority, exactly as a doctor does. It can be a faster route than the queue for an orthopaedic clinic, especially if you are in rehabilitation anyway. The entitlement belongs to the specialist, not to every physiotherapist.

Referral to a specialist doctor comes from your GP. The prescription is confirmed in the system these days, during the appointment. There is no need to take paper to an NFZ branch for a stamp.

On 8 June 2026 the Ministry of Health sent out for consultation a draft under which a GP could also issue a limb prosthesis prescription. The intended date of entry into force is 1 September 2026. As at the publication date of this text the regulation is not in the Journal of Laws, so it remains a draft. Check the current position before you go to your GP.

Mobility level, the digit that decides the amount

The prescription has a field for mobility level. Four grades, one to four. That digit decides which code you land on, and the code decides the limit. The gap between level two and level three on an above-knee prosthesis is six thousand złoty.

It is worth being specific in that conversation, because mobility level is assessed on the basis of your real daily life, not just the picture from the day of the appointment. Somebody who is on crutches three weeks after an amputation may be back at work and taking long walks six months later. When the doctor does not know what your days look like, describe them. Distances, stairs, terrain, work, sport, children.

Lower limb: what NFZ pays

The amounts below are the funding limits from the annex to the regulation, consolidated text of 16 June 2025. The code numbering has applied since 1 January 2024. Position as of July 2026. These are the adult figures.

One thing that sorts out everything else: on limb prostheses your own share is zero per cent. Up to the limit you pay nothing. You only pay for what sits above it.

Foot

Below knee

Above knee

Hip disarticulation

On top of that, residual limb socks, code Z.03.01: up to six fabric socks at 45 zł each, or a copolymer or silicone sock at 250 zł. After a hip disarticulation, socks are replaced by prosthetic briefs, code Z.03.03, up to six at 60 zł each.

Some codes carry separate, higher limits for children under 18. On a below-knee prosthesis at the highest mobility level that is 15 000 zł instead of 10 000 zł, and above knee 30 000 zł instead of 20 000 zł. If you are arranging this for a child, ask for the paediatric code to be checked.

Upper limb: what NFZ pays

Replaceable parts: cosmetic glove 1 500 zł, passive cosmetic hand 1 700 zł, passive work gripping terminal 3 000 zł, liner 2 500 zł, socket replacement 4 000 zł, shoulder cap replacement 4 500 zł, harness replacement on an active prosthesis 1 000 zł below elbow and 2 000 zł above elbow. Upper limb residual limb socks, code Z.03.02, are 35 zł each in fabric and 200 zł in copolymer or silicone.

Look closely at the split under codes F.06.01 and F.09.01. The list distinguishes an active mechanical prosthesis, meaning one controlled by a cable and shoulder movement, from other active prostheses. That second category covers solutions controlled by a signal from the muscles. It does not name them, but it sets a higher limit for them. This matters, because a lot of guides repeat that myoelectric prostheses are not reimbursed at all, and that is not true. They are. The limit just covers a fraction of the price.

How often, and when sooner

A definitive prosthesis is available every three years. A temporary prosthesis once, before the definitive one. The socket is replaced once within a given period, the liner and the socks once a year.

Three years is a deadline, not an absolute rule. The regulation provides for shortening the replacement period for an adult where their physical condition has changed in a way that forces new provision, and the adjustment range of the current prosthesis has been used up. There is one condition: an application issued by a person eligible to issue prescriptions, with detailed medical reasoning.

Worth spelling out, because a version circulates saying that shortening applies only to people with a severe degree of disability. There is no such narrowing in the regulation. The most common real cause is a change in residual limb volume, at which point the socket stops holding and adding more socks no longer rescues anything.

Repairs have their own limit too

Barely anyone talks about this, and it can matter more than the purchase itself. The annex has a separate column with repair price limits. A repair goes on its own prescription and does not eat into the limit for a new prosthesis.

If your prosthesis has stopped working and there is still a long way to the end of the three-year period, this is the first thing to check. Not every workshop will remind you of it unprompted.

A limit is not the price of a prosthesis

Here comes the most important part and the most common misunderstanding. The amount against the code is not the price of a prosthesis. It is the ceiling on what the fund pays. Everything above it you cover yourself or you find a second source.

Twenty thousand złoty under code C.03.03 is the highest limit for an above-knee prosthesis. A prosthesis with a microprocessor knee and an energy-storing foot costs anywhere from several tens of thousands to well over a hundred thousand złoty, depending on the components. The gap is plain to see and nobody will hide it from you, it is just that few people state it outright at the first appointment.

That is not an accusation against prosthetists or against the fund. The limit corresponds to a modular prosthesis with standard mechanical components, and that is a prosthesis you really will get for that money. The trouble is that the conversation about money often starts only once you have already grown attached to a particular solution.

The practical conclusion is simple. Before you choose components, ask for a written quote broken into two lines: the amount covered by NFZ and the amount you pay. Ask as well what servicing and an out-of-limit socket replacement cost. A prosthesis is a cost spread across years, not a one-off purchase.

NFZ is the first step, not the last

When the price exceeds the limit, you open a second source. Most often that is PFRON, the State Fund for the Rehabilitation of Disabled People, reached through your local PCPR, the district family support centre, or MOPR, its city equivalent.

Two routes, two different logics.

Funding towards orthopaedic devices and assistive supplies. This concerns the same device you hold an NFZ prescription for. It reaches up to 100 per cent of your own share within the limit, where such a share is required, and up to 150 per cent of the sum of the limit and the own share where the purchase price is higher than the limit. It requires a disability certificate and an income test: 50 per cent of the average wage per person in a shared household, 65 per cent for a person living alone. Applications are accepted all year round, until the district runs out of money.

The Aktywny samorząd programme, Module I, Area C. Task 3 is the purchase of a prosthesis with modern technical solutions, task 4 is keeping a prosthesis you already own in working order. There is no income test here, but there is a requirement of employment or study and an own contribution of at least 10 per cent of the gross price. The application goes through the System Obsługi Wsparcia, PFRON's online application platform. The amounts are on a different scale from NFZ limits, and this is the route through which most microprocessor knees in Poland are funded.

We describe both routes at greater length in a separate text about PFRON. Here one thought is enough: an NFZ prescription rarely closes the funding question on its own, but without it nothing else moves.

The 31 August deadline is not final

Applications under Module I run until 31 August. Almost every guide stops at that point and leaves the reader convinced that being late means a year of waiting.

That is not true. The programme text says outright that the operator may decide to restore an applicant's deadline for filing. PFRON publishes a ready-made request form for restoration of the deadline, based on chapter I paragraph 4 of the rules on selecting and settling applications.

Two things worth knowing. The decision is taken by the operator, meaning your district, not by PFRON head office. And you have to describe and document the reason for being late, because I did not make it in time will not do on its own. But the route exists, and few people use it, because few people know about it.

Before you go to the doctor

A short list worth carrying in your head.

• Check that the prescription carries the device code and name. Without those the workshop cannot process the document.
• If you are waiting in a queue for an orthopaedist, ask your physiotherapist whether they hold specialist status. If they do, they can issue the prescription themselves.
• Make sure the mobility level matches how you want to function, not how you function in the week after surgery.
• Ask the prosthetist for two amounts separately: the limit and your payment.
• With a damaged prosthesis, ask about a repair prescription first. Separate document, separate limit.
• If you hold a disability certificate, file with PCPR or MOPR before you sign a contract for the prosthesis. Applications are filed before the purchase, not after.
• Use the prescription at a provider holding a contract with NFZ. Anywhere else the reimbursement will not work.

Artur Wąsowicz

Founder of the Świat Bioniki Foundation, prosthesis user since 2020