Cost of living in Hungary - 2017

Priscilla wrote:

How much do you pay for your public transport tickets (bus, subway, train, tram)?

Basic price to get on a bus is 250 HUF.

Priscilla wrote:

Staple food: what do people eat and how much do they pay for basic food like bread, rice or pasta?

inexpensive white bread: 250 HUF (grainy bread is more)
inexpensive pasta: 200 HUF (but you an pay more for some brands)

Priscilla wrote:

How much does it cost to see a physician/doctor/specialist in Hungary ?

To actually see my GP doctor: Nothing. I am on national health. BUT I have to pay a monthly fee to be on national health of course.

Priscilla wrote:

How much do you pay for electricity/gas/water etc.?

electricity: 6,000 HUF / month
water: 8,000 HUF / year (varies year to year)

Priscilla wrote:

How much do you pay for your Internet/phone subscription?

4G wireless, 20 GB, 7,000 HUF / month

klsallee wrote:

Priscilla wrote:

How much do you pay for your public transport tickets (bus, subway, train, tram)?

Basic price to get on a bus is 250 HUF.

Budapest city ticket is 350 HUF per single trip  most transport methods.   450HUF on the bus.

Free for kids under 6.

Source: BKK tickets

fluffy2560 wrote:

klsallee wrote:

Basic price to get on a bus is 250 HUF.

Budapest city ticket is 350 HUF per single trip  most transport methods.   450HUF on the bus.

Difference between city prices and rural prices. Volan runs the buses in our neck of the wood, and their prices are based on distance traveled, min price "full fare" is 250 HUF:

http://www.volan.hu/dijszab/jegyar.pdf

My usual spending (a month):

Rent: 100000 HUF. I live alone, and, according to some friends, my apartment is somewhat cheaper than usual, but not much. It's nice, and probably would be OK for two.

Common costs: 15000 HUF.

Utilities: depends on the time of the year, but on average — about 15000 HUF.

Food: I mostly eat at home, spending about 60000 HUF overall.

Internet: 6000 HUF.

I don't use public transportation, preferring to walk, so: 0 HUF here.

What's national health insurance?  I'm registering next week as a Magyar:)

blonder wrote:

What's national health insurance?

http://www.oep.hu/

If you live in Hungary as a resident, you are required to have health insurance. Non-employeed expats often use private insurance rather than the national health system.

klsallee wrote:

blonder wrote:

What's national health insurance?

http://www.oep.hu/

If you live in Hungary as a resident, you are required to have health insurance. Non-employeed expats often use private insurance rather than the national health system.

Just to complete the picture.

Visitors from the EU and EEA plus Switzerland can use the EHIC. 

See here: EHIC

Blonder, I am not 100% sure how it would work in your situation as you have just recently gotten your HU citizenship.
I know how it went for my husband as a HU citizen who had lived outside of HU and then re registered as living in HU again.
To get his Taj card was easy enough but it had restrictions on it's use for the first year.
This info is a few years old now, again not sure if it still works this way or not.
He had to pay his monthly payment at the same going rate that the gov. charges everyone. They do pay for seniors citizens health insurance but not in my husband's case since he does not collect SS from HU.
He only worked in HU for 9 years and one needs 15 years of credit. Sadly they do not take into account starting work in trade school at age 14 and working 10 hours a day 5 to 6 days a week plus giving a free day to Vietnam , a day of work without getting paid for it!
Sorry of track,
First year you must pay in monthly but you can not use it. It will only cover a emergency situation for the first year.
After the first year of paying and not using the card, he was not charged for the second year at all and could use the taj card.
After the second year he was "even" or how ever it works and can use the card as needed but he pays every month for his own coverage.
You have to go into their main office located in the 13th district and they set it up for you, again, that may of also changed over the years.
We pay monthly for our taj card , they send out a package of checks( bills) we fill them out and pay at the post office before they are due each month, we never allow them to not be up to date just in case there could be a problem in a emergency.
We stay on top of our bills and never let it slide.
When we visited the US for 6 months we pre paid for health coverage even though we were not going to use the taj. That's they way it goes, you must also play catch up with the health coverage if you have moved out of HU say and worked in another country. If you move back to HU you must pay up for the time you were gone. I am guessing it would be like for my husband, pre pay for a year and not use the card and after the year you are free to use as needed.
If you are not physically going to be living in HU then I would say don't even start this because you must pay without stopping forever unless you leave the country for good and let them know your gone.
Hopefully the new info is available online.

I will take 25 months and pay upfront. 
It's around 23€ a month. Slovakia was €66!

Health insurance (you will need to make a "contract" and start to pay monthly fees) In the first 24 months you are not entitled to the full health-care services, but emergency services only. However if you pay 24 + 1 months in advance, you can get your full Health Insurance and its card.

blonder wrote:

full Health Insurance and its card.

Be aware of limitations of the Taj card. For example, you can not pick your primary care doctor, et al.:

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.p … 40#3581413

blonder wrote:

It's around 23€ a month. Slovakia was €66!

Then there are the "tips".

One finds in life the quality you get is usually related to what you pay.

Slovakia was dreadful.   I keep national in 3 countries as I'm semi retired.  Best to be covered!

blonder wrote:

I'm semi retired.

If you still earn any non-retirement income, that may be taxed in Hungary if you are a resident, and then you may have to pay the full rate for national health and other social taxes -- 18% of such income. I am not saying this is a given, and may vary depending on the type of income, so you should ask at the Hungarian tax office about it.

blonder wrote:

I will take 25 months and pay upfront. 
It's around 23€ a month. Slovakia was €66!

Health insurance (you will need to make a "contract" and start to pay monthly fees) In the first 24 months you are not entitled to the full health-care services, but emergency services only. However if you pay 24 + 1 months in advance, you can get your full Health Insurance and its card.

If you are also Slovakian and you were paying there, just get the (free) EHIC as an interim then look for the forms (S1?) to make yourself HU based for health care.  EHIC will give you the same services as a local and at the same cost.  I think you are fully and continuously covered if you are an EU citizen and move EU countries.

I know it's not of much interest if semi-retired, but just for other readers, the HUF 7K approx for an adult TAJ card also covers any dependent children.

Yes, the "tip" thing can add up quickly if you need to run around to several doctors for one issue.
My husband was getting shots in his eye once a week but tipped because the eye doc was not really in our area, her husband who was in our area sent my husband to his wife.
Confusing, he had been running around to 4 or 5 doc for his eyes, all related to a thyroid issue.
5 weeks of shots after hours in her office with a 5,000 F tip each week.
He had a break for a month then he was to go back for more eye shots. Silly way they handle things here at times her assistant wrote down the date for him to return for his second series of shots.
He marked the date, the day before he was to go we received a mail which we signed for telling him he had missed his appointment?!
They can't even keep proper records, the date was written down by the doctor herself on my husbands paper, the assistant messed it up. Just as well, he was not going back anyways.
He probably wouldn't even of gotten a reminder if not for those tips he was handing out every week.
When my husband  had hernia surgery here, he was stripped naked as they do here for surgery, he was half out from meds but still somehow managed to hold onto his $300. or more dollars to give the doc before he was out cold, he wanted to make sure he would wake up after surgery!
I tipped my surgeon for my knee surgery just a couple hours before hand, put it straight into his hands myself. It's weird but best to make sure they don't forget any tools etc. during surgery, they may "forget" to do something if there is little incentive. A dead patient doesn't tip well.
MY husband checked out a private clinic for his hernia, they were not too much more then the tipping costs. They also didn't keep you for days in hospital, got out within 24 hours.
They problem with some private clinics is they will not take you if you have even the slightest thing going on that could possibly cause them any trouble. My husband had high BP so they would not take him. Took years of seeing the doc for high BP to have them finally figure out it is a thyroid thing and not high BP for some other reason. Most doctors are playing guessing games with people so best to not need them at all.
Also medical materials are not always covered with the taj card, we paid extra for the shots 5 needles of med. etra on top of the tips.
Same with some dental work, it might be covered with your card but you still pay out of pocket for some materials used to fix your teeth.
If it was really all free and clear you wouldn't see so many toothless people on the streets, it takes money to keep yourself together.
It's all good if one is young and in general good health, better then no care at all, the thing is if you really need something extra you must pay out of pocket or just pray.
Cancer treatments are covered here but only the basics, if you want experimental treatment etc. you pay yourself.
For specialist sometimes you must be on a waiting list for months just to be allowed to make a appointment for another few months in the future.
I was surprised when I had my knee surgery, I was booked within 10 days, I am sure that is very rare. In the end even with tips I do believe, honestly that one of the students watching did the actual surgery, it was messed up for the longest time afterwards.
Had to go home to the US to get it fixed with proper PT , shots and braces.
Guess my tip wasn't big enough?