EHIC - what does it do?

[allanb]

I am trying to make an intelligent decision about medical insurance for travel in Europe.

My wife and I are British citizens resident in France, and we each have a carte vitale.  This year, as instructed, we have applied for, and received, EHICs issued in the UK, replacing those previously issued by the CPAM in France.

I am now having difficulty in understanding what medical insurance we have (a) if we visit the UK, and (b) if we visit an EEA country other than the UK or France.  (While we are in France, I presume the EHIC is irrelevant.)

The letter that came with our shiny new EHICs includes this -

The EHIC card does not provide entitlement to NHS services.

- and the NHS information website says -

The NHS is a residence-based healthcare system. Therefore, once you have moved permanently away from the UK you are no longer entitled to medical treatment under normal NHS rules.

So my first question is: what (if any) medical treatment are we entitled to in the UK when we are there on a visit, armed with our EHICs?

Secondly: the NHS website says -

You will also no longer be entitled to use your UK-issued EHIC to access healthcare abroad.

So what does the new EHIC do for us if we are visiting (say) Spain or Latvia?

I hope somebody knows the answers.  I know that there's a previous long thread on the topic, but it died out in February and I don't think it came to a clear conclusion.

[BJSLIV]

Question     So what does the new EHIC do for us if we are visiting (say) Spain or Latvia?


Answer       All the things that an EHIC normally does!

I think the problem is that the UK websites have only been partially updated. The new rules complicate the old simple split

Resident in UK                       UK EHIC valid

No longer Resident in UK      UK EHIC no longer valid.

There is this new category

Not Resident in UK , but entitled to a UK EHIC because the rules have changed..........

But the pages that have been slotted in explaining the new rules don't help if you find yourself on one of the unamended pages still trumpeting  Not Resident no UK EHIC.

Its a really good example of how websites are great, but everyone underestimates the effort required to continually review whats still on display.

 

 

 

 

 

[Will]

What BJ says is perfectly correct.

In slightly different terms, the EHIC gives you the same level of treatment under the state system as a resident of the country you are visiting. Therefore in UK you get medical treatment pretty much free, though you may have to pay prescription charges etc. In France you would get a refund of on average 65-70%. In other countries, like Germany or the Netherlands, which have a health system based mainly on private assurance, your choices are more limited and you would need to ensure that your treatment was arranged with a practitioner and an assurer contracted to the EHIC system. So proper travel assurance is a very good idea because EHIC-covered treatment may not always be readily available, or to the same standard as the private sector.

If your EHIC was issued by the UK, that proves that the UK is your 'competent state' in EU parlance, which means it is responsible for paying for your basic health care. So you will not have a problem in UK.

The new system is actually much more logical than the old, where some people were assured in one country yet their competent state was another. This is where the old information on the leaflets and web sites comes from. The fact that former residents of UK who have moved permanently overseas are not automatically entitled to NHS treatment is still true for those not covered by UK-issued E forms, i.e. those whose competent state is not UK. So if you are fully affiliated to the French system, you will need a French-issued CEAM to access NHS treatment when temporarily in UK, and you will not be able to visit UK specifically for medical treatment under the NHS.

[allanb]

Thank you for the good news.  What you say makes sense.  It does mean, however, that all three of the statements I quoted from the NHS letter and website -

(1) The EHIC card does not provide entitlement to NHS services.

(2) ... once you have moved permanently away from the UK you are no longer entitled to medical treatment under normal NHS rules.

(3) You will also no longer be entitled to use your UK-issued EHIC to access healthcare abroad.

- are simply wrong.

This is, to say the least, a bit surprising.  It's not all that unusual to get misleading information from official sources, but three out of three is a fairly high rubbish ratio.

Is it just a matter of words?  E.g. does the first one really mean "the EHIC card does not provide entitlement to NHS services, but don't worry, you will get them anyway"?

[Will]

I think it could be more precise if it said:

1. "As a holder of a UK-issued EHIC, you do not need the card to access NHS services"

2. "Once you have moved your health cover permanently away so that the UK is no longer your competent state, you are no longer entitled to medical treatment under normal NHS rules"

3. - appears to be no longer necessary under the current system, though it still applies under (2).

But in many ways the above is just as confusing as the original.

[Hereford]

Will is quite right.  We emailed the EHIC people in  the Uk asking what we did in the Uk and got a message back saying use the EHIC  !!!       I have printed it out and keep it with my passport

Email address is on letter sendiung card and they reply very promptly. If more of us ask they may update the website and the letter.

Mrs H

[allanb]

[quote user="Will"]I think it could be more precise if it said:

1. "As a holder of a UK-issued EHIC, you do not need the card to access NHS services"

2. "Once you have moved your health cover permanently away so that the UK is no longer your competent state, you are no longer entitled to medical treatment under normal NHS rules"

3. - appears to be no longer necessary under the current system, though it still applies under (2).

But in many ways the above is just as confusing as the original.[/quote]

Well, I think your versions of 1 and 2 would be an improvement.

But I'm still puzzled by nº 3.  If I have a UK-issued EHIC, and I'm resident in France, and I'm travelling in a third country (Spain, Latvia...) what then?  If I can't use my UK-issued EHIC, what can I use?  It's the only one I've got.

Could it be the word "abroad" that's confusing the issue?  If it said -

You will also no longer be entitled to use your UK-issued EHIC to access healthcare in your country of residence

- that would be understandable.

[krusty]

"Re: EHIC - what does it do?."........it can be used to scrape ice off your windscreen in winter. [;-)]