E111/TRAVEL INSURANCE

[Owen]

This option for healthcare provision was mentioned in the "Tale of Woe" posting and Quillan quite rightly implied that this was inappropriate for a "de facto" permanent resident of France. As I used to be in the UK travel insurance business I probably will not have the influence of a loud mouth who frequents an expat bar but I will try.

If you are essentially still a UK resident but make trips to France then a travel insurance plus E111 is ideal. Many insurers will not apply the excess payable on any medical claims if a proportion of the bill has been covered by E111.

But a travel insurance will only cover emergency medical expenses. So if you seek treatment for a serious condition that is not of an urgent nature the E111 may well not be accepted and the travel insurance will not pay either since treatment could wait until the return to the UK. In these cases the travel insurance would pay the costs incurred in you having to curtail your trip. But the insurer may well refuse any sort of claim if a pre-existing condition has not been declared. Even if you have been clear of a serious disease such as cancer; if you have not declared it then the claim may still be refused because the insurer should have been informed as it is a "material fact".

But if you are by any reasonable measure a French resident then this option is inappropriate. Most UK insurers will insist that the insured is a UK resident and the trip starts and finishes in the UK. The policy wording will probably give a definition of UK Resident or Home Country. In the event of a claim the loss adjuster may well ask for proof of intention to return to the UK ie; return air or ferry ticket. The policy wording may insist that the booking of both the outward journey and the return was made in the UK.

E111 issued in the UK is not valid at all if you are a permanent resident of France. I accept that E111 is used by some expats on almost a permanent basis but this sort of abuse is bound to be curtailed in due course eg; by the issue of the European Healthcard.

Whilst there are bureacratic obstacles to overcome it is certainly easier now for us all to properly affiliate to the system and in so doing have some of the best healthcare in the world at reasonable cost. This will also include treatment of pre-existing conditions. At the same time we do not have to worry about hawk-eyed loss adjusters refusing spurious claims on a travel insurance.

Regards

Peter Owen
pjowen@expathealthdirect.co.uk

[Ex Forum Admin]

Thanks for the detailed Post Peter, I will copy this into the FAQ's so that users can refer to it in future.

Regards,
Forum Admin