European Health Insurance Card - got yours?

Picked this up from a thread on flyertalk.

A reminder that anyone (and that includes children) travelling to Europe* really needs an EHIC card.

Get yours from the NHS Choices website (not there are scam sites that will charge but they are free)

They have expiry dates so even if you have one it may have expired.

Like any good traveller you also need good travel insurance as the EHIC does not give free healthcare and does not cover things like the costs of repatriation back to the UK.

Some travel insurers will not pay claims if the treatment could have been covered by the EHIC.



* European Economic Area = EU + Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechenstein.

Worth pointing out that these cards are not accepted in Turkey. Also, if you are Turkey bound check your insurance policy as some common providers (e.g. Post Office) exclude Turkey on their European cover policies.

Thanks for both of those pointers. I found mine had expired and alerted #1 Son to the Turkey situation for his travel insurance...to which I got the response "yeah, knew that"...

[honey lamb]

Ooops! Mine expired at the end of January and I was in Vienna at the end of February :0 The travel gods must have been looking kindly upon me.

I had it in my head that I was notified of a need to renew but realised when I checked that it was for the Drugs Payment Scheme. Both that and the EHIC are issued from the same office over here (and it's one where my offices were also based which makes it a tad more shameful on my part )

Thanks Tonty good reminder..
Must admit to us all never getting them, due to comprehensive travel insurance...oops

But will I think for belt & braces approach..

Thanks for the heads-up Tonty... I did not have one & I am off to France in 3 weeks, so have applied for one. As you say, better to be safe than sorry.

Thanks for both of those pointers. I found mine had expired and alerted #1 Son to the Turkey situation for his travel insurance...to which I got the response "yeah, knew that"...

"Yeah, knew that" has often been found by my wife and I to mean "crap, better sort this out but we'll tell the old folks not too worry".

While it is a really good idea to take these cards while travelling in Europe, they are not a replacement for proper travel insurance.