European Health Insurance Card controversy – are you affected?

June 3, 2013 - PRLog -- With so many British expats in Spain this news focuses our thoughts on who is using the EHIC and why.

The first thing to point out is that the EHIC is not a replacement for private medical insurance, nor is it even a replacement for travel insurance. The EHIC is designed to give card holders access to emergency state public healthcare for short periods in other EU countries; it allows you to access the same level of treatment that a local national would be entitled to in your host country. It does not give access to private medical treatment and it is not designed to cover you as a longer term expat or a resident abroad.

As an expat, your EHIC offers access to short term cover only and will run out at some point. If you then try and source medical insurance, you may need to declare your medical history and so could find problems trying to insure any conditions that you had treated under the EHIC.

If you take the EHIC as a short term or cheap alternative to medical insurance then you need to consider the limitations that the EHIC offers, not least the reported difficulties in Spain!

Robin Pegg, Chief Executive Officer of specialist international health insurance brokers Medibroker comments, “For the individual faced with the need to access emergency care today, the news that the EU is taking action against Spain brings little comfort. Whilst the position of the short term holidaymaker should be relatively straightforward, those on longer breaks and those who have moved abroad may well find themselves in a medical insurance black hole, unless they have taken professional advice.

We have had over 30 years experience advising both long and short term expatriates how best to provide for their own and their family’s healthcare needs when they move abroad to work or retire.

For the moment, while details of the Spanish issue continue to emerge, we feel the best advice is to talk to your broker to find out exactly what is, and is not, covered. Advice is free, and it may well prevent problems down the line.”

For more information on Medibroker's international private health insurance broking services, please visit www.medibroker.com