EHIC- European Health Insurance Card: The facts

The European Health Insurance Card helps you to attain public healthcare facilities on your visit to any of the European Union’s (EU) 27 member states, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland. Even if you are charged for a treatment that you received on your trip abroad, it will be returned there itself or when you return home. It comes as a major step forward as it ensures visitors to continue their visits even if they get ill.

You need to be insured by a state social security system in any country of the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland to apply for the card. Each family member has to get their own cards in order to take the benefits. Every country is responsible to provide its citizens with the EHIC. The card facilitates you with access to healthcare services during your visits to anyone of these countries.

Ways to get the card issued

In most countries, there are many ways to get the card issued. It could be done by the way of fax, e-mail, posts, and phone or even online. In a few countries like Austria, Czech Republic, Italy, Switzerland and Netherlands, one will receive his EHIC automatically.

Validity of the card

The validity of the card also varies with each country. The validity ranges from several months in some countries to several years in some. The time taken to receive the card varies from country to country. It may be issued immediately as in Hungary or Cyprus, or it may take a few days like in UK and France. In some countries (Italy, Slovakia, Lithuania), it may even take a fortnight and countries like Bulgaria and Luxemburg take a month to issue it.

Provisions

Provisions are there if you forget your card or do not receive it on time. You will not have to return home to get your treatment, but you may have to pay upfront. In that case, you can reimburse it after returning home. Authorities also issue provisional replacement certificate which makes it much easier for you.

The figures relating to EHIC are encouraging. Over 185 million people in these countries already have their EHIC, which makes up for more than one-third of the total population in these countries. Italy is the country having issued the maximum number of EHIC with a staggering 60 million people. Of the 185 million EHIC in circulation, over 80 million were issued in 2010.