EHIC...is it enough?

Pincher

I tried to claim on Annual Travel Insurance once when I had the E111 (pre EHIC) about 15 years ago. The accident was in Bruxelles, Belgium.

A driver opened the door, into the path of my bicycle, and my face went into the top corner of the car door. Missed my right eye by one inch. The police came and took down details. The ambulance took me to a state hospital A&E. The Morrocan looking orderly insisted on my credit card, and does not understand why I wanted to hand him the E111. I already had Tetanus shots, but they gave me a shot anyway, fair enough. They patched me up, and charged me about £100. I was OK the next day to go to the police station, where nobody spoke English, and wanted me to write a statement in French. The 24 Hour Emergency Assistance Line in Kent U.K. (Towergate) had no one who could speak French, so I wrote down what happened in English, got the police reference number, and the driver's details. I even had the presence of mind to take some photos of my swollen face.

Claimed on the travel insurance, and they refunded about £50, after the £50 excess.

They were supposed to have Legal Assist, but they claimed they had no one who can deal in French, or Bruxelles. I sent them the police reports, etc. . They then said they found someone external who had contacts in Bruxelles. A couple of months later, I rang up, and they say the person they gave my file to HAD DIED, and because he had taken the file home, they could not retrieve it.

I decided it was obviously a lost cause. My scar is gone now, so can't be bothered.

What's the lesson? Even if you did get travel insurance, they are a bunch of useless idiots who will leave you on the side of the road to die because they can't even speak Italian, French or Spanish. But, in some exceptional circumstances, if you are maimed in just the right way, it will save you a lot of money: that's what you are paying for.

missbiggles1

mufi wrote: »

As others have said, repatriation by air ambulance, possibly with attendant team of staff, is the big one. Not necessary from Edinburgh plus, if it were, presumably the NHS/an.other foots the bill?

Repatriation by air ambulance is incredibly expensive and rarely occurs within western EU countries with decent health services. It's just daft to think you'll be wafted home by air ambulance from somewhere you're already getting good medical care.

jackyann

Indeed, an air ambulance is a rarely used occurrence (though of course, that's why we have insurance!)
As others have said, most fit young people who break a leg or similar will find themselves staying a bit longer - probably discharged to a hotel - and need a more expensive flight home.
But any major incident or injury may well leave you needing a medical escort of some kind - and you will not usually be kept for several months.
Anyone planning to use EHIC / reciprocal agreements should check out the exact cover. And you do need to be careful - there have been reports of private ambulances taking holiday makers straight to private clinics.

charliewocka

My other half suffered a nasty accident in France earlier this year. A week in a French hospital, surgery, temporary accommodation for myself to be nearer the hospital, evacuation from the mountain, ambulance fees, X-rays, mountain resort emergency medical costs, medical assistance transport including new flights home (we had driven to France) and ambulance collection to take us back home when we landed in the UK, drugs, medical devices, curtailment of trip etc. Altogether it came to about £25,000 bill. EHIC covered us in the French hospital for 80% of costs but we would have had to foot the bill otherwise - at €1400 per night it would have been expensive. Best £15 he ever spent!


EHIC doesn't give you FREE healthcare, it entitles you to the same level of cover as a local person would receive in that country.

charliewocka

missbiggles1 wrote: »

Repatriation by air ambulance is incredibly expensive and rarely occurs within western EU countries with decent health services. It's just daft to think you'll be wafted home by air ambulance from somewhere you're already getting good medical care.

When we were in France due to the nature of the injury we were initially told we would be medically evacuated home with doctor and nurse. We would have had to reserve 9 plane seats for the stretcher as well as three addition for myself, doctor and nurse. Plus Air France and BA wouldn't accept us on a scheduled flight to Heathrow so would have had to take Lufthansa flights to Frankfurt and then Frankfurt to London. Managed to argue with the insurance company that this wasn't necessary with surgeon's approval (I could provide assistance to the airport with ambulance transfer and then just required assistance at airport getting to and onto flight, but we still needed reservation of 3 seats on the plane for partner and one for myself) but this would still have been a very expensive way of getting home.