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'I renewed my EHIC - then dodged a bill for £1,000s weeks later when I broke my ankle' - MSE News
Former_MSE_Callum
Posts: 696 Forumite
A MoneySaver who renewed her European Health Insurance Card after reading a reminder in the MSE weekly email has told how she ended up fracturing her ankle in four places just a few weeks later, on a cruise holiday to Norway. Having a valid EHIC meant she was able to avoid being billed for her two-week stay in hospital though - here's her full story and how to make sure you're protected...
Read the full story:
''I renewed my EHIC - then dodged a bill for £1,000s weeks later when I broke my ankle''
Click reply below to discuss. If you haven’t already, join the forum to reply.
''I renewed my EHIC - then dodged a bill for £1,000s weeks later when I broke my ankle''
Click reply below to discuss. If you haven’t already, join the forum to reply.
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Comments
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I don't understand this one. I thought the EHIC card was just a convenience for proving your eligibility due to the country you live in. It's not any sort of insurance or entitlement in itself. If you can prove your citizenship in any other way, before, during or after treatment in the EU and EHIC affiliated countries, you should not have to pay.0
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And all potentially lost if we leave the EU without agreement - just one more downside to the wonderful no deal Brexit that idiot Johnson says will be so good for us.0
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The UK will be perfectly happy to offer a quid prod quo EHIC deal. It's down to the EU if it wants to refuse that and who knows, in a fit of hubristic pique it might.
Note: Norway is not in the EU
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I don't understand this one. I thought the EHIC card was just a convenience for proving your eligibility due to the country you live in. It's not any sort of insurance or entitlement in itself. If you can prove your citizenship in any other way, before, during or after treatment in the EU and EHIC affiliated countries, you should not have to pay.
And really all they saved was the excess on their travel insurance - not £1,000s of pounds. The headline reads as though they travelled without insurance which was not the case.0 -
It also demonstrates why you should always take the card and copy of passport with you when going out.
If you end up injured and the card is in your room miles away it won't be of much use.0 -
Your EHIC card is the evidence that you are entitled to healthcare but only as supplied to citizens of that country which can be very different to the service supplied in the UK. Any bill you will probably have to pay in cash at the time but this will depend on the country.
For example, in France you have to pay to see a doctor (it's not much) and for prescriptions etc. When my wife fell and broke her nose and needed stitches to her face the bill from "Urgences" was about £100 even with an EHIC card. The French have compulsory insurance (and available voluntary top up insurance) so that would be the amount their insurance would contribute towards.
Keep the paperwork (including the doctor's receipt) and send it to the Pensions people in Newcastle and they will get the money refunded from the overseas health/insurance service. (The refund can take some time and exchange rates might work against you).
Finally, have travel insurance as well; EHIC will not get you returned to the UK nor pay for relatives to stay nearby etc.0 -
The UK will be perfectly happy to offer a quid prod quo EHIC deal. It's down to the EU if it wants to refuse that and who knows, in a fit of hubristic pique it might.
Note: Norway is not in the EU
I am currently in Norway, a sensible country that has a sensible relationship with the EU. This is the route we should have gone down after the referendum, but none of our Brexit leaders are sensible people.0 -
Keep_pedalling wrote: »I am currently in Norway, a sensible country that has a sensible relationship with the EU. This is the route we should have gone down after the referendum, but none of our Brexit leaders are sensible people.
Norway’s also sensible in that it didn’t fritter away its oil and gas revenues on tax cuts to buy votes as we did - thanks Thatcher.
It’s an extremely rich country as a result, while here we can’t even afford to maintain a basic road structure.0
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