European health card or European health insurance card gives any individual access to free healthcare while touring through or temporarily staying at any one of the 27 EU countries including Switzerland or EEA nations. This card gives access to not only to basic healthcare for temporary sickness or emergency healthcare in case of accidents but also to minor surgeries if necessary. Once issued, this card stays valid for a short while and can easily be renewed through proper European health card renewal procedures.
Properties of European health card:
- European health card provides accessibility to immediate basic healthcare facilities for emergency treatments including accidents as well as some chronic diseases or pre-existing medical conditions.
- For some other healthcare situations like dialysis or maternity care, appointments are required.
- All the medical facilities covered under European health card are provided either free of cost or at a considerably low price.
- The same health card is applicable to all states of the countries included under the policy.
- Once issued, this card remains valid for up to 5 years and even after that European health card renewal is very easy.
- European health card is only applicable at public hospitals and not at any private hospitals included under the policy.
- The free healthcare provided under the European health card is only applicable up to the services provided by the state to the citizens of that nation.
- The health card does not cover most of the pre-existing medical conditions.
How to apply for a new european health card or to renew an old health card:
- Any of the citizens or permanent residents of UK can easily apply for a European health card.
- It’s important to select the right website while applying for the health card since there are a number of the fake websites available online that claim to be official but are not. These fake websites ask the users to deposit a certain amount beforehand which is late lost due to no authorisation of the website.
- The main applicant must be at least 16 years old to apply for the European health card.
- The applicant can include the name of their spouse or dependent children in the health card and issue separate health cards for them.
- It’s not possible to get a replacement for any lost card from the official website.
- In case of the lost health card, if the applicant is in the UK, the applicant will simply have to apply for a new health card.
- In case the applicant is out of UK, then the overseas healthcare team is contacted which use the applicant’s information like email address and National insurance number, to issue a provisional replacement certificate which is valid for a short duration.
- The application for European health card renewal should be submitted before 6 months from the expiry of the card.
The European Health card is an easy and much reliable way to access healthcare while travelling to most European nations as it provides healthcare at free or considerably low prices to its applicants. All citizens of UK must carry this health card while travelling to Europe as it can be used in cases of any sort of medical emergency if needed. It is thus a very reliable solution to medical troubles occurring abroad.
