Medical travel insurance: what happens to the EHIC after Brexit?

True or false: if you have an EHIC, you don’t need travel insurance. Gulp. The answer may surprise you. And your savings could be at risk if you get it wrong. Which is why the question about the EHIC’s post-Brexit validity is perhaps the wrong question in the first place.

It won’t reimburse you if someone pilfers your iPad.

It won’t cover the loss of your suitcase.

It won’t compensate the cost of a holiday that you are forced to cancel.

Sure, the EHIC is a useful document. But let’s get one thing clear. It’s no substitute for travel insurance. (And it never has been.) Unfortunately tens of thousands of people believe otherwise – and put their savings at risk every time they go on holiday. Let’s get to the bottom of what the EHIC is and the cost of foreign medical care in a post-Brexit world.

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What is the EHIC?

The EHIC – or the European Health Insurance Card – gives EU citizens access to subsidised medical costs in all 31 countries of the European Economic Area as well as Switzerland. Note: several popular European countries aren’t part of the EEA – including Turkey, Ukraine and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

What does that mean? It means with the EHIC you will pay the same as the locals do for medical treatment. Different countries have different levels of free medical care. In short: the EHIC is far from a guarantee of free medical treatment across Europe. Depending on where you go, you will still have to dig deep for the cost of things like ambulances, dental work, the treatment of chronic conditions and so on.

What happens after Brexit?

Ah yes, the B word. The EHIC will remain valid until the UK leaves the EU. Likewise if your trip – or your treatment in an EU country – started before Brexit day, your medical costs will remain subsidised.

What happens to the EHIC after the UK leaves the EU is currently undecided. It may become invalid, which would potentially leave UK citizens having to pay more for medical treatment in EU countries. We don’t know yet.

If it’s any consolation, remember that it’s in the EU’s interests to make it easy for UK travel-lovers to visit. UK holidaymakers – and the money they spend – are very important to the European tourism sector.

What about the cost of medical care outside Europe?

Given the state of the daily news headlines, you could be forgiven for forgetting that sentient life exists beyond Europe. The UK has reciprocal healthcare arrangements in place with dozens of countries – including Australia and New Zealand. These allow for subsidised medical care and will continue after Brexit. But, again, it’s important to note that different countries have different rules regarding the cost of medical care.

Example: in the British Virgin Islands you must be over the age of 70 or be a parent of a school-age child to receive subsidised medical care. In other countries only ‘minor’ emergency treatment is covered, while you are unlikely to find anywhere outside the EU that will cover the cost of treating pre-existing conditions.

Is good travel insurance beginning to sound like a necessity yet?

Foreign medical bills can be seriously costly

They say you can’t put a price on health. It turns out the world’s medical facilities are adept at it. And that price is eye-wateringly expensive. Here are some real claims figures from the Association of British Insurers.

£200,000 paid to treat a traveller on a cruise in China who suffered a brain haemorrhage. This included an air ambulance back to the UK from Hong Kong.

£153,000 for treating a broken arm caused by falling out of a bed in San Francisco. This included paying for the flight back home.

£137,000 to treat a fractured spine resulting from a bathroom fall in Thailand, including return to the UK.

£89,000 to pay the medical bill for a holidaymaker who suffered a heart attack while visiting Turkey.

£768,000 to cover the medical costs of treating a traveller who suffered a stroke in the USA. This includes £60,000 for an air ambulance back to the UK.

£81,000 to cover ongoing costs of treating a holidaymaker who contracted pancreatitis in Greece.

Those are frightening figures. And as the Greek and Turkish examples above show, if you have been travelling in Europe with the belief that your EHIC means free medical care, you have been travelling with your finances at risk.

Unfortunately claims for emergency medical treatment from British travellers abroad have never been higher – with the equivalent of one new claim every three minutes.

Get a cheap travel insurance policy with World First

According to data from the International Travel & Health Insurance Journal, 38% of British travellers set off on holiday with either inadequate travel cover or no cover at all. Give or take, that equates to around 9.9 million people.

Don’t be one of them.

You can get all the cover you need for your holiday with World First. A policy starts from just a few pounds. And while nobody likes to think of the unexpected, knowing that you have the right cover allows you to enjoy your holiday with peace of mind.