Using EHIC Card aboroad - beware

[wooslehunter]

Following on from the thread on renewing the EHIC, I though I'd post this warning.

A few years ago #2 son injured his knee skiing in france. We had it sorted at the town health centre which was the only place we could go. We showed the EHIC but were still charged & told to claim back on once we returned to the UK which we did. It took around 6 months to sort & when we got the refund it was only around half what we had paid.

In France, there are fixed fees for treatments, drugs, bandages etc. But some doctors can charge more. If they do you only get back what the fixed fees add up to. Ski resort docs especially are notorious for charging more even if they in the municipal health centre.

I wouldn't be surprised to see other countries having similar arrangements.

The system works such that you get the same treatment as a local since the refund comes from the country that provided the treatment & not from the NHS. So if you're a visitor to a country that has a far better system then you own you will get cheaper treatment than you will at home. Yet another hidden way the UK pays France perhaps. A french boy visiting the UK would have had completely free treatment at an NHS hospital but an english boy visiting France would not.

So if you get treated abroad & use the EHIC, make sure you also contact your insurance company. They should cough up for the difference provided you you contact them as soon as you can rather than waiting for the refund to arrive which could take months.

 

[capnsensible]

My wife was helping me pull a jetski onto a pontoon. The rope snapped, she went flying and broke the bone joining leg to hip. She had 10 days in hospital, rehab and more, all on the card. Excellent service, Lanzarote. 4 years ago.

 

[vyv_cox]

Two years ago I had a hernia operation in Leros, Greece. EHIC took care of every part of it except dressings clinic afterwards, for which I paid, along with everyone else, €3 per session.

 

[SimbaDog]

The OP is spot on, visit a medical centre/doctor whilst on holiday in France & you will end up out of pocket unless you convince your insurers to pay out.
It's one rule for the French & one for us, as usual

 

[youen]

InFrance there is 2 sort of doctors; the secteur 1 the price asked are the prices which are recognised by the French NHS and normally you are totally reimbursed excepted perhaps 20 per cents and for that 20 per cent you need a private insurance
The secteur 2: those doctors charge more than the price recognized by the NHS and you are not reimbursed by the Nhs for the price overcharged
So for a British people the best way to be sure to be not overcharged is to go in a public hospital ,if you go to a doctor normally he must tell you if he overcharge and how much and at the entrance of his office there is board telling if is secteur 1or2.The majority of the GP are secteur 1

 

[lustyd]

This isn't a surprise. Next time you renew the ehic read the literature they send you it explains all of this including that you still need medical insurance.

 

[jordanbasset]

Have used medical services in Spain and Greece, used the EHIC card, no problems. Think we had to pay about 10 euros for a prescription but that was about it.
We are careful to ensure we go to public hospitals/Doctors rather than the private ones you see advertised in some tourist resorts. Normally easy to tell this as they have large signs saying 'English Spoken'

 

[footsoldier]

It's one rule for the French & one for us, as usual

And why not? The French, like most other countries, do not see that they have any responsibility to provide free medical treatment for people who are not their citizens - unlike in the UK, where the NHS over-stretch is primarily caused by hordes of foreign-born patients who have contributed nothing to its cost.

As lustyd points out, the availability/limitations on free treatment abroad are explained in detail in the EHIC documentation. For the record, in November my wife was rushed into hospital in France with severe respiratory problems. She received prompt and excellent care, far superior to what would have been provided by the chaotic NHS, and the EHIC was accepted without question. The only cost incurred was for post-discharge medication from the pharmacy, which we could re-claim, but can't be bothered.

 

[SimbaDog]

I guess that the majority of people laying there in agony with a broken leg won't have been as clever as you & have read all the EHIC small print, they will simply accept whatever medical help is on offer!
I fail to see why you think it is acceptable that a British person in that situation will probably end up paying when their French counterpart on holiday here, won't.

 

[wooslehunter]

Interesting what people say on this. Seems it's the French again. We found out about the Secteur 1/2 issue while we were trying to claim. The problem was that there were no Sectuer 1 docs in the resort as far as we knew.

Having said that, I fully agree with footsoldier. A mate's swmbo suffered a heart problem in France a few years ago & had absolutely excellent treatment.

 

[Tranona]

I guess that the majority of people laying there in agony with a broken leg won't have been as clever as you & have read all the EHIC small print, they will simply accept whatever medical help is on offer!
I fail to see why you think it is acceptable that a British person in that situation will probably end up paying when their French counterpart on holiday here, won't.

Think you misunderstand the EHIC. It does not entitle you to the same benefits that you get in your home country (ie UK) but the standard benefits available in the country of treatment. So, in France British people and French people are threated equally. In Uk French people are treated the same way as British people. How could it be otherwise? - unless you think Britih people should receive superior treatment to French people in France!

 

[footsoldier]

I fail to see why you think it is acceptable that a British person in that situation will probably end up paying when their French counterpart on holiday here, won't.

I think that is probably the point I was making. Why the hell should some French citizen have to pay for your broken leg?

We are the ones out of step, with our unique and ill-conceived NHS which provides treatment for anyone and everyone regardless of whether they are a "member" or not. It is only in the UK that people have this strange belief that healthcare is "free" for all-comers. Of course, healthcare is not free - it is hugely expensive, and in the UK that cost is being borne by an ever-diminishing group of people, the registered UK citizens who pay tax and N.I.

A Frenchman has made provision for healthcare- variously through his taxes and through his "mutual" and/or insurance. If he breaks a leg - whether in France or some other country - he expects there to be a bill at the end, which will be met by his relevant provider. He is accustomed to sorting out his own medical bills, but not surprisingly, he doesn't expect to have to pay your bill too if you break a leg in France. It is only in the UK that he will not be given a bill at the end of his treatment. If he was, he would cheerfully pass it on to his State fund or to his mutual. It is the particular madness of the NHS that we do not charge him.

As it happens, because we have a reciprocal agreement, the bulk of any medical charges incurred in France by a UK citizen are covered, without payment up-front, by his EH1C. It is still "free" in that misleading sense, but eventually charged to his own insurance scheme, the NHS, not to the French taxpayer.

 

[youen]

Yes there is a problem in France there are more and more doctors particulary specialists and surgeons who are "secteur 2".All the young doctors choose to be "2" because the fees offers by the French nhs are too low.In certain area particulary Paris and the Sout East (paca)you cannot find doctor "1" and you have to pay more.If you go to the public hospital in emergency normally its free.

 

[Babylon]

... unlike in the UK, where the NHS over-stretch is primarily caused by hordes of foreign-born patients who have contributed nothing to its cost.

What a ridiculous statement. Can you back it up with statistical information?

I'm foreign-born - albeit that I have never been part of any 'horde' - and have been paying the same taxes and NI contributions as my British-born counterparts for the last 31 years. When I've had to go into my regional hospital (eg maternity, A&E, specialist units, etc) I see a minority of people who are clearly not from Anglo-Saxon, Celtic or Norman bloodlines. Some of these are doctors, some are nurses, some administrative or maintenance staff, and some are people in need of medical care. The vast majority of all these people are, however, British.

I don't aspire to be your sort of 'British'.

 

[alan_d]

- unlike in the UK, where the NHS over-stretch is primarily caused by hordes of foreign-born patients who have contributed nothing to its cost.

And your evidence for that claim is ...?