E111-UK Certificate of Healthcare Entitlement EU Member State - changes

[Boss Raptor]

Just renewed my E111 at the Post Office - the cert is now issued there and then by the Post Office and valid 'til end 2005 - the form details that during 2005 a new 'EHIC-European Health Insurance Card' will automatically be issued and posted to the recorded address if u wish (tick the box) - arguably worth getting ready/in line for...so renew your E111 now (worth having even if u have parallel insurance cover, would be easier to see a doctor etc. at short notice if u have the appropriate E111/EHIC I would think and you/we pay for it so claim it!)

Could say the negative is looks like yet another card to carry around - and it's being issued to all EU states apparently regardless of whether they already have ID cards or not (seems pointless to duplicate surely if u have an ID card then u have residency and so are entitled to healthcare)

[BEagle]

Perhaps more important to note that E111s issued before August-ish 2004 (you must check) are now no longer valid.

Another little plastic card coming? Oh good. Now, if we just had a 'basic' card with a smart chip which also held credit card details, driving licence details, medical details - and a photo for identification, wouldn't that be sooo much easier?

Oh no - 'infringement of civil liberties'! All the spongers and criminals would be disadvantaged, so we couldn't possibly have such a thing.....

[Boss Raptor]

My thoughts exactly - to duplicate where countries also have ID cards seems to totally negate UK Govt's constant excuse to issue ID Cards in first place, to stop benefit and health service entitlement fraud - if we have to have them then they should be a 'one stop shop'

Anyway for info...

No check on ID as part of application - only check apparently being you have to fill in yr NHS No. which they dont check at time of issue of new E111?!

Along with my EU Driving Licence where I have to carry another A4 sized sheet in addition to keep the UK happy (which the other day I gave with great pleasure to a plod folded to same size as card, think its 20 plus folds) - w!nkers is the word

[TheOddOne]

I now require 6 entirely separate photographic IDs whilst at work, to carry out my job. Bizarrely, the only 'IDs' I have that required me to take any kind of proficiency test, such as my driving licence, don't require a photo!

I also need to remember a growing list of PIN and passwords (including access to Pprune!)

Oh, yes, and one has to increasingly carry one's pasport around for routine identification. Certainly we can't get even legitimate business visitors airside unless they remember to bring it with them.

Good advice about the E111.

Cheers,
TheOddOne

[brockenspectre]

Waptor thanks for that info - it is many years since I got my E111 and have religiously kept it folded as small as possible and carried it with me when visiting Europe (although I do have an annual worldwide travel insurance policy) ... from this thread I now know my rather tattered form is no longer valid (how would I have found out?) but that I need to get a new one!

As a rider q though - if one does have an annual policy what additional benefit is the E111?

[Boss Raptor]

Amazingly enough aside of claiming direct yr rights to healthcare in EU the leaflet with the E111 details the reciprocal arrangements outside EU I never even thought of;

full doctor/hospital cover with the E111 in Russia and Romania without having to claim back (which I never knew), Barbados etc. etc. - I have insurance in parallel to this anyway...but if I am already paying then I am taking

yr insurance policy you have to claim any charges back and does not necessarily cover primary health care unlike the E111 and reciprocal rights as per the details in the leaflet.

So I can be knocked over in Russia and not pay a penny (except my additional insurance will cover repatriation)

[Evening Star]

So I can be knocked over in Russia and not pay a penny

That is the theory ... you know better than me the reality! Also feel much more comfortable with the insurance in parallel.

That aside, thank you for the useful information about the E111. Off to the Post office now.

[PAXboy]

So I can be knocked over in Russia and not pay a penny

Boss: Don't forget to ensure that you are knocked down by an officially certified Knocker Downer. Some of them are only permitted to knock down local citizens and have not yet passed the higher certificate for Knocking Down foreigners.

A word of advice, as soon as you have been knocked down, you should check their license and Photo ID.
--------------------
"I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you any different." Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

[barry lloyd]

E 111

As someone who has had first hand experience of the Russian health system - I was helping a colleague who had liver & kidney problems - I can say only good things about them. A short delay before seeing a doctor (in an emergency hospital), a quick and accurate diagnosis of the problem, and suitable treatment which cleared up the basic problem in about a week. The whole set-up was a little primitive (but efficient), and they didn't seem to care much about the E111 once they'd seen his (British) passport, and there were no costs apart from buying his food, and some (small) presents for the hospital staff. This is normal, even for Russians.
As an aside, Russians in the UK are only allowed the minimum of treatment before they have to pay.

Useful information - I haven't heard this elsewhere. Must go to the PO to have my E111 stamped, if only I can find one that hasn't been shut down!

[Boss Raptor]

Yep me too - I collapsed at work in Moscow, turned out to be dehydration and fatigue, got fantastic treatment from casualty, blood tests, x-rays, right thru to my 36 hours in hospital on a drip under observation in a public ward...and didnt pay or get asked for a penny...I did feel the stay was un-necessary but then I am not one to complain and after all I am used to the get you in get you out quick approach of todays' British hospital system...did later donate Lego to their Childrens Ward

Also been treated in a Czech and Hungarian hospitals before they joined EU (under bilateral agreement) and no charge and in both cases the hospital and nursing was far better than I have ever seen in the UK...

PS. certainly not suggesting an E111 should negate running insurance in parallel which I do also

[Evening Star]

Russian health care

Hmmmm, looks like my experience was a bad example (not Moscow if that possibly makes a difference).

Furthermore, Mrs ES is particularly uncomplimentary of the NHS compared with the Russian health care system, so maybe I should learn to keep my trap shut.