The online system to apply for a European Health Insurance Card is a lot faster than all of the alternatives. It allows people to just download all the applications, the list of supporting documents, fill them out and submit them whenever convenient. Furthermore, the backend handles all the work and would provide a due date when the applicant would be able to collect their EHIC Card. On the best case, the card takes about a week to be processed, otherwise, it would not take more than a month. The process is rather straight forward and the specific documents needed are quite common to get your hands on.
What is an EHIC Card?
An EHIC Card is a document that allows people from the UK to travel between countries in the EU without worrying about falling sick. It backs up their insurance company through the statutory social security scheme to allow people these benefits throughout all the countries that are connected to the scheme.
The main purpose of the card was to allow people to travel without them having to worry about sickness or having to make a hospital visit, either for a one-off thing or for a recurring medical condition. The card has to be accompanied with identification so as the hospital or the place where the person is getting their medical help would be able to identify them.
What are the benefits of getting an EHIC Card?
The EHIC process takes a few minutes to solve, especially if it is being handled online and not through the previous method of having to make multiple visits to the office. Furthermore, health care is generally getting expensive and the slightest issues could mean shelling out a lot of money.
Getting the EHIC card has no downsides and would allow the people who have applied for them to travel across the country, without the stress of getting ill or the medical care that they might need when travelling. Certain countries provide their citizens with the EHIC benefits without them having to make the card, and if you are a citizen from one of these countries, you can use your passport as your identity.
Many people believe that they would not need an EHIC card if they have health insurance. This is true for the country that you are living in and have the insurance for. Additionally, some insurance companies insure their clients in other countries, however, all do not. If an individual does have insurance, they should double-check the places that the company covers and accordingly, apply for an EHIC.
The card is free and would not take more than a few minutes to apply for. The card would help with medical expenses in other countries if the need does arise which seems like a wise solution.
If an applicant happens to lose their card, they would be able to get it cancelled by calling on the number. This can be a bit tricky when they are travelling but is not difficult to handle since the toll-free number is always accessible.
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