An EHIC or European Health Insurance Card grants you easy access to state-offered healthcare and medical attention while you are temporarily staying in any of the EEA countries and even if you are staying in Switzerland. As a cardholder, you can avail medically essential treatment cover until the time you are scheduled to get back home from your vacation. One of the best features of this card is that it entitles you to the same treatment level or quality that is offered to the local residents of the EEA countries and to the residents of Switzerland. This makes the card one of the most credible additions to your traveling and vacationing lifestyle. The EHIC also covers maternity care and pre-existing medical conditions ensuring that the holders are always covered when they are in the European countries no matter what goes wrong.
Eligibility For The EHIC Card
Prior to understanding the European health card renewal procedure, it is important for people to understand the eligibility criteria for the card. Eligibility for applying for an EHIC is completely dependent on insurability as per the EU law. It has nothing to do with the nationality of the card applicant as a European citizen. In the United Kingdom, a residency-based healthcare mechanism is used by way of which your eligibility for EHIC renewal is determined by your residency in the UK. It has nothing to do with the current or past payments of UK taxes or national insurance. Ordinary residents of the United Kingdom are entitled to the EHIC card only if they are not insured by some other EEA country. Hence, if you happen to be insured by some other EEA country but you are still a UK resident, you would not be eligible for your EU health card. In this case, it gets important for you to get in touch with the members of appropriate authority in your country for placing a request for your EHIC.
The Limitations
If you are the member of a family then you must definitely apply for EHIC and even go for European health card renewal. It is also important for you to note that you have the flexibility of applying for the card on behalf of your children who are below 16 years of age and also on behalf of your spouse. Note that if you or any of your family members are not Swiss or EEA nationals, you have the obligation of providing proper and extra evidence for proving your entitlement to the EHIC. Moreover, if you get state pension in the UK or any kind of exportable benefit in the UK, you are entitled to the EU health insurance card despite the fact that you are living in some other EEA country or in Switzerland.
How To Go About Renewing Your EHIC Card?
European health card renewal procedure is quite simple. You are eligible for the renewal within six months of the expiry of the current card possessed by you. However, it would be better for you to go for the renewal before the expiry of your card.
Just as you can apply for an EHIC online through appropriate sources, in the same way, you can even apply for EHIC renewal at trustworthy sources.
