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European Health Insurance Card (EHIC)

What is the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) ?

What is it good for?

  • The purpose of the European Health Insurance Card is to facilitate access to health care when you are traveling in Europe. It allows you to have the same access to public health care as the citizens of the country you are visiting, thus enabling you to continue your stay instead of having to be evacuated. Any doctor, pharmacy, hospital or health care center in the public sector will accept the card, allowing you to be reimbursed either immediately, or after you return to your own country if the country you are staying in charges for health care. This card replaces the former European medical forms (E 110, E 119, E 128).

    • How much does it cost?

  • The card is available free of charge through your local health authority, as each country produces and distributes the EHIC in its own territory. The production of your card can take as many as several weeks. A provisional replacement certificate will be given to you should you require the EHIC on short notice.

    • What information is on the card?

  • The European Health Insurance Card does not contain any medical data. Only the cardholder's first name and surname, personal identification number and date of birth are included.

    • How can I get a European Health Insurance Card?

    Eligibility

  • You either have to be insured by or covered by a member state's social security system (EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland) or, if you are from a third-party country, you must be a resident in one of the EU Member States and covered by a state's social security program. Note that if you belong to the second group, you cannot use EHIC for medical treatments in Denmark and that Bulgarian and Romanian nationals cannot use their EHIC in Switzerland. Each family member needs to have their own card.

    • Where and when can I use the card?

  • The card is valid in the European Union's 27 Member States plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. The duration of its validity varies from one country to another. Its benefits do not apply if you want to be treated for an illness from which you were already suffering before you started to travel. Remember that it is only valid for health care in the public sector.

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