Covid19 and EHIC

Coronavirus is something none of us had heard about six months ago, but which now dominates daily life. Travel for many people is off the agenda for the foreseeable future, but there is going to be a time when we all start to travel again. There are also many British people living elsewhere in Europe or further afield who have chosen to stay where they are and ride out the pandemic. If you do fall ill overseas and suspect you are suffering from coronavirus, then don’t automatically assume that you can rely on your insurance policy. Many large insurers are refusing to pay out for any coronavirus related claims for any policy bought after the middle of March. Luckily, many trips out of the UK will still be covered under the EHIC scheme.

What is EHIC?

EHIC – the European Health Insurance Card – is a EU scheme. Although the UK left the EU at the end of January, we are still in the transition period and entitlement continues. The idea behind EHIC is that holders can use state healthcare across the European Union plus Iceland, Norway and Switzerland, on the same basis as locals. There are fewer limits on the cover, and EHIC will also cover both pre-existing medical conditions, and epidemics such as Covid 19 which are widespread across the continent. It won’t cover treatment where the sole purpose of travel was to “shop around