When applying for a European Health Insurance Card many people will still remember the old E111 form. But what is, or should we say ‘was’, the E111?
Well back in the old days, the E111 was a large sheet of A4 paper which people had to write out before traveling abroad to Europe. You were required to take the form to your local Post Office upon completion and were then expected to carry the form around with you on holiday in case you needed to present it to show all relevant information to access free emergency health care or for a reduced cost. In other words, wherever you went, the large A4 sheet of paper came along with you. So you can imagine some of the states the E111 document would get in to when holiday goers were carrying them through Europe’s many holiday destinations. The E111 became ragged, often damaged and at times illegible to read.
What made things even more difficult was the fact that only one A4 E111 document was allowed per family. In other words, if several family members were going on holiday at the same time, which family member would hold the E111 and what if the person who didn’t have the E111 in their possession fell ill and needed to present it to the foreign European country’s health practice? The old E111 system was full of problems and something had to change to make the system more viable.
Fortunately for the millions of holiday goers who travel to Europe each year, somebody finally realised that an A4 sheet of paper wasn’t really the best of ideas. In 2006, the European Health Insurance Card came out to replace the old E111. The card was made available to everyone including children and unlike the old system, where one form covered an entire family, each applicant received their own individual card. The application process was transferred online to follow the global trend of doing everything online and made the whole application process a thousand times easier. Data necessary in completing a European Health Insurance Card application could be sent directly to the NHS in digital format without the need to walk down to your local Post Office.
European Health Insurance cards come with an expiry date. Recent statistics show that over five million cards expired last year. Please be vigilant of this and always make sure that you don’t end up travelling abroad with an expired European Health Insurance Card as you could ultimately end up being refused free healthcare or at a reduced cost.
If you would like to apply for the old E111’s replacement, you can do so online. An online application for a European Health Insurance Card can accommodate two adults (the main applicant and their partner) and up to four children. Upon approval, you can expect your European Health Insurance Card to arrive by post in three to ten working days.
