New health card, EHIC prescribed in place of E111 |
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Thu, 18 Aug 2005 02:05
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The European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) application is now going to serve the purpose of the current and soon erstwhile E111 form.
Reminders are being sent out by the Post Office to travellers about the replacement of the E111 form by the new European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) application form, which will be sold across the country’s 14,600 Post Offices from September 1, 2005. The E111 form is expected to be withdrawn by January next year.
Fresh E111 forms will not be given out after 31 August 2005, even though present form holders will have their forms valid will 31 December, 2005. These four months of grace will help people transfer their policies comfortably. In addition, post offices are advising people who intend to travel to the European Economic Area (EEA) in 2006, to give an application for an EHIC much in advance.
Since the EHIC is a ‘direct replacement’ for the E111, it will be applicable across all EU countries. Besides, it will sanction the customer to receive essential health treatments during their travel to an EU country. However, the EHIC form is required to be sent straight away to the Health Department to be validated and distributed, which was not the case with the current E111. This is the reason why post offices are recommending prior applications for the EHICs.
The new European health insurance card displays the customer’s name, date of birth along with a personal identification number and particulars of the NHS and the Department of Health. Every EHIC will be applicable for a flexible time period after its issue, for round three to five years. All those who have already asked for the E111 form after 1 January 2005, will be sent the new EHIC before the current E111 card expires on 31 December 2005.
Meanwhile, once the EHICs become available from September 1, 2005, post offices will be providing an extra service called the Check & Send service to ensure accuracy and efficiency in completion of EHIC forms. Charging £2.00 for the service, an appointed staff will peruse through the forms and check mistakes so that all forms are despatched without errors.
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