EHIC card

MicknVal
MicknVal Forum Participant Posts: 16

Whilst on holiday in France in  July I had to purchase medication,roughly £70.00 Submitted all the paper work & receipts to EHIC ,they acknowledged by e-mail 1/8/22.Heard nothing for 2 months ,so E-mail sent to them.It now appears all the paper work is sent to France to see if I am eligible for any monies back.If the French people have to pay for the same items so do I.If it is free then it is free to me.What is the point of the EHIC card? The reply from EHIC came on 4/10 22.

Comments

  • SteveL
    SteveL Club Member Posts: 12,300 ✭✭✭
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    edited October 2022 #2

    I understood that the EHIC or now GHIC covered you for medical treatments / medications that would normally be provided free to the citizens of the country you are visiting. That varies and some things / items are not provided free of charge. I would therefore have expected the response you received, but don’t think the time you have waited and still have to wait, acceptable. The point of the card is that it does cover you for a lot of things, just not all, and it shouldn’t be considered a replacement for health insurance.

  • Unknown
    Unknown Forum Participant
    edited October 2022 #3
    The user and all related content has been Deleted User
  • eurortraveller
    eurortraveller Club Member Posts: 6,828 ✭✭✭
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    edited October 2022 #4

    Micknval,  French citizens pay in full for prescription medication at the pharmacy and then can submit a claim for repayment from their health service.

    They may only get repayment of 15% of the cost back if the drug prescribed is considered to give only mild benefits, but then there is a sliding scale of increasing amounts which will be repaid for drugs considered to give greater benefits, or up to 100% if considered to be essential for life. Every drug has a figure attached to it.  The average amount repaid in France is 65% of the prescription cost. 

    Somewhere in France a clerk is checking your claim. Good luck.

     

     

  • DavidKlyne
    DavidKlyne Club Member Posts: 13,857 ✭✭✭
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    edited October 2022 #5

    I thought to make a claim in France for medical treatment you had to claim via the local Caisse Primaire d'Assurance Maladie in the area you were staying and they would send any money owing to you to your UK address? Medications usually have a peelable  vignette which you attach the the claim form or has it changed?

    David

  • MicknVal
    MicknVal Forum Participant Posts: 16
    edited October 2022 #6

    Dear [Deleted User User],thank you for your reply,Ihad read the info before &after the holiday,but it still should not taken this amount of time to let me know if I am to get any refund.

  • Unknown
    Unknown Forum Participant
    edited October 2022 #7
    The user and all related content has been Deleted User
  • vbfg
    vbfg Forum Participant Posts: 504
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    edited October 2022 #8

    It sounds like a very good system to me as so many people in the UK go to the doctors for a free prescription which they could obtain over the counter from a chemist, but simply don't want to pay for it.  

  • iansoady
    iansoady Club Member Posts: 419 ✭✭✭
    edited October 2022 #9

    You seem not to understand that most people have to pay a hefty sum (£9.35 per item)  for their prescriptions. Over the counter medicines such as paracetamol are far cheaper to buy direct. So I wonder where your information comes from.