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18-04-2023

Have you thought about everything when going on a trip? This document must travel with you

Iliustracija

European Health Insurance Card guarantees free emergency medical aid for Lithuanian residents insured with Compulsory Health Insurance while visiting European countries. Inga Češulienė, residing in Ignalina, has experienced this on many occasions, she agreed to share how this card helped in critical situations to her family and other cycling enthusiasts.

Learned from her colleague’s misfortune

Ignalina resident, a former professional athlete who trains children now, wants to point out that European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) or a temporary replacement certificate is really useful when travelling.

“For a reason, that athletes must be insured against injuries and accidents, most of them believed that this type of insurance is sufficient when going abroad. Thus, the majority did not have the card. But after one accident in Poland some time ago, we were all warned that, if going abroad, European Health Insurance Card shall be collected at the health insurance fund,” states I. Češulienė.

A woman recalls the situation when she went to a hospital in Poland with an injured cyclist who submitted evidence to the staff about insurance against injuries and accidents, however, emergency medical aid was not provided to her. The injured person even spent several hours in the Emergency Department. It was found out that doctors will examine the girl for free only when she provides a document granting the right to receive emergency medical aid, which will be paid for our country’s health insurance fund. Hence, emergency aid was provided only when the girl received this document from Lithuania.

A former athlete mentions a similar case in Netherlands. Therefore, she and her children have EHIC, also, she responsibly checks the validity of cards. She has recently noticed that her son’s card was about to expire and has hurried into the room of a representative of Panevėžys territorial health insurance fund in her city to get a new one. And her daughter has used EHIC when visiting Spain. According to a woman, there were no problems then and her daughter received emergency medical aid for free.

A cycling representative is encouraged by such experience to constantly remind to the children being trained that, before going on a trip, it is necessary to take EHIC. Because, according to her, you never know what may happen on the trip.

Some don’t collect, others don’t present

Specialists of the health insurance fund are pleased that residents understand the importance of EHIC more and more, however, misunderstandings still occur. There are some cases when application for EHIC was submitted by the Internet but the card was not collected. People think that it is enough to receive a confirmation by e-mail about ordered card and they do not need to collect the card. It is assumed that once the card has been issued, it is automatically valid. Another problem is that a part of the residents does not present their card to foreign treatment institutions even though they have it. It is also thought that having EHIC through the issuing institution automatically solves the matter for compensation of services.

Specialists of the health insurance funds remind travelers that data on the obtained EHIC are not automatically entered into the databases of foreign treatment institutions, therefore, it is not only necessary to have EHIC with you, but also to present it, so that EU foreign treatment institutions would not ask the patients to pay for provided emergency medical aid services.

Also, it was noticed that citizens collect old EHIC cards and take them on trips without thinking. If such a card is presented in a foreign treatment institution, they would have to pay for emergency medical aid by themselves, and only later costs could be reimbursed.

Bills for EUR 18 million have been paid

According to the data of the National Health Insurance Fund, last year, health insurance funds have issued almost 218 thousand EHIC and almost 35 thousand replacement certificates to the residents.

Last year, EUR 18 million was taken from the Compulsory Health Insurance Fund to pay the bills for Lithuanian insured persons in the European Union, European Economic Area countries, Switzerland and the United Kingdom for provided emergency medical aid services on the basis of submitted EHIC and certificates.

The largest amount – almost EUR 6 million – was paid for emergency aid provided to Lithuanians in Germany.

Around EUR 1.7 million was paid for emergency medical aid provided to Lithuanian insured persons, who visited France, EUR 1.3 million – Sweden, EUR 1.2 million – Belgium.

For more information about the provision of emergency medical aid in foreign countries, click here.

(Piktochart photo)

Panevėžys THIF information

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Last updated: 09-08-2023

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