Like you, there may be hundreds who would love to ask these question. Well, every insurance comes with an expiry date. Therefore, there’s no scope for doubting the reason behind renewing your EHIC card, especially when you planning a trip to the European countries. On top of it, when you have EHIC card on your side, you will get a privileged treatment at the state healthcare services. Having said that, we mean, you will get either free or a subsidised treatment in the European countries.
The onus to mention that EHIC stands for European Health Insurance Card. People who ever had an experience of dealing some issues related to health while touring would never question the need for EHIC card renewal. After all, it pays to be safe and secured outside your homeland. Therefore, EHIC card is something like taking a precaution against the unforeseen circumstances that you may be subjected to there on the foreign land.
All those put together indicates the importance of renewing your existing EHIC card. But, if you are the first timer here, you must know the basics of the procedure with a view to minimising your pains of buying the best insurance that your money can buy. In other words, knowledge is power to you. As such, a complete understanding of the renewal process will help you expedite the renewal or maybe you would be able to buy the best insurance for yourself this time. However, it is important to mention that EHIC isn’t a replacement for your travel insurance.
Key areas for renewing your EHIC card:
- Free application: Though some organisation may offer you to assist you in the EHIC card renewal application and ask for service charge, you should know that you can do it on your own for free of cost.
- Personal data: While applying for the renewal of your EHIC card, you have to provide your complete personal data such as the complete name and address, date of birth, CHI (applicable for the applicants from Scotland) or Health and Care Number (applicable for the applicants from Northern Ireland), and NHS or National Insurance number (applicable for the people applying from England and Wales).
- Application process: You can either apply online or through the post. However, online application facility isn’t open to all. Having said that, we mean, people applying online for the EHIC card or its renewal must be from Switzerland, UK, or EEA.
In short, EHIC card renewal is a part of your travel plan and you must not ignore it at the cost of your life. Your travel planning should essentially start with the renewal of the EHIC card. If you go the other way round, chances are high that you may not get the renewed card on time thereby your entire travel itinerary will go haywire. In other words, renew your EHIC card in the first place and then plan your travel schedule. The onus to mention, this card comes with a validity period and thus, you are free to plan the beginning and end of your tour accordingly.
