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The impact of Brexit on people travelling to Europe with pre-existing health conditions

Published: Mon, 4th January 2021, 01:30:00 PM

Further to our previous guidance posted in November 2020, we are pleased to advise that the recently announced ‘Brexit deal’ accommodates ongoing reciprocal arrangements for emergency healthcare for travellers with in the EU (this also extends to Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland).

As a result you should continue to take your EHIC (European Healthcare Insurance Card) with you when you travel until your card expires. The UK government intends to issue its own international health card which should be available when exiting EHICs expire.

The significance of these reciprocal arrangements is that pre-existing health conditions will be covered; something which many travel insurances do not necessarily provide. Nevertheless the government’s clear advice is that travellers should always additionally take out adequate travel insurance which typically covers a range of non-healthcare related circumstances, and may provide extra healthcare cover such as emergency repatriation.

Please see https://www.gov.uk/guidance/foreign-travel-insurance for further information.

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