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Fury as Spain charges Britons for health care
– Reported, July 13 2013
Spain is in trouble with the European Commission because some hospitals are refusing to recognise the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) which Britons carry in the expectation of obtaining free medical treatment.
The card is supposed to entitle holidaymakers from other EU countries to free care in public hospitals. But according to the Commission, a growing number of tourists have had their cards rejected by Spanish hospitals and had to pay up. Staff have told them to claim on their travel insurance.
The card is intended to ensure holidaymakers receive the same healthcare access as residents of the country they are visiting, including GP visits, prescriptions and hospital stays.
The care is not always free, but should be provided on the same basis as to local people. The Commission has received hundreds of complaints from tourists in Spain.
It says the much higher cost of private treatment is being passed on to the travel insurance companies or, increasingly, is being billed to the citizens directly. When asked about the dispute with the Commission, the Spanish health ministry said the EHIC has worked properly in Spain for years and argued that there was no proof of the allegations.
The problem, says Mandy Aitchison, editor of the International Travel Insurance Journal, is probably due to the sheer volume of visitors to Spain. She said the EHIC doesnt work particularly well for Spanish hospitals and added: They have ended up employing third-party private companies, which work on their behalf to try and recover the cost of treating lots and lots of foreigners.
Credits: http://www.express.co.uk/
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