FAQs - Your health insurance cover

Whenever certain conditions have to be fulfilled before you become entitled to health coverage, the national health insurance body examining your claim must take account of periods of insurance, residence or employment completed under the legislation of other EU countries. This ensures that you will not lose your healthcare coverage when changing jobs or moving to another country. For example, in some countries, you may only become entitled to healthcare after 6 months of insurance there. EU rules ensure that you will be entitled to sickness benefits from the beginning of your insurance period there if you had previously been covered for 6 months or more in any other EU country.

Apply for your EHIC in your home country, where you are insured and were given the S1 form.

As a cross-border worker, you can access healthcare either in the country where you live or in the country where you work. In many cases, it will be more practical for you to receive healthcare in the country where you work and where you spend most of your time.

When you are posted by your employer, or you post yourself as a self-employed person, to work in another EU country, you will remain covered by your home country. If you are moving to the country you are posted to, you will be covered in the country where you're working using the S1 form.

YES - in some cases. You can receive healthcare in both countries even after retiring if both your country of former employment and the country that is responsible for your healthcare coverage as a pensioner are among the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czechia, Germany, Greece, France, Hungary, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.
For further information, you should contact your national health insurance institution.

NO - Students going abroad to study temporarily can use the EHIC issued to them by their home country. So, you don't need to take out health insurance in the country where you're studying. However, you will need to take out health insurance in the country where you are studying if you:

• become permanently resident in the country where you're studying
• start working in the country where you are studying

The EHIC allows you to obtain any medical treatment that you need while you're temporarily staying in another EU country. It gives students access to whatever medical treatment is necessary, depending on the nature of the medical care and the expected length of time abroad. It's up to the healthcare provider to define what types of treatment are medically "necessary".
You should be aware that you can only use your EHIC with public healthcare providers, as it does not cover healthcare provided privately.

The country that is responsible for your healthcare is the country which pays your pension. If you receive a pension from more than one country and one of them is the country where you live, your country of residence will be responsible for your healthcare coverage, and that of your family members.
If you do not receive a pension or any other income from the country where you live, you and your family will receive medical treatment there if you would be entitled to medical treatment in the country that pays your pension. You should request an S1 form (former E106 form) from your health insurance provider in the country that pays your pension and register it in the country where you live.

As a pensioner settling in another EU country, you have full access to healthcare in your new country of residence, on the same terms as nationals of that country. You should ask for an S1 form (from your health insurance body) in the country that pays your pension. You should then register using this form with the health insurance body in your new country of residence.

You'll receive treatment as if you were insured in your new country of residence, under the same conditions as nationals there. But that doesn't necessarily mean you'll have access to exactly the same services as in your home country. Healthcare services differ significantly across the EU, as each country decides its healthcare system. Make sure you contact the relevant national authorities before moving abroad to ask for information about your rights and obligations in your new country of residence.

That depends on which country you are insured in (this can often be the country that is paying your pension). In principle, you can't go back to your home country for medical treatment you had access to before moving abroad permanently. However, some EU countries offer more favourable conditions to pensioners who have moved abroad.
If the country you remain subject to is one of the following, you are entitled to return there for treatment under the same conditions: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czechia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, or Switzerland.
If you travel to other countries or the country which you are insured in, you can use your EHIC to receive any medical treatment that becomes medically necessary during your stay there.