# Health care/ EHIC query



## Paphos00 (Nov 14, 2013)

Due to fly out on the 27th Sept on our one way ticket very excited. We are just about to de register with the NHS.
Our one concern is if we are taken ill before we can get our private health insurance and our yellow slip can we use our EHIC card for treatment for that interim period from leaving the UK to getting private health insurance or will we have to register with a doctor there has been so many rule changes its become very confusing. Certainly don't want to to anything we shouldn't.
Cheers 
Marion


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## David_&_Letitia (Jul 8, 2012)

Paphos00 said:


> Due to fly out on the 27th Sept on our one way ticket very excited. We are just about to de register with the NHS.
> Our one concern is if we are taken ill before we can get our private health insurance and our yellow slip can we use our EHIC card for treatment for that interim period from leaving the UK to getting private health insurance or will we have to register with a doctor there has been so many rule changes its become very confusing. Certainly don't want to to anything we shouldn't.
> Cheers
> Marion


If you are not of UK State pension age (and therefore unable to get a S1 form), there is absolutely no advantage to you of de registering from the NHS. As you have indicated, if you do, you will fall into a black hole, where you will not have any health over whatsoever for a few months.


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## David_&_Letitia (Jul 8, 2012)

Here is a post from RMcC which illustrates the danger of de-registering, taken from the thread:

http://www.expatforum.com/expats/cy...iving-cyprus/795961-medical-requirements.html

I have emboldened the particularly relevant part.



RMcC said:


> We are currently trying to source medical insurance for us both to meet the rules for immigration. we have encountered a few problems that we could or did not forsee and it has left us in a bit of a worrying position.
> 
> The insurance company have insisted that Mildred has a further chest xray in 3-6 months time as a very small and insignificant( radioligist words not mine) amount of fluid was detected in one of her lungs. The insurance company will not provide cover until she has a chest xray in 3 months showing this has cleared up. I have requested they confirm Mildreds insurance and treat the fluid as a pre exsisting condition but at present they are refusing.
> I have been asked to have an ultrasound scan to confirm what the doctor stated as abnormal hardness in my lower abdomen, I suspect this is scar tissue from the keyhole entry point of my prostate surgery 2 years ago.
> ...


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## expatme (Dec 4, 2013)

the EHIC will cover you for ALL emergency treatment only.


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## Baywatch (Mar 30, 2014)

expatme said:


> the EHIC will cover you for ALL emergency treatment only.


And only as long as you are registered with NHS. Many now write in different forums that they have ended up paying for treatment themselves because NHS has refused to pay the bill from the Cyprus hospital because the user was unregistered by NHS


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## Paphos00 (Nov 14, 2013)

David_&_Letitia said:


> Here is a post from RMcC which illustrates the danger of de-registering, taken from the thread:
> 
> http://www.expatforum.com/expats/cy...iving-cyprus/795961-medical-requirements.html
> 
> I have emboldened the particularly relevant part.


I remember reading this awhile ago this is one of the reasons I asked.
There is certainly a flaw in the system somewhere. 
We are not of pensionable age as yet. I am 59 and my husband will be 64 next February so not to long until we are totally covered by the S1 form . 
We will be taking out private health cover and we have factored this into our move but we don't want to be left in this black hole. 
Has anyone actually used their UK EHIC card in our position and were any questions asked when they did 
We certainly don't intent to abuse the system but just want to have some peace of mind in between arriving in Cyprus and obtaining our Private Health insurance.
I am sure that most expats that have retired and have not been in receipt of a UK state pension have had this problem to deal with. The way things are at the moment I don't think we will shoot ourselves in the foot and de-register from the NHS.


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## David_&_Letitia (Jul 8, 2012)

Paphos00 said:


> Has anyone actually used their UK EHIC card in our position and were any questions asked when they did
> We certainly don't intent to abuse the system but just want to have some peace of mind in between arriving in Cyprus and obtaining our Private Health insurance.
> I am sure that most expats that have retired and have not been in receipt of a UK state pension have had this problem to deal with. The way things are at the moment I don't think we will shoot ourselves in the foot and de-register from the NHS.


I am 60 and Letitia is 58, so we are not entitled to S1 cover yet. We did NOT de-register ourselves from the NHS and therefore retained valid EHICs. The 'rules' which require de-registering, make no provision for the black hole created for people in between de-registering from the NHS and successfully obtaining private medical insurance. I would very strongly advise you, therefore, not to de-register until you absolutely have to (ie when applying for S1). I have no moral compunction with this - I paid NI contributions since the age of 16 until retirement (44 years). Despite this, in theory, am no longer entitled to NHS care, yet an immigrant to the UK with no contribution history whatsoever is seemingly entitled to NHS care after 12 weeks residence! This cannot be right.

We have been covered by private medical insurance since Jan this year.

A couple of months ago, after dropping a Pyrex jug on her ankle (and thinking that it may be broken), I took Letitia to Polis Hospital A&E. Emergency cover *should* be available to everyone (on payment of €6). The only documentation I was asked for was her EHIC which I was able to provide. I _*could*_ have taken her to a private hospital here, paid the appropriate fee and claimed it back from our insurers, but I chose not to do that. However, I did use the private hospital for the check-up 3 days after the visit to A&E, but did not bother claiming the €90 charge (X Ray and Private Consultant fees) as I suspect that it will be more beneficial to build up a no claims bonus on renewal next year.


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## David_&_Letitia (Jul 8, 2012)

As an afterthought, you have up to 90 days to apply for residency in Cyprus.

If you did as many others currently do, and travelled to Cyprus for extended holidays of 3 months at a time, there would be no need to de-register from the NHS, no need to apply for residency and every right to use the EHIC for emergency cover. Who is to say - before you actually apply for residency - that you are not putting a toe in the water to check if the move is 'right' for you?


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## southcoastlady (Apr 18, 2015)

David_&_Letitia said:


> As an afterthought, you have up to 90 days to apply for residency in Cyprus.
> 
> If you did as many others currently do, and travelled to Cyprus for extended holidays of 3 months at a time, there would be no need to de-register from the NHS, no need to apply for residency and every right to use the EHIC for emergency cover. Who is to say - before you actually apply for residency - that you are not putting a toe in the water to check if the move is 'right' for you?


Don't forget if you visit the hospital as an emergency you have to be out of hours of the doctors and pay 10 euros.


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## Paphos00 (Nov 14, 2013)

David_&_Letitia said:


> I am 60 and Letitia is 58, so we are not entitled to S1 cover yet. We did NOT de-register ourselves from the NHS and therefore retained valid EHICs. The 'rules' which require de-registering, make no provision for the black hole created for people in between de-registering from the NHS and successfully obtaining private medical insurance. I would very strongly advise you, therefore, not to de-register until you absolutely have to (ie when applying for S1). I have no moral compunction with this - I paid NI contributions since the age of 16 until retirement (44 years). Despite this, in theory, am no longer entitled to NHS care, yet an immigrant to the UK with no contribution history whatsoever is seemingly entitled to NHS care after 12 weeks residence! This cannot be right.
> 
> We have been covered by private medical insurance since Jan this year.
> 
> ...


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## PeteandSylv (Sep 24, 2008)

Paphos00 said:


> Like you we have paid into the system for over 40 years why should we be abandoned by the same system just because we have moved address we certainly are not asking for handouts just a little fairness until we get ourselves sorted.


I completely agree and fell foul of the system some years ago.

Sadly few people realise that NI contributions in the UK go to 2 funds. The first is pension which accumulates against your name. At the appropriate time if you have not paid in enough you will be asked if you wish to top up for a full pension. The second fund goes to NHS healthcare and is run by the government like an insurance policy so you must have paid a qualifying amount over a short recent period to gain benefits. If you have not the rules say you will be cut off. There is no means to top-up missing payments and the previous number of years contributions are considered only applicable to those years.

One of the inequities from the system is that benefit scroungers have their NI paid for them and remain up to date while people taking early retirement having worked all their lives can find the gap in the contributions leaves them excluded.

It is a grossly unfair system particularly as no government has ever ring-fenced NI contributions and they are just considered a tax income. That is why there is a vast pension shortfall for the ageing population and the retirement age keeps being put up.

Would it be too cynical to say retired people are worth more to the government dead?

Pete


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