You sure about that mate? I was in a Spanish hospital a couple of decades back, the first thing that happened before the doctor arrived and the ambulance took me to hospital, was to check your insurance details. You could have the immediate required care, but after that certain protocols had to follow. I remember my other half telling me, that as soon as we arrived at the hospital she was charged, I believe it was a small fee but it was still payable. Maybe it was because it was a private hospital, so I think the term free is used very loosely if it is. Especially as most travellers are advised to take out travel insurance, when we were a member of the EU. Then once you are stable, they then need reports from your doctor, to check the condition was not something you had not declared. So my experience is it is not free, but I could have been exception to the rule because of how urgent it was and where I ended up as in particular hospital, but I'm sure I've read in the past similar stories, well before 2016, by at least a decade. No insurance, no care was always my understanding, the health card only offered very basic care, so it was always recommended to take health insurance with you.
I agree and I always advised people they should take it. It was ridiculous how many people didn't then ran into problems, while we were still a member of the EU, so to say it was free is rather misleading. It could have been but certainly not the experience I knew nor the experience of people whose stories I'd read. Maybe basic care, but lets stress what was actually free rather than mislead people, not that it matters anymore.
I’ve got one of these. They are free and they entitle you to state healthcare in Europe and a lot of countries aligned with the UK. It entitles you to the same level of cover that a resident of that county gets. But I always take out travel insurance and I agree it should be mandatory.
So why are we still not going after these bankers, corporations and billionaires? From what I've seen we've taken away winter fuel allowances, attacked the people on benefits, raised the NI on employers which has now ****ed hospitality, but I'm still not seeing a single billionaire targeted and instead of getting tough on banks, we have gone about (under Labour) relaxing certain checks that were brought in as safe guards after the financial crash.
I had one of those, I've always had one of those. My insurance company paid, it wasn't free for me at any stage.
Yeah it’s **** mate. We should absolutely be going after the wealthy corporations and billionaires who dodge their taxes. But they won’t because they are basically owned by these people, who threaten to withdraw their investment if they get clobbered
It’s free now. You can apply for one on the nhs website. https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/he...-a-free-uk-global-health-insurance-card-ghic/
You used to be told the problems going after them, and say **** them, let them leave. It seems words are great but actually applying those words in reality is nowt but fairy stories.
I think there’s more they could do, without them actually upping sticks and leaving. Like you say, they will clobber the poor, so why not the rich ?
I've always thought that if you can't afford travel insurance then you can't afford to travel. It's generally cheap as chips anyway, even for a high level of cover including extra activities eg snorkelling, quad biking etc
What you get for free and what is applied in reality are two different things. As I said, I've always had one of those cards, when in the EU and out of it. The hospital was aware I had one of those cards while in the EU.
It is cheap as chips or use to be, but people trying to claim it was free when in the EU was not my experience. I think it's the basic of care if it was free, certainly not something for long term hospital stays and worth remembering if you need to be flown back home, the health care will not cover that. So to go without insurance would be very foolish, and knowing you've got insurance makes the free bit a misnomer or a very risky route to take.
There was a girl down here whose family had set up a go fund me, because she had a moped accident in Thailand and smashed herself up badly. She had travel insurance, but she did not have a moped licence so she wasn’t covered. She needed an operation and broken bones fixing etc and the bill was something like £80k. The family were saying it was unfair that they’d been saddled with such a huge bill and they were upset that their daughter wasn’t treated until they’d paid at least £20k up front. I felt for the family, and kids will be kids taking risks on holiday. But ultimately they were responsible for that bill
Oh my! https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdd32lnq445o ... and some people think clowns like this should be running the country
Yeah I meant the insurance cover is free. I think it’s down to the county’s rules about whether you have to pay or not, but it entitles you to the same level of cover as a resident.
