Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many times European Health Insurance Cards were used by UK citizens abroad in the past year.
There were 118,684 accepted claims when a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) was used, in the last 12 months.
There are 3,108,739 United Kingdom-issued EHICs in circulation for people aged over 70. This is based on cards which have not expired and the applicant’s age on the date the card was issued, and not their current age. EHICs are valid for five years after their issue date.
Information is not available on the number of times EHICs were used by UK citizens abroad to support the treatment of pre-existing conditions in the last year.