Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much the NHS paid out in reimbursement for the use of European Health Insurance Cards by UK citizens overseas in each of the last five years.
Under European Union Regulations, other Economic European Area (EEA) countries and Switzerland reimburse the United Kingdom for the cost of the National Health Service providing treatment to people they are responsible for under EU law, including UK nationals insured in another EEA country or Switzerland. In the same way, the UK Government reimburses other EEA countries and Switzerland for the cost of providing treatment to people we are responsible for under EU law, irrespective of nationality.
It is not possible to separate out claims to the UK from other EEA countries solely linked to European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) usage. Claims to the and by the UK, for treatment relating to EHICs, are included in a larger category which also includes pre-authorised planned treatments and coverage for posted and frontier workers. Note that Member States, including the UK, can submit claims up to 18 months in arrears so claims for any 12 month period do not necessarily reflect treatment provided in that period.
Requested figures are provided in the attached document.