Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many European Health Insurance Cards they have issued to citizens of each European Economic Area country in each of the last five years.

The Government does not hold the information requested.

The United Kingdom European Health Insurance Cards (EHICs) enable people living in the UK to travel to the European Economic Area safe in the knowledge that they will be able to receive free or reduced cost healthcare should they need it.

Entitlement to EHICs (in all European Economic Area countries) is based on ‘insurability’ under European Union law, not on a person’s nationality. In the UK, we operate a residency-based healthcare system which means that, ‘insurability’ is generally determined by a person’s residency status.