Does this mean none of us can go to France/Germany/Spain /Italy etc etc

karinu this is our reciprocal health care with Australia - you would deffo need travel insurance ( from Gov website)

Australia

Australia has a reciprocal healthcare agreement with the UK, which means UK residents are able to get some healthcare services without charge while visiting Australia.

Treatment at public hospitals is free, but you'll have to pay for:

treatment at most doctors' surgeries
prescribed medicines
ambulance travel
dental treatment

I'm just a little bit tired of people telling us that we managed OK 50 years ago. Perhaps they relish the thought of the extra inconvenience. I don't.

Extra health insurance, International driving licence, visa, have to have 6 months left on passport...

We've been regularly travelling to France on a get up and go basis for the last 30 years. We didn't ask to have this nonsense inflicted on us...

But I've said it all before...

I can't understand anyone going to Europe without private insurance! You have to for other countries so why the big deal? My mother lived in the south of France with a french family for a year before the war (1937-1938) and a friend studied at the Sorbonne just after the war, so peop!e did manage to go to Europe long before the EU and cope with the vagaries of a foreign country without much trouble!

It only took one cancelled holidays to recover all the costs of my 10 years worldwide travel insurance.

It wasnt even me that was poorly!

One easy form, money in my bank within a week. Good old Nationwide?

It will be easier for me to travel to Australia regarding health insurance as we have a reciprocal arrangement than it will be to
travel to my birth country Germany to see my family. I will have to take out expensive travel insurance (I’m 70+), thanks
to the people who voted to leave the EU without knowing the
full consequences.
Best not say more....??

For Green Card substitute E111.

Needs stating that travel insurance doesn’t just cover medical costs etc but covers cancellation (for unforeseen events), loss or theft of belongings etc.

We’ve all seen the GoFundMe appeals for folks daft enough to depend on E111 - all for the sake of £50!

A lot of fuss about nothing - just get health insurance instead of using Green Card. Not much difference to the days when we weren't in the Common Market. But who would want to go to Europe anyway at the moment with Covid around!

We have just returned from Germany walking through Mosel vineyards. Very safe there - masks and distancing everywhere and well controlled. We do still have E111 cover until Dec. When I had to use this a few years ago for a week’s stay in hospital it covered everything except the ambulance, although we do have annual travel insurance as well (no Covid cover though). Brilliant system and one of the very many disadvantages of us leaving the EU - not that there are any advantages that I know of!

The system of reciprocal health care is widely misunderstood. It means in general that if we have a reciprocal health care agreement with a particular country, we would get the same health care as a citizen of that country would receive. However, this may not be anywhere near as comprehensive as the NHS. That’s why as many have said, you always need your own insurance. Some policies waived the excess if you had some treatment under the EHIC but obviously that will go.

Quizqueen Our expired EU gym membership entitled us to use all the facilities which that gym group provided across its several premises and many different exercise rooms. Now that we have cancelled our membership, we can't use any of those gyms, but the EU doesn't care which other gyms we use - it is just up to us to join those others and negotiate our membership. If we don't join any gyms as members, then we pay per use and put up with the inconvenience and extra cost. As for exercise, we could always run for the bus, but we may have already missed it.

Poor mum.

But again, if I may- Mexico is not EU- she would have not been covered by EHIC in Mexico either. In EU, they would have accepted EHIC - and if in France, for instance- a transfer by private car to UK would have be OK in the vast majority of cases. As said, even routine dialysis was included with EHIC.
If staying with family or friends, accommodation is not a problem- and in France or EU, very cheap to rent a small place for a short period of time.

We've always had insurance for travelling anywhere. At the moment it is with the bank but I expect that will need to change.
My mother had what she thought was just a UTI and took a taxi to the local Mexican hospital. Unfortunately (or this time fortunately), the taxi took one look at my mother's distended stomach and took her to the maternity hospital which was a superb facility. They found she had a huge cyst the size of a watermelon on her ovary and it had twisted causing her pain. Along with the UTI, she was in agony. They did the operation to remove it as an emergency but we to a frantic phone call from my stepdad who had been told they would not release her until the insurance company had agreed to pay and his credit card would not cover the huge bill. They also had to stay for an extra 12 weeks before she could fly home which they hadn't allowed for. He was a student on his placement year so funds were tight. Their experience made me very careful about getting adequate insurance. E111 might help with medical costs but it doesn't cover repatriation or accommodation costs.

Calli 'The EHIC is not an alternative to travel insurance. It will not cover any private medical healthcare or costs, such as mountain rescue in ski resorts or being flown back to the UK.'

well of course- but it does cover all medical emergency costs- including dialysis- you just have to ensure that you go to a State hospital and not private. So as said in my post, repatriation after the emergency phase can de done privately- more often than not, by private car.

As for mountain rescue- this can be easily covered with your ski pass in all resorts- and is hardly relevant to 99.9%.

MissChateline I'm fairly sure you mean your cornea was scratched, a very common injury, one I've had myself. The retina which is at the back of your eye is just not accessible to grains of sand or ivy.

In the situation Britain in these comments trivia. What madness to travel abroad during this pandemic?

In addition, all this ballyhoo about Brexit and travel. How on earth did we visit the continent before the EU: passport and travel insurance! In and out of France and Germany regularly and my country not hawked off to either.

quizqueen

Elegran- that's very true but, equally, you don't expect your old gym to tell you which other gyms you can use in future or how you should exercise!

good analogy qq

We have never traveled anywhere without travel insurance. Our policy also covers UK trips.

ShielsM I feel your pain, my DD and her family live in Spain, we should have gone over in March as my oldest DGS became a teenager, then in June we were taking the whole family to see Paul McCartney in Barcelona. Finally booked to go early September when the advice against travel came in and voided any travel insurance, as DH was poorly earlier this year I wouldn't travel without it so lost money on our flights and had a good cry. Had been hopeful they'd be here for Christmas but that's clearly not going to happen.
I'm lucky that two DS & DGC live near but at the moment we can't visit each other's home so even that feels grim. I have friends with children in Australia and Hong Kong so I guess it could be worse but as I think it's going to be April or May next year before we'll see our family it is heart breaking all round.

I have annual travel insurance provided as part of my bank account.

Luckily, it has not been used for medical treatment but, twice, once due to a death in the family and a second time for a family illness the holidays had to be cancelled at short notice. In both cases the planned holidays had to be cancelled and the insurance refunded the cost of the holiday.

Insurance is a gamble. You might not need to use it but, it buys peace of mind.

SheilsM I hope you see your DGC soon.
Those of us with family further away have no hope for at least another year. The borders are closed.

The EHIC is not an alternative to travel insurance. It will not cover any private medical healthcare or costs, such as mountain rescue in ski resorts or being flown back to the UK.

SheilsM- oh I hear you. Same here- so it is hard to hear of people being on extended holidays to the EU beyond their legal allocation of 90 days.

Holiday in the UK. Hospitality here desperately needs the money

But please, do not mix Health care for residents and tourists- 2 VERY different things.

We have a house in Spain, so this is a big issue for us. I have done my research on travel insurance. You can get cover to travel against FCO advice. But not for the very thing, COVID, that the FCO advice relates to, if that advice is in place before you buy the insurance.
I’ve not found any companies which will cover getting ill from COVID in Spain or France as things stand.