Martin Lewis Urges People To Renew Free EU Health Card

Money Saving Expert, Martin Lewis, is urging people to renew their EHIC (European Health Card) and shared his top tips for protecting holiday bookings during the ongoing pandemic.

MONEY Saving Expert, Martin Lewis, is urging people to renew their EHIC (European Health Card) and shared his top tips for protecting holiday bookings during the ongoing pandemic, Daily Record reports. The financial guru said: “If you’re renewing your EHIC you’ll get the new Global Health Insurance Card”, urging the 6.4 million people who have an out of date EHIC to renew, also informing people that if their EHIC is currently in date, this can be used as the new Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC).

It is, however, important to clarify that the GHIC is not a replacement for travel insurance as it does not cover various issues such as holiday cancellations, mountain rescue and repatriation. It is important to buy travel insurance as well as having a valid GHIC, but the card does cover the 27 countries within the European Union plus four more and allows for treatment at doctor’s clinics or hospitals at the same cost as a local resident which is very helpful.

The expiry date of your EHIC can be found in the bottom right-hand corner of the card.

With regards to travel insurance, Martin said: “Most, though not all travel insurers, will cover you for Covid-case cancellations if you catch Covid before you travel, or the NHS tells you that you have to self-isolate and that means you can’t go.

“Similarly, if you get Covid while you’re abroad the medical and knock-on costs will usually be covered by a travel insurer – check the policy, but most are doing that.”

The founder of moneysavingexpert.com said that travel insurers “won’t cover you for travel restrictions either from this country or abroad that means you can’t go or that you have to quarantine on the way back and therefore you’re saying you can’t go because you can’t afford to take 10 days off work to quarantine in my house.”

He added that most people will not “generally be covered for that.”

The financial journalist’s advice is to get travel insurance ASAB when booking because “some of the cover protects you if stuff happens before you go away so getting it later is pointless.”

The Euro Weekly News is running a campaign to help reunite Brits in Spain with their family and friends by capping the costs of PCR tests for travel. Please help us urge the government to cap costs at https://euroweeklynews.com/2021/04/16/ewn-champions-the-rights-of-brits-in-spain-to-see-loved-ones-again/