German medical care and flying back to the UK

hi everyone sorry but have another question :$
we are flying back to the uk in 3 weeks for 5 days, but i have a child with special needs and regulary needs medical attention. From the uk i would have been coverd by E1 11. how do things work going the other way. we have been hear 5mths so i guess the NHS won´t cover us. emmas medical insurance covers switzerland and germany, not sure about uk: will check that one, is there some other cover i can use if not. i only thought about this an hr ago, good job 2!
we have already got a huge bill because we arrived hear one week before the end of the month so health insurance would not cover us till the end of the week. emma got very sick, offered the hospital an E1 11, said insurance will cover it don´t worry not a problem.
now at the time my husband officially was on holiday from his job in the uk and was still being paid uk salery till the end of the week, and we owned still our house back in cambridge. and were paying tax e.c.t.
so now i have a €600 bill and know one except for me will pay it!!! that was just for being in hospital 4hrs!! thank god we did not stay any longer! if only they hospital had excepted the E1 11 i would not have been in the position in the first place! now it is to late.
thanks again
tracey

How are they going to know at the Doctors/hospital in the UK that you live here if you don't tell them?? I would give your relatives address and leave it at that. Nobody is going to chase you down for any money because as far as I know the E111 is part of a reciprocal agreement between EU nations. My sister has friends who are orthodontists and they have offered to treat my daughter on the NHS, it is going to be cheaper for me to fly to the UK monthly to get my daughter treated than pay horrific prices locally. It's not really ethical but Eur 6000+ is just too much to pay.

It sucks that you got stuffed with the 600 Euro bill. I hate those loopholes that don't grant cover immediately, they can do it with cars why not people!??

your E111 should have covered you - I was under the impression that you could use it for the first year you are abroad in a country with a reciprocal agreement (not that I would recommend this!), which the UK has with Germany. The only charge you should have had from the hosiptal is the fixed daily charge but this is not applicable to children.

They are phasing out E111 forms and are supposed to be bringing in an EU health insurance card, which entitles you to free emergency treatment anywhere within the EU.

That said, I think you should be ok still accessing NHS services back home.

EDIT: just read Nicole's post and I agree - how would they know where you lived, especially if you still own a house over there as well.

Is the form E111 stil used. I thought it was discontinued, or will be.

Edit: He he someone at least knows something about it. Any other details on this "EU health insurance card"

I know my daughter had to go to a doctors in the UK, (she's German by birth). It was all covered by the DAK.

just looked it up, they will be invalid as of January 2006 and will be replace with the EHIC

EDIT: bit more info, including a picture of what the EHIC looks like - standard design for all member states. Apparently they have been in circulation since June last year!

yes the e 111 was still used untill 5-6 weeks ago. but we have been given the bill from the hospital to pay 2 weeks ago dating back from last week in may. i have not paid it as yet still trying to work out what to do. may be i will call the uk and find out if emma was still coverd even though i was told not in the first instance.!

the problem i have with giving adiffernt address in the uk is that emma is the only case like hers that they ever really seen in the uk with out other secondary problems and was one of 5 children a year to have to have major surgury of her kind at 12mths old so they all know we are hear because she took some transfering! 3 files worth of notes and shes only just 2yrs now LOL
she was under 3 differant major hospitals great ormand street addenbrookes in cambridge and hinchingbrooke, and any problem we have to go back to one of those 3!! and GOS are still very much involved in her care, with the cons hear but more now for addvice.
life is never easy thats for sure!!
i am going to ask ring the uk now i think.
ok take care
tracey

This is for Nicole,

I am intrigued to know why your daughter's orthodontic costs aren't covered by your KK?

My son had years of orthodontic treatment and it was covered by the KK. We had to pay a small % each visit and when the treatment was finished we got all the money back that we had paid out. It was a nice bonus for my son's bank account.

found this on the DoH site and there is this article in Expatica as well. I think you should be ok as you have only been over here a few months.

Think I'd best think about getting an EHIC

me too Loops, so now, the obvious question is: how do we go about getting one?

I don't know about how you go about getting one, since my KK (IKK-direkkt) incorporates it on the back of their normal Versichertenkarte so I've had one since April when they finally acknowledged the fact that I was paying them money...

I guess that when you get a new card from your KK it will be the same - or you could try requesting one directly from them before your current card expires?

just thought i would come back and let you know after 3 telephone calls being passed from department to department the NHS are going to cover emmas bill as we were officálly still being paid in the uk, and my husband did not start his new job until a week later!
so papper work is on its way, guess that will take a mth to go though when it gets here, but still can not complain.

but sill have a problem because i checked at the same time if i would be covered when we go back in 3 weeks so still have to dind some sort of cover hear for then.

at least my bank accout is starting to look better
so if anyone has any insurance companys that would be cheap that would cover my daughter for 5 days would be very greatful, especially if the can speak some english. (i am leaning german started to day, and can very proudly now tell the time in german, won´t get me very far in a insurance conversation though)
thanks
tracey

do you mean when you come back to Germany, coverage until German Health care kicks in.

Which brings another question,what is an E111 form, I've heard of them but never had one, always used travel insurance when we went aboard, costs about 20€ a year, and so far I've put in several claims without a problem.

Speaking of such does any have UKV insurance I lost the card during the move so I don't have a number to call to get a new card.

sorry what i mean is we have insurance hear, but not sure how we would be covered in the uk for the 5 days we are out of germany in england. my husband is going to ring our health insurance company tomorrw. we have an all singing and dancing insurance for emma. rest of us just the basic so he thinks that she may be covered world wide we don´t know,this is the problem and its all in german so, we shall call the re-locator tomorrow to find out for us.
thanks tracey

Who did you get your insurance though, since you are paying taxes in Germany you should be covered under public health care, its automatic when you get hired.

Some people who are relocated for short term assignments (2-3 years) the company usually purchases private health care.

Travel insurance is very cheap here, never more than 20€ a year, check ADAC or ask at your bank. They are good for I believe up to 8 weeks being out of country.

@THM: The E111 form entitled you to free or reduced emergency medical care within the EU - you still had to take out health insurance when travelling though as it didin't cover follow up costs such as medication, repatriation etc:

I'm guessing the EHIC works on the same principle.

Yes, and it doesn't (didn't) do any good presenting it to a hospital or doctor, they can't start anything with it. The correct procedure is to take it to the base health insurance organisation (AOK in Germany) and get a cover-note from them.

You give the cover note to the medical service, and they don't send you the bill. If they don't get this cover-note, they do send you the bill, which you gave to pay and claim back appropriately.

I don't know if that will change with the cards, as the medical services would need to be able to read them. I remember reading somewhere that none of the individual card systems in use in the various countries were really compatible with another... Maybe they all now have to be able to read the EU card, though.

As far as getting treatment in the UK is concerned, all they want is your name and address. At least that was the case a couple of years back, where I had to go to the doc in UK, and a couple of years before that in Holland.

The new European Health Insurance card