I have residency in Portugal under the ARI and private health insurance. I’m going to be spending a lot of time in the UK under a tourist visa, and I’m trying to work out how to ensure my health care is covered while I’m there.
It looks like I should be able to get the EHIC, which allows residents who are covered by the health care system in one European country get access to health care in a different one. But it looks like in order to apply I need a Cartão de Cidadão ou Chave Móvel Digital or a NISS and I don’t know how to get one.
The EHIC is absolutely honored by the UK post-Brexit for EU citizens, and there is now a GHIC card for UK citizens which is honored by EU countries. But it looks like post-Brexit the UK may no longer honor EHIC cards for residents of the EU who are not citizens of the EU. That’s not entirely clear to me.
I managed to get a NISS, but was still unable to apply for the EHIC. The website doesn’t work. I suppose I need to go to the Loja do Cidadão and try to get help there, but I have been too lazy. Our private health insurance (Allianz) at least covers Spain as well as Portugal. If you have success getting the EHIC, please post about how you did it here. Obrigada!!
I attempted to apply for an EHIC in person with paper forms (no NISS required, only SNS) but they directed me to get a NISS and apply online. The online process didn’t work, so we did it in person with the paper forms after all. Escalation to a manager was required because of a training issue.
You could be right. We have EHIC cards, and when we visited an NHS facility in Oxford they were pretty much clueless about what it was and couldn’t be troubled to find out.