Medical emergencies

In all countries in which the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) is valid, contractual doctors and contractual hospitals are obligated to treat you in the same manner as a national patient. As a rule the costs will be settled directly between the local health insurance system and your health insurance provider in Austria. In some countries (e.g., France), even national patients must first pay for the treatment themselves and are reimbursed later by the health insurance provider. The same would therefore apply to all foreign patients. In this case please request an itemized bill, and submit the original copy of it to your responsible health insurance provider after your return. As a rule the costs are reimbursed according to the Austrian scale of fees.

Important - the European Health Insurance Card

• is not a substitute for your travel insurance
  
• does not apply to costs incurred for planned medical treatments
  
• does not guarantee cost-free treatment because of the differences between healthcare systems of different countries

The front side of the EHIC looks the same in every country and contains the same information, albeit in the respective national language. The back side of the card differs from country to country. For persons insured in Austria, the EHIC is on the back side of the e-card. It is valid in the following states:

• EU Member States: Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Czech Republic, Hungary, Cyprus (Greek part)
  
• EEA States: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway
  
• EFTA State: Switzerland
  
• Contracting state: by a bilateral agreement on 1.1.2013, the EHIC is now also valid in Macedonia.