"Travel insurance in Europe?" Topic

We live in New Zealand, but because my wife was born in the UK, our 21-year old son has a British passport as well as a NZ passport. He is leaving next week for his big Overseas Experience, backpacking around Europe for a year.

Does anyone know if, as a British citizen (albeit non-resident in the UK), he still needs health insurance in Europe, if he has an accident or falls sick? Or are British citizens covered in Europe?

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He may be able to get an EHIC (European health insurance card) but if he isn't resident in the UK, I don't know if he is entitled to one. This doesn't necessarily do away with travel insurance, but it's pretty much all I ever use. If he is entitled just make sure he gets it himself (for free) and doesn't have some company charge him for the privilege.

If he is entitled to a EHIC then it is free. There are a lot of unscrupulous web sites that take a fee from you for processing your application.

The EHIC only covers basic stuff and in many cases you have to pay and claim the money back. It doesn't cover things like repatriation, which can be a tad expensive. UK citizens don't have full reciprocal healthcare rights in the rest of Europe, as we are all separate countries.

The advice is always to take travel insurance, even if you have an EHIC. You may get lucky of course, or you may end up eye wateringly out of pocket.

Having had more than our fair share of holiday health disasters, I certainly wouldn't go anywhere in Europe without travel insurance, let alone the States. Lengthy correspondence with foreign healthcare providers over billing and liablity is also an entertaining past-time and to be avoided if possible.

Thanks for the advice. We decided he did need travel insurance, and after a lot of looking round, found a good price at World Nomads, which is designed with the young backpacker in mind.

My son left on his 'Big O.E.' last night, and must've just about made it to London tonight as I type this (30 hours flight).