EHIC in Germany

kelbal

Hi. Need to go to a GP in Germany for a simple checkup, and would like to go through the public system which is covered by the EHIC, am in the Black Forest area and won't be near any large cities. The ehic info says i need to go to an insurance company first to get the required form, then bring that to an ehic affiliated doctor. Has anyone done this before? When they say insurance company, where precisely do i go? any help on what i need to do would be appreciated.

schemingbohemia

From the EHIC site

Germany

Information

Any insurance company, including Allgemeine Ortskrankenkasse (AOK) and the Ersatzkasse (substitute health insurance fund). These companies are generally open from Monday to Friday.

Doctors, dentists and prescriptions

You should present your E111, European Health Insurance Card or Temporary Replacement Certificate to the insurance company to receive the appropriate form. Ask for a list of the doctors contracted to the insurance company and then take your form to one of the doctors on the list. You will receive free treatment from these doctors. If this is not possible, go directly to one of the contracted-in doctors and present your E111, European Health Insurance Card or Temporary Replacement Certificate. You may be required to pay a fee but this can be refunded on production of the required form as issued by the insurance company.
Medicines prescribed by the doctor can be obtained from any pharmacy in exchange for the prescription. You will be liable for a prescription charge depending on the size of the packaging. These costs are non-refundable. For minor drugs and medicines, such as painkillers and cough mixtures, you will be charged the full amount.

Hospital treatment

Hospital treatment is usually provided following consultation with a doctor. If you are admitted to hospital as an emergency and do not have time to approach a doctor or the local insurance company in advance, present your E111, European Health Insurance Card or Temporary Replacement Certificate to the hospital administration and ask them to obtain the required form for you.


Are you temporarily in Germany (on holidays), if you're registered as living there then there may be different procedures to go through. Particularly as yours does not seem to be an emergency, just a check-up, they might say no as the scheme is really designed for people on holidays and surely a simple check-up could wait until you got home?

kelbal

schemingbohemia wrote: »

there may be different procedures to go through. Particularly as yours does not seem to be an emergency, just a check-up, they might say no as the scheme is really designed for people on holidays and surely a simple check-up could wait until you got home?

on holidays, but its a 2 month road trip so need to be seen while we're away. Have read the EHIC website alright, but not knowing the lie of the land, we're looking for pointers as to what's the proper route.
Thanks

coylemj

I think the advice about an insurance company relates to people who have travel insurance. A lot of insurance companies insist that you at least attempt to use the EHIC card to reduce costs (for them) before incurring medical expenses.

If you have no travel insurance and it's not an emergency then you'll need to ask a local how they get access to publicly-funded medical services. Clearly if it's like Ireland then you'll have to pay to see a GP.

munchkin_utd

my mother had an accident there last month in Germany and she simply went to the clinic (basically the out of hours on call gp clinic) and they filled out all the forms to get treatment using an irish EHIC there.

For you itd be best maybe to just pop into the local gp and ask the receptionist what the story is or simply give them a call and see if they can do the signing up with the helper-insurance-company on the spot rather than having you goto Freiburg or wherever.

mdebets

coylemj wrote: »

I think the advice about an insurance company relates to people who have travel insurance. A lot of insurance companies insist that you at least attempt to use the EHIC card to reduce costs (for them) before incurring medical expenses.

No, that has nothing to do with your travel insurance, but they are talking about the German public health insurance companies. In Germany, you have several public health insurance companies , which you can choose from (to some degree). So the instruction says, you have to go to one of these ones first, to get your paperwork sorted.

coylemj wrote: »

If you have no travel insurance and it's not an emergency then you'll need to ask a local how they get access to publicly-funded medical services. Clearly if it's like Ireland then you'll have to pay to see a GP.

No, normally, if you have a public health insurance in Germany, you don't pay for the GP, unless for certain procedures that aren't covered by the insurance.

schemingbohemia

kelbal wrote: »

on holidays, but its a 2 month road trip so need to be seen while we're away. Have read the EHIC website alright, but not knowing the lie of the land, we're looking for pointers as to what's the proper route.
Thanks

Have you tried contacting the companies listed in the EHIC website?

munchkin_utd

the NHS website mentions nothing of this pre-registration with the medical insurance company.
http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/Healthcareabroad/countryguide/Pages/healthcareinGermany.aspx

I have a feeling that the irish info is a little out of date as what they say was definitely the case back 10 years ago or so (that you needed to get that cover letter from the german medical insurer in advance) but if the brits arent mentioning it and from personal experience the paper work can be done by the doctor on the spot then you are as well just contact a local gp, making sure he isnt one of the few that only take patients paying cash, and ask if they can do the checkup for you.

The brits also say that routine checkups are ok so long as you dont travel abroad specifically to avail of treatment

kelbal

There was a hospital in Uberlingen right beside where we were staying, just walked in and was taken care of within 10 minutes, no charge, all on EHIC!

keithclancy

kelbal wrote: »

Hi. Need to go to a GP in Germany for a simple checkup, and would like to go through the public system which is covered by the EHIC, am in the Black Forest area and won't be near any large cities. The ehic info says i need to go to an insurance company first to get the required form, then bring that to an ehic affiliated doctor. Has anyone done this before? When they say insurance company, where precisely do i go? any help on what i need to do would be appreciated.

Unfortunately it's a bit of a crap shoot, not all surgeries are familiar with how to use the system, in the Schwarzwald you should be ok as almost everyone speaks English.

Worst case scenario you would be paying 30-50 euros for a checkup.

munchkin_utd

keithclancy wrote: »

Unfortunately it's a bit of a crap shoot, not all surgeries are familiar with how to use the system, in the Schwarzwald you should be ok as almost everyone speaks English.

Worst case scenario you would be paying 30-50 euros for a checkup.

yup. I think I saw someone paid 26euro recently.

At the clinic at Munich airport a couple of years back, a visit to an eye specialist (and use of equipment) to check a problem in a childs eye cost something like 18 euro and a random number of cent.

The one difference is that if you need a prescription, or a jab, or tests (even referal for one) that'll be itemised as extra whereas in Ireland your 50euro is a flat rate for everything.
But anyhow, ring them in advance and ask. It'll take less time than it has for me to type this reply.