ABTA is calling on the Government to protect reciprocal health cover after Brexit, saying it doesn’t have to be lost.
It was responding to a short discussion on the issue during a Brexit Select Committee yesterday when David Davis MP, Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, was asked if UK citizens would no longer have access to the EHIC health treatment card.
“I think that’s probably right, I haven’t looked at that one,” he replied.
Alan Wardle, ABTA director of public affairs, said: "ABTA disagrees with David Davis that UK citizens will have to lose the EHIC health treatment card. Brexit shouldn’t have to mean that we lose reciprocal medical care rights with other European countries: the EHIC card is currently valid in Switzerland, which is not a member of the EU.
“It is an important consumer protection for British citizens, used over 200,000 times last year, and the government should seek to protect it in the upcoming negotiations. Maintaining consumer confidence on issues like this will be important over the next couple of years."
