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No-deal Brexit: UK issues healthcare warning to British travellers to Switzerland

The UK is warning British travellers to Switzerland that their European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) may not be valid in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

Published: 13 September 2019 16:12 CEST

No-deal Brexit: UK issues healthcare warning to British travellers to Switzerland

File photo: AFP

According to information on the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) website, your EHIC will remain valid for the duration of your trip if your visits starts before exit day.

However, if you are travelling to Switzerland after Brexit, your EHIC may not be valid.

READ ALSO: What you need to know before you take out Swiss health insurance

As general advice, the NHS advises all people travelling to the EU or Switzerland to take out health insurance whether their trip is before or after Brexit.

You should also speak to your doctor and insurer if you have a pre-existing health condition.

For the latest information on Brits’ access to healthcare in Switzerland, see the NHS website here.

The UK and Switzerland have signed a citizens’ rights agreement which guarantees that Brits living in Switzerland before Brexit will continue to enjoy the same healthcare entitlements they currently do.

READ ALSO: Brexit – what Brits in Switzerland make of the citizens' rights agreement

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Could glasses and contact lenses soon be covered by Swiss health insurance?

Green Party Federal Councillor Katharina Prelicz-Huber revealed in an interview with newspaper 20 Minuten this week that the Federal Parliament had tabled a motion to include prescription glasses and contact lenses in Switzerland’s mandatory health insurance scheme.

Prelicz-Huber stated: “The purpose of compulsory health insurance is to provide the services you need to get or stay healthy,”

The motion forms part of the legislation that will be voted on during the 2024 summer session of the Federal Council.

Proposed changes

According to Switzerland’s peak optician body, 4 in 5 Swiss wear glasses or contact lenses at some point.

It’s no surprise that statistics repository, Statista, projects the Swiss eyewear industry to be worth €1.37 billion by 2028.

Currently, glasses and contact lenses are covered for up to 180 francs for children until age eighteen, if they are proscribed by a doctor.

Adults can also claim money back for glasses and contact lenses – however, they must be suffering from one of a short list of specific conditions such as keratoconus – where the cornea is distorted – or severe myopia, otherwise known as near-sightedness.

They must also have been specifically prescribed them by a doctor or optometrist.

Otherwise, supplemental optical insurance must be purchased in Switzerland to ensure you can recoup the cost.

Under the Green Party proposal, glasses, contact lenses, and other visual aids would be covered, regardless of age.

Rising premiums prompt opposition

Not everybody agrees with the proposal.

The right-wing SVP has already spoken out against it, with Federal Councillor Diana Gutjahr arguing: “If we seriously want to slow down the burdensome and constantly rising health costs for the benefit of the population, we [must] show the political will not to constantly expand the benefits of compulsory health insurance.”

A spokesman for the the health insurance advocacy group Santesuisse, Matthias Müller, echoed Gutjahr, claiming that insurance constitutes “financing for extraordinary events such as illness.”

“If almost everyone benefits from a certain service, it is no longer an insurance benefit.”

A date for the vote has yet to be announced.

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