Confusion over paid European Health Card applications
By Darren Cronian on Thursday, September 3rd, 2009

The Times published a piece I wrote on companies charging consumers to apply for a European Health Insurance Card. This isn’t the first time that I have come across this type of service; earlier in the year I mentioned that a number of sites were charging for the ESTA for US visa applications.

Confusion over paid European Health Card applications

Regulating these sites

I think that these companies should be more open about the fact that you can apply yourself for free on the official EHIC website. I also think that the Department of Health or NHS should be tackling these websites and regulating them.

Your thoughts

I am interested to read your thoughts on this, either in the comments below or on the Times article.


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3 responses to “Confusion over paid European Health Card applications”

Gsp | 3 September, 2009 at 7:57 pm

I can understand the seemingly equivalent service some companies provide in setting up & registering a company for you for e.g. £100 instead of the £25 for doing it yourself directly with Companies House, as it simplifies things & saves people dealing with what can seem daunting paperwork.

However, I found it a very simple process to find out about & apply for my European Health card for free directly. So I guess these companies really wouldn’t be in business if people knew that.

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Julia Larmour | 4 September, 2009 at 1:21 pm

I haven’t yet read your times article but in my opinion these companies know exactly what they are doing. They pick web addresses that are really similar to the real gov ones, and their sites are extremely authentic looking even down to colours used and fonts.

I have almost been caught by both the EHIC card one and a tax credits one. My father has also nearly got caught by a self assessment one, he notified the tax office of this and they were very interested. Even if charging wasn’t enough you don’t want the personal details that you have to give out there with just anyone.

Thanks for bringing this type of site to our attention and making me more aware of whats out there.

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Nick | 4 September, 2009 at 3:44 pm

It the same with everything, like ESTA’s why they can be done free and yet there are websites out there charging £50… where there is a way there is someone willing to take it.

@GSP, nearly all websites are simple, from what I seen the ones you pay are harder to use than the free ones.

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