Request

I am writing to make a Freedom of Information request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Please supply the following information in relation to Global Health Insurance Cards (GHICs) and European Health Insurance Cards (EHICs):

Q1) How many valid GHICs will expire in 2026? Please provide a month-by-month breakdown, if possible.

Q2) How many valid EHICs will expire in 2026? Please provide a month-by-month breakdown if possible.

Q3) What is the total number of GHICs that are currently valid for use?

Q4) What is the total number of EHICs that are currently valid for use?

Q5) What is the current (as of 2025) actual average wait/processing time to receive a GHIC after an application is submitted?

Q6) Between 1st January 2025 and 31st December 2025, how many direct claims were received by the NHS from countries supplying treatment under GHIC, EHIC or S2? Please provide separate figures for GHIC, EHIC and S2 if possible, along with the total amount paid out.

Q7) In relation to Q6, please provide a list of the top ten countries who made the most claims, including the number of claims and the total amount claimed.

Q8) Between 1st January 2025 and 31st December 2025, what were the top ten largest claims received by the NHS under GHIC, EHIC or S2?

If it is not possible to provide the information requested due to the information exceeding the cost of compliance limits, please provide advice as to how I can refine my request.

I have checked for this updated data for the 2025 calendar year / 2026 calendar year, however, if I'm wrong and this information is available, please let me know.

On 31 December 2025 you clarified the following:

In response to your question regarding Question 6, we would like to request both datasets if this is feasible within the cost and time limits of the Freedom of Information Act:

1. Direct claims from individuals or insurers for treatment received abroad during a temporary stay; and 2. Claims from Member States for treatment supplied under UK GHIC, UK EHIC or S2 arrangements.

If providing both datasets is not feasible due to cost of compliance or other constraints, please proceed with option 2 (claims from Member States) as our preferred option.

If helpful, we would be happy for the information to be provided in a high-level or aggregated format to assist with compliance.

Response

I can confirm that the NHSBSA holds the information you have requested.

Questions 1 to 4

How many valid GHICs will expire in 2026? Please provide a month-by-month breakdown, if possible.

How many valid EHICs will expire in 2026? Please provide a month-by-month breakdown if possible.

What is the total number of GHICs that are currently valid for use?

What is the total number of EHICs that are currently valid for use?

The data was compiled on 6 January 2026 for the period 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2026.

We have included data for the following types of entitlements:

European Health Insurance Card (EHIC)

EHIC entitlement was replaced by the UK Global Health Insurance Card (UK GHIC) as of 1 January 2021. Any existing EHICs remain valid until their expiry date and provide access to state-funded, medically necessary healthcare cover in European Union (EU) countries and some countries outside the EU. All EHICs will have expired by 29 June 2026.

UK Global Health Insurance Card (UK GHIC)

From 1 January 2021, UK GHIC entitlement provides access to state-funded, medically necessary healthcare in the EU, the European Economic Area (EEA), for most people in Switzerland and some countries outside of the EU. Those who are ordinarily resident in the UK or are holders of a registered UK S1 form may be eligible for a UK GHIC.

UK European Health Insurance Card (UK EHIC)

From 10 November 2020, UK EHIC entitlement provides access to state-funded, medically necessary healthcare in the EU, EEA countries and Switzerland. Those who are covered under the Withdrawal Agreement may be eligible for a UK EHIC.

During 2026, the number of cards which are due to expire will change. This is because;

o some cards will have reached their expiration date in January before the report was compiled

o new cards may be issued which start and end within 2026

o existing cards may have their end date brought forward, for example, if the holder has had a change of circumstances

Please see the attached table.

Question 5 - What is the current (as of 2025) actual average wait/processing time to receive a GHIC after an application is submitted?

For the period 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, the average processing time from submitting a UK GHIC application to the dispatch of the card is 0.53 working days.

The processing time provided is an average of whole working days, where dispatch on the same day of the application is 0 working days and dispatch the day after application is 1 working day.

As postage times vary, we are unable to say when the UK GHIC would have been received by the applicant.

Question 6 - Between 1st January 2025 and 31st December 2025, how many direct claims were received by the NHS from countries supplying treatment under GHIC, EHIC or S2? Please provide separate figures for GHIC, EHIC and S2 if possible, along with the total amount paid out.

Direct Claims

Please see the attached table.

Between 1 January 2025 and 31 December 2025 the NHSBSA received and authorised payment for 7,280 distinct claims from individuals or insurers for treatment received in Member States whilst on a temporary stay.

The Total Payment amount authorised by the UK for payment in 2025 is £1,531,983.39.

We are unable to provide data separately for UK GHIC, UK EHIC or S2.

The NHSBSA does hold the requested information; however, we estimate that the cost of compliance with the request would exceed the appropriate limit under section 12 of the FOIA.

We estimate that the cost of complying with your request would exceed the non-central Government limit of £450. The limit has been specified in The Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004 and represents the estimated cost of one person spending 18 hours in determining whether the NHSBSA holds the information, and locating, retrieving, extracting and checking the information.

Please see the following calculations which sets out the estimated cost for compliance with this request:

7,280 claims were processed in 2025. We estimate it would take 30 seconds to review each form. This would take approximately 60 hours to complete.

Please see the following link to view the section 12 in full - https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/12

Member State Claims

Please see the attached table.

The data above show claims received from countries (Member States) for supplying treatment abroad under UK GHIC/UK EHIC and S2.

We have included E112s as these are previous entitlements equivalent to S2.

The ‘Amount accepted in GBP’ is the amount that has been agreed by the UK.

EEA regulations state a healthcare institution can return or reject a claim for reasons such as the claim is incomplete or there are concerns the treatment has been provided outside the validity period of the entitlement. This may result in an increase of the presented figures when reviewed back through the years allowing for the entitlements to be validated.

The amounts were approved for payment in local currencies. For your convenience we have converted to £GBP based on an exchange rate at the time treatment was completed.

The actual amount that will be paid out may vary as the exchange rate between currencies changes.

Question 7 - In relation to Q6, please provide a list of the top ten countries who made the most claims, including the number of claims and the total amount claimed.

The data show claims received from Member States and input on our processing system between 1 January 2025 and 31 December 2025.

We have included E112s as these are previous entitlements equivalent to S2.

The amounts were approved for payment in local currencies. For your convenience we have converted to £GBP based on an exchange rate at the time treatment was completed.

Please see the attached table.

Question 8 - Between 1st January 2025 and 31st December 2025, what were the top ten largest claims received by the NHS under GHIC, EHIC or S2?

The data for ‘EHIC/GHIC’ in the table includes claims from other countries made under EHIC, UK GHIC and UK EHIC. We cannot always distinguish between EHIC, UK GHIC and UK EHIC claims from other countries.

Please see the attached table.

Data Queries

Please contact foirequests@nhsbsa.nhs.uk ensuring you quote the above reference if you have any specific questions regarding this response; or, if you feel you may be misunderstanding or misinterpreting the information; or, if you plan on publishing the data.

Reusing the data and copyright

If you plan on producing a press or broadcast story based upon the data please contact communicationsteam@nhsbsa.nhs.uk This is important to ensure that the figures are not misunderstood or misrepresented.

The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and is subject to NHSBSA copyright. This information is licenced under the terms of the Open Government Licence detailed at: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

Should you wish to re-use the information you must include the following statement: “NHSBSA Copyright 2026” This information is licenced under the terms of the Open Government Licence:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

Failure to do so is a breach of the terms of the licence.

Information you receive which is not subject to NHSBSA Copyright continues to be protected by the copyright of the person, or organisation, from which the information originated. Please obtain their permission before reproducing any third party (non NHSBSA Copyright) information.