This news seems to indicate that tourists from the UK will be able to use their EHIC cards again in Switzerland from November - since the 1 January 2021 this has not been possible
According to Swiss Community, (article dated 15 September 2021 ) a new social security agreement has been signed between Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
With Brexit, many social security agreements became invalid and around 70,000 people were affected by an insurance gap. On 10 September 2021 , Alain Berset signed a new agreement, whereby Swiss nationals in the UK will be reconnected to the health system.
Mods, if this has already been posted and I missed it, please merge my post into a existent thread, or delete it if these links are already up. Thank you.
I am following this and it will be implicated sometime in November.
For those who have UK family visiting it also is to reintroduce the use of the EHIC card which was stopped because of Brexit as part of the same agreement.
if theirs is out of date, tell them to apply now, can take a month or so to arrive in post. They can apply up to six months before expiry of current card
Can't wait to see the final version. We have so several UK friends who have a small holiday place here they bought a long time ago, with the intention of spending more time here when they retired, who have not been able to visit for a couple of years - as they have in the meantime 'acquired' some medical problems along the way which prevents cover, or cover with exceptions- by travel insurance and who considered selling up. For all those couples we know- this is truly a game changer.
And for so many of us resident here, it will allow our older relatives to come and visit again, without fear that they could face massive costs if anything happens.
I wonder if sport acitivities, like skiing, will be included?
I expect they are referring to the recognition of contributions, the calculation of pension for those who do not qualify for a full pension in either jurisdiction and the responsibility for the provision of healthcare coverage.
My Swiss IV pension amount is small due to only paying in for a few years. Do you mean UK pension qualifying years would be counted by the Swiss and my pension amount would go up? When would we get details?
''The UK and Switzerland signed a landmark agreement today which will benefit citizens who live and work abroad in either country by ensuring they are able to receive healthcare cover and uprated state pensions, amongst other social security entitlements''
which means UK pensions for UK residents in Switzerland will continue to be indexed.
In the past under the EU agreement, in cases where people did not qualify for a full pension in any state there was a calculation done according to a complex set of rules that ensure that the person got the maximum about possible and yes in around about way all contributions were included.
That is not the same thing. Although not a common situation, there are cases where a person does not qualify for a full pension or healthcare in any state. The old agreement covered such situations ensuring that people got the maximum possible and set out a set of rules to ensure the qualified for healthcare and other social services.
We know 3 couples who were just about to sell their apartment they bought many moons ago to spend more time there when they retired, but will now be able to re-consider as emergency care will now be covered. Pheew.