Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much his Department paid to each other EU member state for costs related to the medical treatment for UK nationals in each of the last five years; and how many cases of (a) emergency medical care under the European Health Insurance Card system and (b) other treatment those costs relate to.

The Department on behalf of the United Kingdom Government reimburses other European Economic Area (EEA) countries and Switzerland for the cost of providing treatment to people we are responsible for under European Union law, irrespective of nationality. In the same way, other EEA countries and Switzerland reimburse the UK for the cost of the National Health Service providing treatment to people they are responsible for under EU law, including UK nationals insured in another EEA country or Switzerland.

Member States claims against the UK are in local currency so totals are significantly affected by the exchange rate at the time of payment and can mean a difference of millions of pounds. Member States can submit claims up to 18 months in arrears so claims for any 12 month period do not necessarily reflect treatment provided in that period.

It is not possible to separate out claims to the UK from other EEA countries solely linked to European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) usage. Claims to the UK for treatment relating to EHICs are included in a larger category which also includes pre-authorised planned treatments and coverage for posted and frontier workers.

Requested figures are provided in the attached document.