Jeffrey I. Says:
Hi,
I’m a dual citizen—US and Italy. What will be my stumbling blocks to relocating to France or Portugal? What would healthcare entail?
Thanks.
Global Diversification Expert Ted Baumann Says:
Hi Jeffrey,
Once you are a citizen of an EU country, you have the right to live anywhere within the Union.
You also have the right to receive public healthcare in every other country, as well as Iceland, Norway, Lichtenstein, and Switzerland.
When you are temporarily in another EU country, you can either have your home country’s health service pay the other country for your healthcare, or you can pay it yourself and claim it back from your country.
Most people opt for the former. To do so you need to carry a European Health Insurance Card, or EHIC, which is issued by each country’s health service. This is proof that you have health coverage in your home EU country.
However, the EU distinguishes between planned and unplanned healthcare.
Unplanned healthcare is when you have an emergency. In that case you are treated the same as a citizen of the other country.
Planned healthcare, on the other hand, is of a non-emergency nature—for example, having a dental crown replaced. In that case, each country has its own rules for how it approaches coverage in another country. Some will simply pay for it whilst others require that you come back to your home country for that type of care. Some types of planned care require preauthorization from your home country, others do not.
All this applies if you are temporarily resident in another EU country. If you become a permanent resident of another EU country, on the other hand, you may qualify for full health benefits under that country’s own rules.
Read more healthcare in France here and Portugal here.
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