Majority of citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina who have a valid health card are not informed about the fact that they can use free health protection in 13 European countries. When they travel abroad, citizens also pay for travel insurance which should cover urgent health protection as well.
If you have a valid health card, before you travel abroad you should know that during temporary stay (tourist visit, official visit etc.) you have the right to use urgent health protection at the expense of the Institute of Health Insurance of BiH and the Fund of Health Insurance of Republika Srpska.
In order to exercise the right to medical treatment abroad, before the trip you should obtain a bilingual form if you are traveling to a country which has signed the International agreement on social insurance with BiH. Those countries are Austria, Belgium, Montenegro, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Croatia, Hungary, Macedonia, Germany, Slovenia, Serbia, Turkey and Great Britain.
The bilingual forms are issues exclusively by the mentioned health insurance institutions of the FBiH and RS, in the place of residence. In case when the bilingual form has been issued, costs of health protection will be paid by the Institute or the Fund, or the costs will be refunded entirely or partially.
In case of the refunding option, user of health insurance can submit a request to the relevant health insurance institution to reimbursement of costs. In addition to the request, user of health insurance submits the receipt with the amount of paid costs, as well as medical and other documentation which proves that health protection was used.
Almost two thousand forms were issued from January until December 2015, while 558 forms were issued from June 1 until June 30, 2016.
Before traveling abroad, consult your family doctor and pediatrician for children. Ask for a confirmation of health condition. After that, take the confirmation and validated health card to the nearest branch office of the health insurance institute or fund and request the form which enables you to use health protection abroad, which will cost you only several BAM.
(Source: klix.ba/photo: haber.ba)
