Travel insurance for Europe
Europe is the one destination where many travellers already hold part of the answer — through a state healthcare card, a card benefit, or a visa requirement they have to meet anyway. What follows is what each of those actually does, and where the gaps between them sit.
What an EHIC or GHIC does
A European Health Insurance Card, and the UK's Global Health Insurance Card, entitle you to state-provided medically necessary healthcare in another participating country on the same terms as a resident. That is genuinely valuable and it is not insurance.
- Covers state healthcare on the same basis as a local — which may mean free, and may mean a co-payment you still owe.
- Applies to treatment that cannot reasonably wait until you get home, including ongoing care for a chronic condition.
- Costs nothing to obtain and lasts several years.
- It does not pay for a flight home, a medical repatriation or an air ambulance — the single largest cost in most serious cases.
- It does not cover private treatment, and in some countries the nearest facility or the one an ambulance takes you to is private.
- It does not cover cancellation, baggage, or anything that is not medical treatment.
- It is not accepted as proof of insurance for a Schengen visa, because it does not meet the repatriation or minimum-cover requirements.
When a visa sets a minimum
If your passport needs a Schengen visa, insurance stops being optional and starts being a documented condition of the application — with a fixed minimum amount, an area of validity and a date range that all have to be right at once. That rule has its own page, because getting it wrong is one of the most common reasons an application is refused.
The Schengen €30,000 rule, in fullIf you travel visa-free
Entering visa-free means nobody will ask to see a policy, and it does not mean the cost has gone away. Schengen states expect visitors to be able to meet their own emergency costs, and the arithmetic that makes cover sensible — a hospital stay or a flight home costing many times the trip — is unchanged by whether anyone checks.
Europe is not one rulebook
"Europe" on an insurance quote and "Europe" on a map are different areas, and the gaps catch people out:
- An insurer's "Europe" band often includes Türkiye, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and the Canaries, and sometimes excludes Russia. Read the country list rather than assuming.
- The UK and Ireland are outside the Schengen area, so the €30,000 rule does not apply to a trip there — but a trip combining the two needs cover valid for both.
- Non-EU countries in the Schengen area — Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein — are inside the visa rule and outside some EHIC arrangements.
- Cyprus and Ireland are in the EU and outside Schengen, which is exactly the combination that produces a policy valid where you are not going.
Common questions
Legally, only if you are applying for a Schengen visa, in which case it is mandatory and specified precisely. Travelling visa-free, nobody will ask. The practical case is separate from the legal one: an EHIC or GHIC covers state treatment but not a flight home, and medical repatriation from Europe typically costs several thousand euros upwards — which is the gap a policy exists to close.
For minor treatment in a state hospital, often yes. For anything requiring repatriation, private treatment, or a cancelled trip, no — it covers none of those. The usual advice is to carry both: the card handles routine treatment at local rates and the policy handles the expensive tail. They are complements, not alternatives.
If you are applying for a Schengen visa, yes — validity across the whole area is part of the requirement, regardless of how many countries you actually plan to visit. If you are travelling visa-free, it only needs to cover the countries you will enter, including any you merely transit through.
Not automatically. The UK is not in the Schengen area and not in the EU, and insurers differ on whether their "Europe" band includes it. If your trip combines the UK with continental Europe, check the country list explicitly rather than relying on the region name.
packset.travel is an independent trip-planning tool, not an insurer or broker. This is general information, not insurance advice — always confirm cover levels and entry requirements with the insurer and the relevant consulate before you travel.
Whether cover is required, recommended or irrelevant for your trip depends on the passport you hold and the country you are entering. That pair is the only thing that settles it.