EU-wide free health care card planned
Everyone in the EU will have a health insurance card by 2005 guaranteeing the right to free medical care in all member states, under new plans to be unveiled by the European Commission.
The EC says it will help allow all citizens to move around the EU freely and without red tape and paperwork.
The electronic health card - the size and format of a credit card - will replace the current E111 form which people fill in to qualify for subsidised medical help if needed when they travel abroad.
The E111 has been condemned as a "dinosaur from another age" by a Commission spokesman.
Its successor creates no new rights and will not contain information on the holder's medical condition.
