I recently became an EU national from a country different of the one I live. How do I get insured?

Question

I originally came from Brazil and settled in France two years ago. I did the basic inscription on the "Securite Sociale" but nothing more than that (never got the "Carte Vitale" for instance). Recently, I became a citizen of Italy through Jus Sanguinis. I would be interested in obtaining an European Health Insurance Card.

Since I am not resident in Italy but in France, it's not so obvious how to obtain it. The european website on the matter suggests contacting the health insurance of my country, however, since I am not inscribed in the Italian healthcare system, I can't see how that would lead to anything. My intention is to leave France in about one year, so I am not interested in proceeding with a registration on everything here. I would ideally like something that would enable me to be insured throughout the EU if possible.

Answer 1

Your citizenship is irrelevant, you only get a EHIC through affiliation with one of the EU's statutory healthcare/insurance systems. You could therefore have gotten one as a Brazilian citizen and becoming Italian doesn't fundamentally change your situation in that respect. In fact, I couldn't find anything on the EU website about “your country”, it's very clear about all that.

For you, until you move elsewhere, that means the only way to get a EHIC is to register with the sécurité sociale, whether you are Italian or not. You said you completed “basic inscription”, does that mean you are covered by the French public health insurance and have a social security number? If that is the case, you can try creating an account on ameli.fr. Once you have done that, you can very easily request the card through the account.

If your plan is to move to another EU country permanently, you are not supposed to get a EHIC to cover your healthcare there. Instead, you should register in your new country of residence with whatever national health insurance system exists in that country and then get a EHIC to cover you during visits in other EU countries. The same would apply for a French citizen or a Brazilian resident of France who isn't an EU citizen and moves to another EU country.

If you reside outside Europe, you cannot get a EHIC even if you are an EU citizen.