Exclusive: British Tourists Could Be Left Without Medical Cover In EU Countries After No-Deal Brexit

British tourists to European countries could be left without medical cover while on holiday in the event of a no-deal Brexit, health ministers have admitted.

The Liberal Democrats, who are pushing for a second referendum, put pressure on the government to come clean about the fact it has not secured any bilateral health agreements with EU member states if the UK crashes out without a deal next month.

Tom Brake, the party’s Brexit spokesperson, wrote to health minister Stephen Hammond about the issue, who could not confirm any agreements have been made to ensure British citizens in the EU and EU citizens in the UK would continue to have the same access to medical cover.

In the response, Hammond could only say that the UK and Irish governments have “firm intentions to maintain the Common Travel Area and to protect the associated reciprocal rights”.

Brake told HuffPost UK: “In a no-deal scenario, it is now disturbingly likely that UK citizens will have no medical cover in most, if not all, of the EU countries.

“With many people already having booked travel to the EU for after 29 March, we need urgent clarification from the government of what action UK travellers need to take, including whether they should be taking out expensive travel insurance.

“This is particularly worrying as most of the large travel insurance firms are not able to confirm whether their insurance will be valid in the case of no-deal.

“Conservative Ministers do not need to hold British travellers at ransom. They can instead take no-deal off the table and give the public the final say with a People’s Vote so that we can get out of this mess once and for all.”

British tourists can currently apply for a European Health Insurance Card, which gives them the right to access state-provided healthcare during a temporary stay in another European Economic Area (EEA) country or Switzerland.

But the NHS website warns this is likely to change after March 29, when the UK is set to formally exit the bloc.