Bulgarian citizens may apply for new health insurance cards as of January 3, 2007, allowing them to receive help in the case of emergencies while they are visiting EU countries.
The country's health fund will issue the card to all the insured citizens, giving them access to the health insurance packet that every EU citizen is entitled to.
The card will be also valid on the territory of the countries in the European Economic Area - Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
It will expire in one year for the working and insured, from one to five years for minors and for an average of ten years for pensioners.
Still, Health Ministry officials point out that this will only apply to matters of emergency, not to planned treatment. A special permission is needed in the second case.
"The European health insurance card is not obligatory and does not replace the medical insurance while travelling," they pointed out.
The new card is tagged at BGN 3.