“Save yourself worry and money!”A new video “Using your EHIC in Spain”aims to help visitors to Spain and their expatriatehosts. The video is available to use onnews and community websites.Visiting Spain without proper healthcare covercould cost you time, worry and even ruin yourholiday if you end up with big medical bills.That’s the message to holidaymakers and expatriateswho have friends and families visitingthem this summer. The British Embassy’sHealthcare Team regularly has to help Britonsin hospital without the correct cover.In 2013, over 2,000 British holidaymakersfound themselves in a public hospital in Spainand having to apply for a temporary replacementfor their European Health InsuranceCard (or EHIC), adding stress and frustrationto urgent medical treatment. If you are comingto Spain for a holiday or temporary stay,a valid EHIC will save you time and expense.“Using your EHIC in Spain”, a short videofrom the Embassy’s Healthcare Team, willhelp you understand where and how to useit. The video also stresses the importance oftravel insurance. The Healthcare Team assistsmany more Brits who end up in private hospitalswithout travel insurance and facing medicalbills of thousands of pounds. Private careis not covered by an EHIC, nor reimbursed bythe National Health Service.One holidaymaker describes how travellingwithout an EHIC added distress to illness.“Last year I ended up in the local public hospitalin Marbella with no EHIC. While I wasbeing treated, I had to arrange for cover tobe faxed over from the UK. In the end it tookdays because my name was misspelled byadmissions and they did not link the replacementcover to me. It was awful having allthat added stress, plus doing it all in Spanish,when I felt so poorly.”An EHIC only covers state healthcare, notprivate medical costs. Another traveller explainshow he was caught out with no travelinsurance. “When I started feeling dizzy, thehotel called for an ambulance. I was taken toa nearby hospital where I was kept in overnight.When I went to check out, there was a1,923€ bill waiting for me. I had been treatedin a private hospital without knowing it. Havingno private insurance cover, I had to pay.That was pretty much the end of my holiday.”Jane Ellison, Public Health Minister said “Ifyou live in the UK, you are entitled to a freeEuropean Health Insurance card which givesyou access to healthcare when travelling inEurope. If you fall ill and aren’t properly covered,you may have to pay. This video givesimportant information about why you need avalid EHIC and travel insurance when visitingother European countries and how to use theEHIC card should you need it.”You can find the video on YouTube by searching“Using your EHIC in Spain”. You can alsofind the video and get more information onEHICs at www.healthcareinspain.eu , oron the NHS Choices website under Healthcarein SpainIn association with Costa Cálida International Radio and www.angloINFO.com“They think it’s all over ...... it is now”. Themost famous line in English sporting history!1966. Geoff Hurst completes what is still theonly hat trick in any World Cup Final. Englandlifts the trophy.Forty eight years on and thirty two nationsare preparing for the June 12 th start of Brazil<strong>2014</strong>; the latest installment of the biggestsporting event in the world. Official figuresgive the last tournament in 2010 as havingbeen watched by 28.8 billion people, withover one billion watching the final live aroundthe world. What is it about this competitionthat causes such a reaction and how did itevolve?Football, “The Beautiful Game” as it is called,was played as part of the Olympics as farback as 1908. It was the then-president ofFIFA, Jules Rimet, who organised the firstWorld Cup, held in Uruguay in 1930, as a resultof football being dropped from the OlympicGames. Because of logistics at that time(no rapid air travel in those days) only 13 nationstook part and just four from Europe. Acrowd of 93,000 people witnessed the final,with Uruguay defeating Argentina, to lift the“Jules Rimet Trophy”. With no television coverageand few radios, the event was widelyreported in the press and with football beingfootball, ingratiated itself with much of theworld population.Moderate growth in the size of the tournamenttook place in the pre-war years of 1934 and1938, with Italy being successful twice. Followingcessation for World War II, the WorldCup resumed in 1950, with, amongst others,England competing for the first time, whilstUruguay succeeded for the second time.It was the 1958 tournament in Sweden, whenthe teenage boy, who was to become themost famous footballer of all time, was introducedto the world. His Name? Pele. Hiscountry? Brazil; winners for the first time, ofthe Jules Rimet Trophy, which was to becometheirs outright following success in 1962 and1970. Pele played continuously throughoutthese years and provided the world with someof the greatest footballing moments of alltime. Indeed, the final of 1970, when Brazildefeated Italy 4-1 is regarded by many (thewriter included!) as the greatest match of alltime. In addition to his extraordinary talents,it was Pele’s sportsmanship and humility thatlive in the memory.Even today, Pele represents football and inparticular the World Cup, on the World Stage.With the growth in air travel, television andthe “shrinking” of the world in a time-framesense, from the initial 13 nations of 1930, 207countries entered the qualifying rounds forBrazil <strong>2014</strong>. No doubt the usual favourites,five times winners and hosts Brazil, Argentina,Spain (the current holders), Italy andGermany will feature prominently, but all thecompetitors will start thinking that anything ispossible. No matter what the country, or whatits people have, think, or do, a game of footballhas always united. The biggest tournamentin the world unites the whole world fora short time. So, good luck Brazil <strong>2014</strong> andmay whichever team wins, do so in a mannerbefitting history and its people.Page 12Costa Cálida Chronicle: Please tell our customers where you saw their advertisement tSales Contact Teresa 619 199 407 or for the Editor Contact Patti 646 005 017www.costacalidachronicle.com email: costacalidachronicle@gmail.com
In association with Costa Cálida International Radio and www.angloINFO.comCosta Cálida Chronicle: Please tell our customers where you saw their advertisementSales Contact Teresa 619 199 407 or for the Editor Contact Patti 646 005 017www.costacalidachronicle.com email: costacalidachronicle@gmail.comPage 13
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