Polish Healthcare card for Citizen, but Non-resident?

Hello,
I am a Polish citizen living outside of Poland; I was born in Canada but now I am living in Belgium. I have also been living in France and the Netherlands before, but all without proper healthcare.

I had to go to the hospital in Belgium and they told me I could use the public hospital for free if I had an EHIC. I know about this card (EKUZ in Polish - www .nfz.gov.pl/ue/index.php?katnr=5&dzialnr=6), but the problem is I have never lived in Poland, or even been there for a long period of time (few weeks at a time maximum). I speak some Polish but not perfectly. My mother was born in Płock, but she left so many years ago and my close relatives (parents, grandparents) are all still in Canada.

Is there any way for me to get Polish healthcare benefits without living in Poland for a long time? I know that sounds bad - like I am trying to take from their system, but I worked and paid taxes in France and Belgium, and I am an EU citizen. I would only want to get the Polish regular health card in order to apply for an EHIC.

Is this something I could do on my next vacation to Poland? Do I have to give them a Polish address??

Dziekuje!!
Ola

Hey there,

You don't have to have a Polish EHIC. It can be issued in any country in which you pay for healthcare. I myself had 2 or 3 EHIC each from a different country. Why then try to have a Polish one if you pay for healthcare somewhere else? If you work, then it's easy, if not then you probably are taken into your parents social scheme or something similar. The link you presented has all the information and you can surely find similar onein Belgiom, and apply for EHIC...

Surely they've got it all wrong? If you're paying taxes (and social insurance) in Belgium, surely you'd be making a claim under their system rather than the Polish system? It seems that they've assumed that you're not a resident of Belgium.

Anyway, you can't obtain the Polish EHIC card - you need to be paying social insurance here to qualify. They ask to see proof of social insurance payments at the time of obtaining the EHIC card - so as a non-resident of Poland, not having paid Polish social insurance - no card.