No, the European health card, which includes European Health Insurance Card EHIC and UK Global Health Insurance Card GHIC, is not valid in Australia for free healthcare, because Australia is not part of EU, EEA or Switzerland. The EHIC and GHIC only work in EU countries, plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and UK for EU citizens. In Australia, healthcare for visitors is via Medicare for Australian citizens and permanent residents, or via Reciprocal Health Care Agreement RHCA for citizens of certain countries, or via private Overseas Visitor Health Cover OVHC. If you are from UK, Ireland, Sweden, Netherlands, Finland, Norway, Belgium, Malta, Slovenia and Italy, you have RHCA with Australia that gives you limited Medicare access for medically necessary treatment as a public patient, but this is not via EHIC, you need to enrol in Medicare with passport and visa, and RHCA does not cover ambulance, private hospital, dental or repatriation. EHIC itself cannot be used at Australian hospitals or GPs to get free treatment. So if you are a European tourist visiting Australia, you cannot use EHIC to get free treatment, you need to have travel insurance or OVHC, because a hospital stay in Australia costs $1,500 per day and emergency surgery $20,000+ without cover. Some European travel insurance policies include EHIC as extra but not valid in Australia. So answer is no, European health card is not valid in Australia, you need separate travel insurance or qualify for RHCA via nationality.
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