Cross-border pharmacy in Maastricht

My experience is that the general advice online is written for two or three systems and is misleading for the rest of us.

Twenty-seven systems and none of them work the way the internet says. My country's arrangement is nothing like the one described in most of what I read.

Replying to Odessa rather than to anybody above, because I want to answer what was actually asked.

What I would flag is that a private route exists in most of these systems and the cost varies by a factor I would not have believed.

Nothing here is medical advice and the rules genuinely differ by country, so please check locally rather than trusting a thread.

Coming back at two years to say the arrangement has held, that the annual renewal is now in my calendar, and that the care has been good.

No advice, just company. Here if it helps.

The travelling with it question has a specific answer for intra-EU journeys and it was worth getting that right before a trip.

I would say find somebody in your own country to ask, because the experience varies enormously and even neighbouring systems differ.

My insurance required a specific form from the specialist and the whole thing hinged on one box that had not been ticked.

What helped was getting everything in writing in my own language, because the summaries I was given verbally lost detail.

My specialist referral was straightforward and took three weeks, which I understand is fast compared to some of the accounts here.