I am of course absolutely sorry to hear the account of both your relatives awful treatments and their outcomes. I guess that might reinforce the need for medical insurance including repatriation to France, even though we are also in the NHS with the S1’s. The insurance would have to be very quick with the repatriation though - and that wouldn’t be activated if no diagnosis and stabilisation?
Thanks for your insightful comment hair bear. It gives us pause for thought! I hope your trip to Bruges is good, and you might get to see a few midgets
Indeed he was, but I was talking about the general case, and thinking what would happen if you weren’t part of CPAM (as @George1 isn’t) but had an S1 . Would it be worth joining CPAM at that point, as you would then avoid a lot of social charges anyway from having the S1. Maybe George has thought about this as I don’t think he’s yet of UK retirement age.
The GHIC is cover which we should apply for. My OH has British and Irish passports but her British passport became out of date earlier this year and she is not applying for a renewal so I wonder if this would invalidate any GHIC cover if she was able to get one. She has a British pension and of course a national insurance no.
Weirdly, a retired colleague was recently considering sticking with fully private medical insurance even though she’s about to become entitled to an S1.
We discussed it and I couldn’t think of a scenario where it would make sense not to use an S1 to join the CPAM.
If you don’t have an S1, I guess there are circumstances where you might find it’s cheaper to pay for private medical insurance (although I gather we’re still talking several thousand pounds for very basic cover), rather than join the CPAM based on residency (i.e. PUMA), in which case you would be liable to social charges on your income plus, potentially, the 6% PUMA tax on passive income over and above roughly EUR 23K.
Absolutely agree. The moment my wife or I qualify for an S1(5 years and counting!) we will immediately apply to join CPAM. One of the reasons will be to benefit from being affiliated to the whole Assurance Maladie/carte vitale etc set up, whilst continuing to avoid the social charges on our pensions.
Although we are both covered by a CEAM, I’ve taken out a yearly travel insurance with Axa (via American Express) to cover both of us in case of unexpected costs : currently 265.64€ /annum
Thanks for clarifying all the issues. It is definitely our last holiday outside France so my OH will not renew her UK passport. The £100 pounds saved will go towards health insurance. One aspect I am curious about. We know of an elderly couple who went back to the UK to see family and friends. The wife developed serious stomach pains and went to A&E. She was diagnosed with stomach cancer and died within three days. The husband didn’t come back. So the couple were clearly not resident in the UK but she was still treated by the NHS. I don’t know any more details but does this mean that when visiting the UK and you become ill you are entitled to go to A&E?
Yes, and at no cost if emergency treatment is required in A&E (though not if this extends to treatment in intensive care wards etc). See this guidance note which is consistent with other NHS Trusts… overseas-visitors-factsheet-2.pdf (719.7 KB)
. I’m taking a DVD of the film, as neither have seen it before.
. Would it be worth joining CPAM at that point, as you would then avoid a lot of social charges anyway from having the S1. Maybe George has thought about this as I don’t think he’s yet of UK retirement age.
