I don’t have sufficient information to assess the situation re “Refusal… blah blah” … so I’m stumbling in the dark a bit here…
but my understanding is that “whoever” had previously been granted Aid of some sort … and that aid has since been removed…
For anyone in genuine need… this would (I reckon) cause distress/concern… and I’m hoping that some good advice/help has been forthcoming…
It’s an EU thing, no? French resident UK citizens have probably fallen into a perhaps grey area of the withdrawal agreement. Hopefully soon to be sorted (if indeed there is an issue) Other European nationals (still being a part of the EU) won’t have this issue.
And as alluded to above by @Sandcastle the ‘delivery’ system is different; UK being free at point of delivery and France having a kind of 2 stage process (carte vitale and complémentaire) It’s possible (my supposition like thing) the withdrawal agreement might not have got this situation100% crystal clear covered. Further, it might be the process that’s unclear; it’s not that either party (UK nor France) intended to leave S1 holders without access to CSS, it’s the ‘HOW do we do it’ bit that’s been exposed. France has got to weave this new situation into its existing processes (and many know already of the labyrinth that is the Napoleonic code!)
Because one of the fundamental devise of France is fraternité. So those in need are helped if they are residents.
It seems unlikely that it would affect immigrants other than Brits because of immigration requirements. Other than those on the WARP, immigrants are required to have an income level that would put them well above the threshhold. Even EU ressortissants are required to have sufficient income not to become a burden on the state when moving to a different EU state.
Also am I correct in thinking that inactifs who apply for PUMA have to prove a certain income threshold? If so, is that threshold above or below the CSS threshold? It would be interesting to know.
I am just wondering whether all this has started because France has noticed a large increase in the number of CSS applications since the Brexit intake, and is finding the system unsustainable.
Maybe things have changed but I didn’t back in 2007 (much to the disbelief of some forum member elsewhere!) We were very prompt in getting ourselves sorted when we arrived, within weeks we were up at CPAM getting ourselves ‘in the system’ If memory serves (and admittedly it rarely does these days!) no proof of income was requested.
I’ve always assumed these things were checked ‘behind the scenes’ and CPAM had access to tax records, bank details etc etc etc and could see our resources. It wasn’t until we applied for our initial CdS just before Brexit that anyone’s ever asked to see any documents pertaining to finances.
It seems things must have changed because I believe that nowadays the first thing to prove is that you have been living in France for at least 3 months at the time of application.
I cannot remember when it was, maybe seven or eight years ago, a dedicated processing centre was set up somewhere in the south of France to process healthcare applications for inactifs. I think the thinking was that CPAMs up and down France were all doing things differently and having one processing centre would solve this. As I recall there were delays and general chaos initially until the processing centre got on top of things but since then all seems to have run smoothly.
This topic is being discussed on another forum where one of the people affected by this is an S1 holder with French nationality.
Wow, yes, not the most common of beasts but neither a rarity I guess!
what is the suggestion here to be clear…
If you are a British but French nationalised resident, your UK S1 becomes ineffective?
Not at all, merely that it seems anyone with an S1 claiming CSS can be caught up in this regardless of their nationality.
I guess it would equally apply to a French born person who has lived and worked in the UK. Often with these things the country has to be careful not to be seen to differentiate on the grounds of nationality. So a French native, a non French native who has taken citizenship, and a non French resident who has not taken citizenship, should in theory all be treated the same.
So it would seem that the French authorities are saying that the competent state is (or should be ) responsible for all ‘government funded’ healthcare.
To me (and I would say this, given what I’ve suggested above - a confirmation bias) I see a further suggestion of it being a process problem, or a category one if you like. The withdrawal agreement has created a new category of person that the French system is unable to process. It’s not nationality based at all. It’s entirely possible for a French nation to have worked in the UK and acquired UK pension rights and all things affiliated. They’re equally in this same ‘category’ boat.
I don’t personally think so. I think it’s a little more nuanced than that (to be fair to the French authorities) I think what they are saying is more akin to ‘we’ve no mechanism by which to handle this situation’
You can find out here whether you qualify and what help you get.
Must confess I used the simulateur yesterday (fudging my figures) and it didn’t throw any wobblies but said I should make my application and await judgement…
Mind you, it didn’t ask and I didn’t mention S1… so if I had gone ahead with an official Application it might well have come-up then… who knows.
Just waiting for someone who has been refused to actually report back on what the Assistante Sociale has said about this…
My original application (last year) was done online, and all was done and dusted in a few days. I was surprised how quick it all was. My renewal (which I was reminded of by email) started online but halted at the final step and I was advised it had to be done manually. That was done 5 weeks ago now.
There is some kind of change or hold up. I can entirely believe that some people have been refused, not from here perhaps but they exist.
Tbh, I’d not heard of the Assistance Sociale before @Stella referred to it/them a few days back. Probably because I’d not needed their services. It’d not surprise me at all if people that have had CSS refused are similarly unaware and are looking dumbfounded at their refusal and wondering ‘what now?’ I suspect we’re in new territory.
We were a year or so later than you (bought this house in 2008, before that had a second home flat), and had to provide a huge amount of backing financial info that was carefully interrogated. All went smoothly tho’ apart from obligatory resubmission of a document they already had. (What they didn’t ask us was any proof of having health insurance. Luckily as we didn’t apart from EHIC).
It could well vary by department as so many things do!
then you might find this useful
We had the EHIC and whatever the form number was granted us x months from the UK, but no private cover. There was a problem at the time with some kind of misinformation within some CPAM offices that meant Brits were being refused access fullstop, and maybe this railroaded them somewhat into overlooking other requirements - I can’t say - but I was aware of it in advance and had a relevant bit of paper (a print out from CPAM’s own website) and that smoothed the path.
It’s probably after that that the process was centralised (as mentioned earlier), to try out iron out the differences in practice in the various depts.
I’ve got to say though that we’ve either been incredibly lucky, or the system has ‘just worked’ for us, because we’ve honestly never, touch wood, come up against huge obstacles in bureaucracy and the like. And that’s across the board; health system, taxes, cars, driving licence changes etc etc etc. I like to be above board and clean in whatever I do so tend to take a bit of time in trying to understand what’s needed, not always with success obviously!