I am an American PACSed with a French citizen. Do I share in his healthcare benefits/Carte Vitale?
Hi Patricia and welcome to the Forum
someone will probably chime in soon…
What does your Partner say… I’m presuming that he will need to “declare” you if there is to be a possibility of cover… . has he done so ??
Depends what you mean by healthcare benefits? You can no longer join the French health system as a beneficiary of someone else, you have to join in your own right now.
However if you talking about healthcare insurance schemes, such as from his workplace, then it will depend on the terms of that specific insurance.
Aieeeeee - not true in all cases Jane - specifically for dependants of S1 holders. (obviously not relevant in Patricia’s case)
Well I’m a S1 dependent, but as regards signing up to PUMA it should be in my own right as the ayant droit system has gone. That the UK pays is another matter. Maybe for us it was different as we were in health system before OH’s S1 appeared, but don’t really see why.
You have your own Ameli online account and an individual Attestation de Droits then?
Jane is correct.
Technically S1 holders don’t join PUMA at all, in the sense that they don’t apply to CPAM for healthcare and they don’t pay contributions so CPAM’s eligibility criteria don’t apply to them. They belong to the NHS and the arrangement is betweeen CPAM and the NHS. If the NHS confirms to CPAM (via an S1) that it will refund a person’s healthcare costs, CPAM will automatically give that person a carte vitale and provide them with healthcare and reclaim the cost from the UK.
It’s NHS policy to extend one person’s healthcare to routinely cover adult dependents, but CPAM no longer does that. Children up to a certain age and in some cases vulnerable adults are covered as ayant droits, everyone else has their own healthcare account. There may still be a few adult ayant droits who were registered prior to 2016, but I think this is being phased out by the end of this year.
Oh dear - I give up! If anyone is still following this thread I strongly suggest you contact your local CPAM for clarification! 
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Wise words from Simon.
Or check the government website
it’s really not complicated.
Thank you for all the responses. I will need to decode the acronyms and research more. This PACS is very recent. We are both over 60, not working, and I am only here for 90 days because we travel a lot and are bad planners, ie, no long stay visa this time. I have never contributed to the Social Security system in France but obviously can’t go running back to the US every time I need medical care. My partner thinks I am not eligible for the Carte Vitale, but I don’t see how that is even logical, as any catastrophic event would be a huge financial burden. It does appear complicated.
I presume you have taken out Travel Insurance… which will cover certain medical emergencies… ???
Patricia - please get your partner to talk to the CPAM - horses mouth and all that! Good luck 
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I own a house in the states but consider France my home now.
At the moment, according to your post… you only have a short-term visa and travel a lot… 
So, as Simon suggests… talk with CPAM… about the future…
also, IMO… you should check out whatever Travel Insurance you will have put in place for your Trips… (France being one place of several by the sound of it… )
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Yours is an uncommon situation, so I agree you or your partner needs to check directly with the authorities. Unless one of us on here is in your situation we are merely guessing.
There are complexities you will need to unravel. For example, you may consider France to be your home, but where do you pay tax? As it might be that 90 days is not considered sufficient to be resident, and therefore not eligible to join the health system despite being PACs’ed, and you would be expected to use private health insurance.
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Thanks. Good point. We will pay taxes here in France but I honestly don’t know much else, so guess I’ll find out! Seems to be our modus operandi toujours… haha!
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