Good morning, I’d like to apply for residency in France as an early retiree with independent means. My concern is obtaining private health insurance (PHI) that will meet the visa requirements. I have pre-existing conditions that have been stable under treatment for over two years.
When I looked into getting cover a couple of years ago I was told by a provider specialising in PHI for visa applications that they could provide cover that excluded pre-existing conditions but would be acceptable for obtaining the visa. Can this be true?
Thanks for any advice, and apologies for any repetition of previous queries on the subject. I did do a quick search bu couldn’t find any matching topics.
But basically the official rules state that you must have cover for the full length of your visa for ALL medical expenses, with a €30,000 minimum. Some visa offices are more flexible than others, but you can’t guarantee this.
Oh yes, I see scrolling further down. They may want to send the Bot for retraining then! Tbh though, and I can’t remember exactly, but I feel I did get a quote a few years ago via here and was told my pre-existing condition wouldn’t be covered… I’d be willing to take the risk as I could cover initial emergency treatment costs, but I’ve since read elsewhere that some prefectures reject application if PHI has exclusions - which does sound believable.
Hi everyone, to keep this simple by default absolutely no policy would cover pre existing conditions. If they tell you they do they are simply lying it doesn’t exist.
then you have the option to go through a medical questionnaire and pay a premium to have things covered but this is always something we assess on a case by case as the premium can sky rocket and it’s not always worth the money spent.
For all those reasons I would strongly suggest booking a consultation with a FAB agent they are really super friendly and knowledgeable about this whole visa process and we’ll be with you all the way through the visa application and beyond (applying into French healthcare, recommending partners if you need any, confirming what you should do, etc.).
Thanks for replying, Fabien. I think that is what I reasonably expect and am prepared to cover the risks myself. My real concern is whether I could obtain cover that would satisfy the visa requirements if there are any pre-existing condition exclusions. I get the sense it’s a matter of taking out cover and then applying for the visa without certainty that the HIC is going to be acceptable?
Yes and No, honestly if you can book a call with Marianne or book a call with Nannie from our team they’ll explain how you can both pay a reasonable premium AND be completely visa compliant. I think it’s worth a few minutes on a zoom call as there are ways to both get you covered properly AND guaranteing the policy is going to conform with the legal requirements/expectations.
This is also a perennial concern for those of us renewing carte de séjours who have PHI, ie the policies (generally) cannot strictly meet the test of “comprehensive medical coverage”, given exclusions for any pre-existing conditions.Online research suggests the response, if challenged, is that you can comfortably meet any such costs arising personally, fully supported by financial statements attached to the application. Crucially there will be no costs to the French taxpayer in so doing…
Fortunately in my own CdS, the case officer failed to ask the ‘right’ question, getting sidetracked by effectively asking why I didn’t have French state medical cover, as opposed to private coverage. The issue was then dropped after a simple explanation.
Your concerns are legit we are seing cases where préfectures are asking for PHI despite applicants being part of French healthcare. The “behind the scene” reason seems to be that some picky agents kind of expect applicants to meet the requirements by the book and what i call by the book is that (sorry it’s in French):
L’assurance maladie mentionnée à l’article L. 233-1 doit couvrir les prestations prévues aux articles L. 160-8, L. 160-9 et L. 321-1 du code de la sécurité sociale.
The “assurance maladie” mentioned is the applicant’s medical cover. This requirement spins out from the “article L. 233-1 du CESEDA” which was inforced for both visas and residency permit back in 2020 (Ordonnance n° 2020-1733 du 16 décembre 2020).
It’s funny because the text seems to imply “one policy” but préfecture seems to combine those, so either you have everything covered under an “umbrella” policy (PHI for visas or residency when not yet part of French healthcare) OR you have French public healthcare (social security) and the joke is that French public healthcare does not meet the requirements on its own so they kind of expect to see French social security + mutuelle (combined they do meet the requirements).
I’ve seen quite a lot of rejections because of that, the good news is that Mutuelles will cover pre-existing conditions (same as French social security) but this is why you may have seen me kind of say that mutuelles are “mandatory” for “expats/immigrants”. Theoretically they are not but due to this requirement it is indirectly required. And, by the way, those laws only apply to third party nationals so those who get citizenship fall outside of this spectrum, same for EU applicants or foreigners (but they don’t even need a residency permit so it’s not really a problem for those).
Sorry for the long text, hope it helps some of you understand some of the complexities of the French system? And for those who don’t want the headache that’s why FAB Insurance exists, we advice and guide 100% for free (although we do have the solutions/policies to sell to you as well, anyone that has dealt with any of our FAB advisor will confirm we’re never “selling” anything).
With some pre-existing conditions would it matter if they are not covered by PHI? I thought conditions such as cancer and major heart issues are treated as ALD.
Once you’re into public French healthcare they are covered indeed but “PHI” in itself is a French conundrum as it doesn’t exist in France (PHI), I mean, 90%+ of the French population doesn’t know what PHI is so for most “of us” a mutuelle is a PHI. I know it’s confusing and it also explain why most of the “French native” don’t even bother to try to understand the system, they just know it works, and if it doesn’t or when it doesn’t they also know that they’ll be provided with alternative options or ways to fix this so they don’t bother trying to understand “the logic” (which often is fuzzy indeed lol).
correct, ALD is only when you’re part of the public system (French social security). And it’s the “médecin traitant” who will guide you into having this “status” recognized.
In fact the whole team are very helpful.