Information should be posted on Ameli site (but can’t find it!) to say this has been reinstated
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Is this the one for those on really, really low income…???
Do you have any idea what figure constitutes a ‘low’ income? I’ve also searched the Ameli site with no results.
If this is the current version of the CMU-C, now known as the CSS, I am a long time beneficiary but I have no affiliation to the UK S1 system. It is applied for via Ameli and you get a choice of mutuelle suppliers but you must meet the criteria regarding income etc and also be a french resident.
| de personnes composant le foyer | Plafond annuel Complémentaire santé solidaire sans participation financière | Plafond annuel Complémentaire santé solidaire avec participation financière |
|---|---|---|
| 1 personne | 9 571 € | 12 921 € |
| 2 personnes | 14 357 € | 19 382 € |
| 3 personnes | 17 229 € | 23 259 € |
| 4 personnes | 20 100 € | 27 135 € |
| Au-delà de 4 personnes | + 3 829 € par personne supplémentaire | + 5 169 € par personne supplémentaire |
If yiu have to participate it goes on age so 10-30€
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I think the salient point here, Shiba, is that this benefit was withdrawn (I think as part of the Brexit deal) from UK residents who had used their UK S1 to join the health system.
It was withdrawn across Europe to all europeans with an S1. The legislation was always there but not imposed and the UK had not negotiated an exemption.
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Here’s link
I am under the french system as I paid contributions from working and get a pension here plus the RSA. I get reminder to reapply each November for the next year from Ameli automatically. Lots of brits who have worked in France and paid into the system can claim it if they are under the plafond for revenue but obviously not if they have never done so.
So the giving and taking away of this benefit to/from pensioners of other European nations doesn’t apply to you!
The whole point was that up until last year all EU national who had an S1 from their home country, and had appropriately low income, were eligible. This was stopped, as it was felt the home country should be paying for the CSS . Which left many UK pensioners struggling, as many UK benefits are residence based. .
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It doesn’t apply to me either.
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I was urged to apply for it by CPAM. However my application was submitted about 6 months later as in the meantime my S1 needed renewing. As it was a work-based S1 issued by UK so is issued with an end date and it must be renewed periodically. So as my S1 was about to expire, I knew there was no point in submitting the application for low cost mutuelle if the S1 supporting the underlying rights was about to disappear.
The UK government despite my begging in multiple calls to them ahead of the expiry of my S1 and throughout, please please please not to leave a gap between my S1’s, as I would be thrown out of the French health system that had been a nightmare to get into only recently (CPAM offices not open when stated, difficulty of seeing anyone during covid, CPAM losing documents, etc all coupled with general slowness) UK government continued to say they were 'not accepting S1 applications till 28 days before the needed S1’s start date" So the UK…did leave me with a massive time gap after my initial S1 expired, before they issued a new one.
The result was I got thrown out of the French health system, and my carte vitale has been cancelled. This was firmly the UK government’s fault, not CPAM’s. CPAM had been very patient but could wait no more.
As soon as the new S1 arrived I applied for the low cost mutuelle at CPAM in person having secured an interview. As anything sent waa taking 14-16 days for them to acknowledge as received. After I handed over all documents and explained, the person I met said I can’t say the outcome now but don’t hurry getting quotes for regular mutuelles.
Then I received a very short letter just stating my application was rejected as I had no rights. I submitted an appeal because I’d received a letter dated 15th of the month confirming my rights had been reinstated. Then the letter dated 16th saying my application for low cost mutuelle had been rejected as I had no rights. I appealed pointing out this contradiction and incorrect basis for refusal enclosing the dated letter I’d received confirming my rights.
My appeal was rejected 2 months later, this time in a 4-page letter with much more complicated and flowery language. I didn’t read much of it, because I knew from SF of the change in interpretation that was now being implemented, denying low income residents with S1’s access to the low cost mutuelle. I also had a sneaking feeling even pointing out French administration’s error in their rejection they were still going to find a way not to change their mind (borne out by another experience with another local admin this week).
A mutuelle would cost me 80-120 euros per month and no point in taking one till I can find a dentist I can reach locally who’s taking patients. There isn’t one and my toothache etc is now 17 months old. So I may have to find a way to resuscitate my old UK dentist. Worse, as by reports, French dentists would have the protocols allowed to do a better job than the NHS would allow my UK dentist to do.
For what’s needed, the UK dentist would cost about the same as a year’s mutuelle. But I don’t live in the UK anymore and the cost of accommodation and more than one visit would be a killer. Plus it worries me that without a mutuelle I am not covered here at home in France if I turn out to need a hospital or specialist. I am just waiting to get an appointment with a dentist and then will take out a mutuelle. (I’d have needlessly paid out 1300 -2000 euros in mutuelle costs for nothing so far, if I’d started one. As costs I couldn’t have claimed back have been, I guess, 100 euros or less for the 17 months.)
If there has been a change making it possible for someone with an S1 with a low income to be eligible for low cost mutuelle again this would help me greatly and it would be enormously stressful to apply again but I’d do it…! Where do I sign up!!!
It was about 10,300 euros last year. It’s indexed each year so will have gone up slightly.
Edit: hadn’t seen Jane had posted it.
Too stressed and excited that there might be some relief in sight, to look right now. If anyone finds a link please post and if I find a link when I have the courage to look, I’ll post.
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check the link put on by @JaneJones … all the info seems to be there… why not give it a whirl and see if you qualify…
@_Brian you, too… the figures are there in the link.
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Best of luck with that, Karen. Word round the SF village pump is that dentists in FR are not quite as common as unicorn shit. Note the SFista who reported that the nurse in his MT’s clinic has retained her name on the list of her dentist, although she [nurse] is now 200 kms from the dentist.
I get dental treatment in Valencia, ES. The dentist is superb, speaks English and RdVs for single appointments are generally available within 10-15 working days. For procedures requiring RdVs x 2 in the same week, generally 4-6 weeks.
Prices - an implant in UK is ‘from’ £2000. Anything 'from’ £X is always more. The full monty from VLC dentist, including initial assessment, extraction of old, 3-D scan, installation of peg, fitting of crown - €1200.
I used to live in VLC so I know the ropes, logistically. VLC is well served by RyanAir, EZJet and others. It depends on how convenient is the nearest airport to you that goes there. Any city in Spain will have a selection of dentists with no problem seeing you. The advantage of ES is the number of flights that go there.
I originally needed 2 RdVs in the same week so my travel dates were a bit tricky - R/AIr flies to VLC from Nantes every 3rd day but a single RdV with perfect timing could be done in the same day or one o/night at most.
Something for you to consider
You know Valencia, and the dentist. So this works for you.
i would never seek treatment abroad for a whole host of reasons. i don’t know the qualifications in that country so can’t distinguish between well trained person and one that isn’t. How would I communicate? What comeback would there be if things go wrong? and what immediate care would there be for any immediate issues? how would I get any follow up care easily?
What if I reacted badly? Etc etc etc.
Just not worth it to me. If things are urgent if need be I would go to Lyon or Paris. Both a few hours away by train.
Believe me when you mentioned, captainendeavour, I was already considering.
However I’m fairly sure France or UK would require a backflip and triple somersault to pay for my treatment in another EU country… highly likely I’d need that, at least to a fairly serious extent. I think there are ways and means if one is struck down on holiday etc, once one is set up with some mutuelles.
But other than that I would have no issue taking your recommendation of the particular dentist in Valencia you mention and am sure there’s an airline that could get me to there.
Hmmm …turn right to Valencia, or left to England? Weirdly Valencia feels right.
True. But consider that as a Brit with not a lot of the Spanish lang, I more or less stuck a pin in the list that came up Google > Valencia > dentists. I read the reviews and was convinced.
I imagine any European country, save perhaps ‘the outliers’, certainly those in the EU, will have qualifications that match each other and UK. Easy enough to cross-check. For example, Poland and Hungary are popular dental destinations.
‘English spoken’ is a good lead on that one. A phone call would reveal all. If the receptionist speaks English, the likelyhood is remote that the dentist does not. Practitioners of all sorts train in countries other than their own - esp the US and UK - and English is the lingua franca, as with most professions.
If something goes amiss with my treatment, they go to great lengths to put things right. One of the reviews of my dentist describes how a problem arose over re-enamelling. The clinic paid for flights from Germany and accommodation costs for the appointment required to put things right. Treatment was f.o.c. of course.
In my case, an implant crown fell in half and fell out. The dentist explained that he made a judgement on how close to one side of the crown to place the screw, but this had been too close, the crown cracked and fell out. It was all repaired and replaced f.o.c. except for the lab cost of the new crown.
My experience is that the follow-up treatment, if part of a course of treatment, is planned from the outset. You know exactly what needs doing and when - and it is all costed out on a devis. Any ‘immediate’ problems’ are dealt with immediately. Not that I have had any but reviews of this clinic indicate this is the case.
For what it’s worth, there are 134 x 5* reviews covering all the points mentioned. The single 1* review appears to have been a case of the review being posted to the wrong clinic. Subtract 1 review - I posted a second one some years after the first.
A friend in London who has naturally poor dentition spent large sums of money having a bad job made very much worse by a London dentist. When she got to a good dentist in NYC her mouth was declared a disaster zone and the only remedy was total clearance …
I used to visit pals 20 mins north of Fumel, Lot & Garonne. VLC - Naugarede in a day, in a car. Pay the very cheap tolls to get thru’ the Biarritz - Hendaye - [San Sebastian] muddle, then toll free all the way - Pamplona/Zaragaoza/Teruel/VLC. Less time, more money down the coast
It was nothing to do with Brexit, the rule about CSS and S1 holders from any EU country was ignored. It was unfortunate that it coincided with Brexit, the benefit was withdrawn from everyone who was in receipt of an S1.
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