I don’t have a mutuelle, but had understood that you can always send bills direct to them. Many mutuelles include a single osteopath visit a year, something that is not paid for by the seçu. A friend was telling me she booked an appointment 19 days ago, and another next week, so she can get reimbursed for both.
Yes I finally figured that out, the trouble is that payments from both sources are so erratic and muddled that, like others have said, I lose track. It doesn’t help that reasons for payment are only vaguely labelled, so it’s hard to know what’s what. Or perhaps I’ve just got a crummy Mutuelle!
Our Mutuelle’s online pages (Generali), are reasonably comprehensible, it’s the Cpam that is rubbish,…do all Cpams use the same online system ie one provided by the French health ministry or are they bespoke ?
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In early December deposited S1 with application form and a bundle of copies of certificates they asked for with CPAM in Cahors. All checked by helpful receptionist.
Just received a letter asking for the same documents!
I feel like it’s “bienvenue a France” and the bureaucracy they are so famous for!
computer says please send me documents !
Welcome to France. You will learn to have a dossier ready at all times with clean copies of all your documents…
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Probably because the scanned documents were .001mm out of alignment 
Thanks Jane.
We meticulously presented the documents required by CPAM and took them in to have them checked, which they were, before we left them.
I am the pensioner and my wife is entitled to benefit.
It seems to me that if the NHS has wriitten saying they will pay our bills all they need to do is make sure that we are the people referred to n the NHS letters.
Not so.
They have accepted me (it seems) but want translated copies of my wife’s birth and marriage certifictes (at 40 Euro each).
We are in the process of complying, what else can we do? Is there any sort of appeals process that we’ve missed?
I expected some delay and offiiciousness when moving to france but not idiocy.
C’est la vie.
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There are some who have the energy to protest and push, and demand that people stick to the letter of the (EU) law that english language documents be accepted as English is an official language of the EU.
I now take the easy route and just dig through my huge dossier of documents, certificates, translations, affidavits, attestations sur l’honneur and find -yet again- the appropriate document they have had 3 times already. It is better for my blood pressure.
You will find your French inner zen eventually…
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« La langue de la République est le français. L’emblème national est le drapeau tricolore, bleu, blanc, rouge. L’hymne national est la Marseillaise. La devise de la République est Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité.
Article 2 of the constitution.
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Of course, but there are european regulations which France has taken into law a few years ago that mean that a small range of official certificates from one european country are acceptable in another - birth, death, marriage.
I can’t put my finger on the actual law right now, but it came in as a result of this:
But these aren’t from a European country, maybe that’s the problem.
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In some areas it has always been like this, and over the years many have had documents refused that should have been accepted. One has had the choice of protesting and potentially everything taking much, much longer - or just paying to have documents translated. I don’t know whether the OP presented his documents in last 10 days or earlier.
Yes Brexit now legitimises this for British people, but other nationalities will continue to have the same problem in places. It’s only been a few years since this law was brought in, so I imagine will take longer to get acceptance.
I think the translation request is a sort of work creation scheme for French people - it boosts the local economy!
Luckily I found an excellent official translator who is English.
The UK General Records Office stopped doing French Language versions of Birth Certificates etc on New Year’s Eve, without warning.
Apparently French Bureaucracy wouldn’t have accepted it anyway!
I’ve been reading the very informative “1000 years of annoying the French”. It may be petty but I can see why they might want to get some of their own back!
Gosh imagine having had a French certified translator in France, shock horror.
You are supposed to translate into your native language (not that it really matters for things like birth certificates which are standard documents).
I winced my way through a couple of hours in court with an assermentée interpreter (working for the other party) who was English and embarrassingly bad.
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I used one last year who was the located one closest to me…turned out to be British, and did the most appalling job! And it was very simple certificate type stuff, but I needed them stamped. Had to get things re-done as he’s stamped them wrongly, needless to say I used a native French speaker.
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The “shock horror” was finding one who was a friend of our landlord. It could have been a lot harder in rural France under lockdown.
The form CPAM insist you use to submit your application does not mention translations (it is a form for foreigners!) or we would have provided it up front. I was not asked for the same, it seems to revolve around the Carte Vitale being in a woman’s maiden name but that’s a guess.
I don’t mind thorough bureaucracy but illogical, whimsical and inconsistent government administration does challenge the “Zen” capacity and earns them a reputation they seem to resent. Why would proof of residence that is sufficient for a Carte de Sejour be insufficient for a Carte Vitale? They have an S1 from the NHS promising to pay our bills, all they really need to do is make sure we are the people referred to in the letter(s). Still, once it’s done it’s done. 
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In France if you are a woman your real official permanent proper name is your maiden name. You might use your married name but it is a courtesy title not your actual name. That is how it is. We are super psychorigid about this, (as we are about so many other things) and it is always very complicated to understand for British people who can decide from one day to the next to call themselves anything they like and cannot see why we can’t, but you have to fit into our system if you live here. I’m not saying it is better, by the way, just that that is how it is.
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I was so pleased when I discovered this about France. 
Having used my maiden name throughout my business life it never sat comfortably to use OH’s surname - Mrs OH was always (in my mind) his mother!
Mind you now, 13 years on, I’m forever confused about which name I use when booking appointments etc. And Madame OH isn’t quite the same - so I tend to use it more these days.
And there are still times when people think he is Mr Jarvis!
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and with my OH, as well as to me, she is always a VIP (her initials)
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