I’m in a similar situation. I was able to retire at the age of 56, so then it was 11 years to state pension. I also live partly from savings, but OH has an early retirement pension from USS, and I draw down modest sums from my own personal pension. We have to live within a budget, and we do so very successfully. We live on a lot less than we did in the UK. It’s surprising just how much it costs to work.
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Same for me in regards to living on savings from age 52 > 55 before i could start taking a bit from my private pension. Also due to pension gymnastics (UK transfer to QROP etc) I have been on PHI since arriving in France at the end of 2018. Just in the process of applying for PUMA.
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so at the moment, you don’t have a carte vitale and medical staff/pharmacies et al can’t check your health history/medicines etc etc… is that correct?
In my case that is correct Stella.
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Totally agree! I was worried that my reduced budget wouldn’t work, but take off costs of commuting, work clothes (especially tights!), coffees, endless presents for colleagues’ birthdays, babies, weddings and take-aways as tò tired to cook, and that was a huge amount. A
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Hm… that’s interesting, as I’ve been glad that specialists, hospitals, A&E whatever… have been able to check on OH’s very, very dodgy situation “swiftly and with style”… 
Yes, once we have completed a 5 year plan of drawing down from a DC pension in years of zero income to benefit from low rates of tax, and reinvesting proceeds.
Precisely. We’ve calculated that savings from not having to pay the above on drawdown hopefully outweigh likely routine medical costs, premiums and excess.
We are obliged to have ‘comprehensive medical cover’’ under the terms of our carte de séjour, there is absolutely no obligation to have to join secu.That said this (being private) is a ‘minority sport’, I once read that 97% of French adults are affiliated with variants of secu, so not being in secu causes some puzzlement amongst officials (“you don’t want a bon de transport”?), acquaintances (“you don’t want 100% reimbursement on your glasses”?) etc.
Obviously private cover doesn’t suit everyone, or every stage in life, and as I say we will probably switch in 3 years time to PUMA. However I have always regarded insurance as being for the major, otherwise unaffordable issues eg your house burning down, writing off your car - or a major hospitalisation…I’m happy to continue in the short term with simply picking up medical visits, prescriptions, glasses etc directly.
No, for the CdS reason (in my case) set out above…
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I understand what you are saying…
but for us OH’s health was priority from Day 1 in France… indeed it was the incentive to make the move so early… our original plans to make the move at the right “financial” time got well and truly scuppered.
but the French Health Service has been magnificent and OH is the living proof… Bless him…
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hairbear, to digress slightly, have you had to go to your local tax office and get them to sign and stamp the France Individual DT form, every time you do a drawdown on your personal pension?
Many people, especially those who don’t speak French, find private health insurance in their own language is preferable, as well as being a better choice financially. The American Hospital in Paris is VERY popular.
I can believe that… but I still don’t understand how one can be “followed” throughout France and her dominions… as simply and/or successfully as we have been over many years… … if one is not in the French system with our info at their fingertips
it’s another subject to discuss with our French pals next weekend…
Interesting that you’ve received joined-up care, Stella.
We have loads of different specialists here in Strasbourg and - although they’re great, no complaints - none of them has ever seemed to know much about our previous medical histories.
Let me ask you… if you visit a different pharmacy to your usual one… is the pharmacist able to see your previous prescriptions on the computer ???
our carte vitale is worth its weight in gold
No. Just the once. You should only need to fill it in once for every source of income, although if you have multiple sources at the same time, you can put them all on the same form as far as I know.
It was a real trial though at my local impots to get them to agree that the form was necessary.
Edit: Just in case you’re not aware, if you put an @ character before my nym ( auch as @Helenochka ) in the message then I will get a notification that you have asked me a question, so you dont have to rely on me reading the thread to come across the question. It’s very useful 
Good question. The pharmacists here usually just look at the prescription itself, and see how many stamps there are on it.
But I’ve noticed the last couple of trips to see specialists that we’re all being asked to register our details in a computer system, so they can centralise all the records. They seem to be getting everyone to do this, regardless of how their healthcare is funded.
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sounds like you Are affiliated to the Social System in some way or another … possibly via your employer…
If you have a job in France then presumably you and your employer both contribute to the social services (prélèvement sociale) in France for unemployment, work accidents, repaying the national debt etc? So you have a social security number, but are just not affiliated to a caisse for health care? Don’t know much about international bodies so perhaps some special deal but it would be odd if they didn’t extract some contribution from you!
And with a social security number you should automatically have a “mon espace santé” account where medical acts are recorded?
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Nope. We’re not affiliated to Social Security in any way.
The international orgs are completely outside the French system.
We use the same doctors, hospitals, etc as everyone else but we pay upfront and then claim it back from the insurance company.
Our salaries paid less PHI premiums and a contribution to our pension scheme. We don’t have Social Security numbers. And no cover in the event of unemployment.
It’s quite a charmed life until one retires and then things get a bit more complicated.
Not least because the Fisc can’t decide whether our pensions should be treated as French or foreign source. This is important because it affects CSG/CRDS payments.
At present, the Alsatian tax authorities are treating the pensions as foreign source and levying CSG/CRDS on anyone who’s moved to Social Security on retirement. Which seems perfectly reasonable to me.
Tax offices in other parts of France are still treating them as French pensions and not levying the charges. Which is causing a bit of confusion. And disgruntlement.
ah, I’m in the Ameli (whatever) computer… what system are your specialists suggesting you register on… ??
If you can log your details on, as suggested, it should help with co-ordination…
How remarkable, France generally likes its €€ contributions!
Welcome to la paperasse!