Think you are probably right Peter about localities. We lived in Brittany originally and things were definitely faster there than they are here in the Vienne.
From all the answers you have recieved so far, I would sugges that the requirement and proceedures for obtaining a card differ according to locality. Here in the Manche my wife and I both received ours within days of requesting them which we did at our local GP. don't remember having to complete any paperwork, just needing to show our international health paperwork provided by the NHS when we left the UK.
Have read numerous stories about French bureaucracy on this site and can only say that here in the Manche we must be very lucky to have an efficient department. eg, I received my French driving licence in the post on the day following application, my neighbour in Calvados in exactly the same circumstances, took 5 months. Hope this helps.
Because you see specialists in France but live in GB you are considered a private patient.
For those who live permanently in France they should change their UK tax status to "ron resident" then they don't pay NI there is an agreement between the European countries called the "Double taxation" agreement. Despite the title this means you only pay tax on your income once - ask your revenue office in GB - they are very helpful.
Strangely my European health card is issued in GB, my country of birth, although I am a French citizen and am no longer covered under the British health system.
Hi
I find it all very interesting what you all have to say.
Sorry last time I was on here I was desperate for help last October time and had to rush back to UK so never completed story.
We have been in France since 2006 and had always been told that my husband could bat off my card - I had worked previously in St Malo and now an auto entrepreneur in Vienne. About 18 months ago we visited our bi lingual bank manager with regards to saving and tax paperwork etc - and she insisted that my husband needed his own card, was most emphatic about it.
So although we jointly own our house which is a BnB - me the AE - we spoke to the chambre de commerce who put my husband on as a Conjoint Collaborateur - because apparently you cannot have 2 AE for one business - all so that he could have his own carte vitale. When we saw our accountant some months later - he shook his head and said 'WHY?' - we explained and he said that my husband could have utilised my carte vitale - by the way he has tried once to use it and was refused by the dentist - so still not got something right. The accountant tried to remedy the problem by giving us the best option available - there were 3 which I don't remember now - but the best was that my husband pay 1/3 plafond - which we understood to mean that he pays 1/3 of the ceiling of our turnover - wait for it you have to see below.
Anyway, October of last year (2011) the bills started to arrive for my husband from the RSI as conjoint collaborateur. Ours is a very small BnB just enough coming in to keep us going - however the RSI were not charging 1/3 of turnover, it was 1/3 of their ceiling amount - which incidentally was 3 times the amount I was paying as AE. He was asked to pay - within a 2 month period and before Christmas - over 10,000 euros!!! Well we have been running our business and living off saving now since 2006 and the business was just becoming established last summer - so you can imagine how little we had left. To top it all a further bill arrived in November/December for 2012 for a further 2,000 euros plus.
I was frantic particularly as I had problems with my mother back in UK and needed to be back there by 1 November. I visited RSI before I left with no joy whatsoever - in fact when I told the girl there in my pidgeon french that I would commit suidie first (always one for the dramatics) her words to me were 'probably the best thing'. I visited the chambre de commerce - who I had been in touch with over the previous couple of weeks over this issue. Bless them they moved heaven and earth trying to come up with various ideas i.e. why not pay it back gradually over a long period, but I think my 'with what' told them that would not work - particularly since my husband gets his state pension from UK this year. They came up with the idea that they would reverse the conjoint collaborateur status to say that my husband had never been a CC - we had to pay again to reverse it - so 50 euros to make him one and 50 euros to reverse it. They said that they hoped this would work for us.
In the meantime we continued to receive demands from the RSI. So I wrote to Mr Sarkozy - well that did the trick too - his department wrote to us, the RSI wrote to us requesting a meeting and rang and left a message on our answer phone to request a meeting - but of course we were not here. We have only just returned from the UK so have yet to find out what their meeting will involve - but we have stopped receiving demands for my husband.
BUT guess what - he still does not have a carte vitale!!!!
If you are an "ayant droit" as husband or wife or child of someone who works and is therefore "assuré", you will all have the same number but anyone over 16 will have their own card.The number on it will be the same however. It starts with a 1 if the assuré is a man or a 2if it's a woman. The following figures relate to date of birth & dept where the assuré was born (99 if they are a foreigner) and then a few which are administrative.
All dependants (beneficiaire) will appear on the paper attestation and kids under 16 will appear on the card of one of the parents (presuming there is moore than one), generally the assuré but not necessarily. This causes great confusion with divorced parents and childsick whilst on visit to "wrong" card holder!
I believe being PACSed gives the same "beneficiare" rights to a non working partner as marriage.
To comment on the cross border treatments of Sophie, you should be able to send the orange feuille de soins to your local health authority in the UK (if you are covered in the UK obviously) or any other EU country where you may have your health cover, and you will be reimbursed for the health expences you have had whilst in france. You would onviously have to pay the health professional up front
Yes you would get you own card. I have rights from my husbands cover but as a woman you get a different social security number which shows on your card. You should also have a paper attestation with your name but showing his number.
Forgot to say attestation fiscal is from the Fiscs - the revenue, with your tax number. You need to apply for the health card and you get the attestation before they send the details for the card to be made. In Gb you have your own social security number,and you own tax number. On the carte vitale it's the social security number.
You have to have your own card! Unless you have an unusually friendly doc! - It's your complimentaire who pays the balance.
You can only be an 'ayant droit' on someone else if you are totally dependant on them. As you are registered as AE in your own name Teresa, you are not dependant on your other half and are entitled to healthcare through RSI in your own right.
Also, if you are married and not contributing yourself it is assumed you are dependant on your husband, if you are not married you have to jump through hoops to prove your dependancy. If (as in our case at one stage) you are a working wife and husband is not working, you also have to jump through hoops to prove this.
I hadn't seen what you wrote above. You know, I live in England and see specialists in France and pay for everything. So I pay my NI for 'nothing', as I use a private dentist in the UK too.
You can't use somebody else's carte vitale.
I am unable to use my husbands Carte Vitale! so currently, I still pay for all of my Doctor bills up front... I am of the understanding each adult has their own Carte, our children are still not covered either... It is a time consuming process... I just keep all of the medical forms on file... for the miraculous day in the future our paperwork is finalised!
you should have our own card but you may be covered on your husbands contributions (and thus under his number which will begin with a 1) if you are not working/contributing
I don't know your story but it's pretty normal. You would get your own number and card if you worked, until then you are a beneficiary under your husband. As long as you work one day under the general regime you can ask for CPAM or MSA if you work in agriculture. Hope this helps!
Excellent. Tks.
yes I think so, its on the letterhead under the address on all the letters I've had from rsi/ram gamex in bourges which I believe is for AE professional liberale x
Hi Sheila. It's with Catharine who's going to set up a link to a dedicated page which will be separate from general discussions to make it easier to find. The info will be listed under sub headers like English-speaking help lines, legal help, health, property and so on. I will attempt to keep it updated, which is why I asked Suzanne what the 0811 number is, and make sure the info is still accurate. Watch this space!
Terry
Hi Terry. That sounds really good. Can you put your list here? http://www.survivefrance.com/forum/topics/useful-links-resources
Thanks, Sheila.
Suzanne: I'm putting together a list of useful numbers, links etc to be posted on SFN. Is that 0811 number the general RSI help line? Tks.
did anthony put you on his application form as a beneficiare when he registered for AE? Do you have the original paperwork to check? If so then you should have been processed (I'm not talking about conjoint-collaboratoire but beneficiaire - me & the girls were listed on Darren's original application). You can call RSI though and ask them why you haven't got your attestation or a Carte Vitale - try 0811 01 30 30 but you will need the Numero Immatriculation from your oh's paperwork. Once they have this they will just ask you to confirm his name & possibly address/DOB then they will happily talk to you & confirm if you are a beneficiare. If not then say you should have been added. Best if you can confirm yourself beforehand if you were on the paperwork or not so you can say you were on it but do not appear to have received a card.
Does this help? If you want to chat it through I'll pm you my phone no x