S1 form applied for and being posted out to France. Next to find a top up mutuelle.
I have only unconditional praise for the NHS as we used it extensively when my mother was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumour. She received no chemo or radiation only steroids but had great nursing levels in hospital and at home - she had both her daughters as carers plus lots of alternatives including reiki and ‘prayers/positive vibes’ from people. Diagnosed with three months to live and lived for 8 months - it’s great to have good medical options in place but even greater to have a supportive family/friendship network, in my opinion anyway.
I was recently reminded that, when the NHS was founded, it was believed that it would result in a dramatic increase in public health and costs would therefore decrease over time!
My experience in France is that they respond very quickly and try to deal with problems before they become more serious and therefore more expensive to treat. But it is still a bottomless well.......!
Thanks Irene, ah yes and Pregnant women too...I remember that from when Maisy was born in Camden.
I think though for most of us, the big costs which we don't usually see are the enormous costs of theatre, intensive and high dependency units, cancer and other complex treatments for long term illness or disease. We will never know the true cost of the services we have been given throughout our lives either personally or for members of our family, however I already know that certainly my family are forever in debt to the NHS. They gave us 5 years of extra life for my father in law, they brought my mum back from almost being a gonner last year and and I am extremely supportive of it. The NI we pay/paid will never cover the costs of all our treatment, but it goes into the pot and as some people will luckily never require their services along with top ups from other tax pots allows UK residents an almost charge free healthcare service at the point of need.
In France we pay larger social charges and some extra top ups to the healthcare pot, some medicines whilst on prescription are not reimbursable and some are covered by the mutuelle but not the state. And of course we pay our mutuelle, but at least we have a better awareness of how much our healthcare costs...and of course we all recognise that it's not free.
Mike…under the UK scheme if you have regular meds you can buy a prepay certificate, the cost of some of the medicines, vaccines is huge. The nhs prescription charge probably only covers the cost of the packaging and administration of the prescription by pharmacist, Dr and nhs trust. If u ever get a feuille de soin here you see the real cost if the medicines. Some vaccines run into hundreds of euros but of course it’s covered. I think one of the problems in the UK is people are not aware of the price of medicines.
Parking…well that’s another matter. I totally disagree with paying for hospital parking. If u are ill or visiting someone who is ill the last thing u want to worry about is a parking meter.
Elaine as soon as you register as auto entrepreneur u should be able to get your attestation de santé from rsi or whichever organisation you subscribe to. Rsi is for professional libérales. It may take a while for your carte vitale to arrive…
S1 is a good idea to cover you then once u apply for ae you can start working and contributing to french system. I believe you have 2 years to generate income but I am sure someone will be able to correct me if that’s changed.
Thanks ladies, to keep things simple I will cease trading in the uk and register as an AE, apply for my S1 for the initial six months in france and get a mutuelle immediately to cover any shortfall… should cover everything this way.
Thanks Brian, you have a gift of sifting through and presenting information clearly , so sorry to hear about your mum Suzanne I think insurance generally is a minefield and over complicated
Emergency med care is covered by your EHIC to the same amount as a local resident would be entitled i.e. in France usually 20% is to be paid by yourself or a mutuelle. The EHIC from the UK is for UK residents:
Taken from DWP:
The NHS is a residence-based healthcare system. Therefore, once you have moved permanently away from the UK you are no longer entitled to medical treatment under normal NHS rules.
However, if you're receiving a UK state pension or long-term incapacity benefit, you may be entitled to healthcare paid for by the UK. You will need to apply for form S1 which you need to present to the health authorities in your new country of residence. You will then be treated on the same basis as a resident of that country.
All things considered the need for a mutuelle and so on , i am quite impressed with the French health care system, okay you have to pay 23 euros every time you see the doc and a lot more if it's a specialist but you eventually get most of it back . I still marvel at the fact you can just show up and wait your turn to see the doc and your not rushed out in 5 minutes flat either, that's marvellous considering back in the UK sometimes it was more than a 2 week wait just to get an appointment! The maternity care is excellent too, did you have your children in France too Suzanne? I can reassure any ladies moving here that the maternity care in my opinion is top class , much better than the UK .
Elaine, form 'S1' (used to be E106/E121) is a certificate of entitlement to health care in another EEA country (EU plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, then add Switzerland that is neither), provided via the social security authority in a person's country of origin. It means you will get access to health care in member countries on the same terms as nationals, except that here you will not need to pay French social security health contributions for the duration of the S1. In Switzerland, for instance, there is only private health insurance so actually whilst valid it is useless! If you go into any form of employment or business the S1 ceases to be valid, then you will be required to pay social security health contributions. Not everything is covered by the S1 though, particular therapies that are only available to people within the French health system will not be paid by the UK.
Because I have never actually made the required NI payments and would not have been eligible because I was working, I did not bother. Either way, you still need the mutuelle.
Suz, my younger daughter and I take turns to have our 'events'. We are both very accident prone. I have been dry stone walling, no problems. But then I slipped in the shower and have a sciatica! Off to the doc to get him to prescribe me on to the acupuncturist... Never had that on the NHS.
Currently I pay NI voluntarily as a self employed artist although I have paid onto the system for over 30 years and apparently am entitled to a uk pension when I reach that moving end stop (currently 66) so am quite a way off this ATM. I understood that when I move to France any healthcare (accidents and emergencies) would be covered 100% by the NHS under a reciprocal European agreement, but any other non life threatening illness would not and I will need a mutuelle to cover these costs. Is that about right? Fortunately I only have myself to cover so the premiums do not seem as high as BUPA and other private healthcare providers whose premiums are sky high. So, an S1? Does this cover you for any and all health and medical care including non emergency?
I should start a new topic - why bother with Travel Insurance - my mum fell ill on her cruise around the Eastern Med (yes having a bad run of luck a the moment) and she was disembarked in Montenegro. She's in the State Hospital there and I'm trying to liaise with the Montenegro Vice Consul, her travel insurance company, P&O ferries and the Montenegro Port Authority for her safe return back to the UK. There is a lot of confusion over fees. Montenegro & UK have a reciprocal care policy of Free Healthcare in State Hospitals but so far the hospital has charged her for admission and is saying she needs to pay her fees for her stay (she's not left yet). No-one speaks English in the hospital and there's been confusion as the travel insurance we told she fell and hurt her wrist (clearly confused by the fact she has a healing shoulder and elbow), then they said she had a bowel obstruction and none of this was correct...she actually was just sick with stomach cramps but the ship medics wanted her to be hospitalised after 1 night as they were concerned if possible other complications.
Anyway - the moral of the story is...make sure you have valid Travel Insurance - don't rely on EHIC alone...even if you are visiting France. Make sure you know what your max stay is for your travel insurance. Most its 30 days, some do 90 days. My friend who I wrote about previously who was in France and had extended their stay due to a wedding has now received her 2500 euro French hospital bill for the 20% balance not paid for by EHIC.
Ditto Brian - pay in on income to URSSAF and covered by RSI and CAF. Also pay over 120 euro a month for the family Mutuelle.
Mike I've never heard of any French people saying the UK expats are scrounging off the French system as the opinion held by many is that the UK healthcare is Free so why would you want to come to Francehave to pay around 20% of your care or a monthly mutuelle? Possibly aimed at immigrants from countries which do not have such a good healthcare system of their own.
(obviously the UK NHS is not free - the NHS is funded at huge cost through NI and other taxes which go into the NHS pot...)
Have to admit to complete ignorance of the status of UK ex-pats working in France. But reading your post, I am rather glad that I waited for retirement before moving here!
But the principle is the same - your health care here is paid for because you have paid appropriate contributions somewhere. "Scrounging off our healthcare service." is a popular misconception that racists like to perpetuate.......