Central France
The French healthcare system and early retirement
There has been a recent frenzy of news articles about the changes in the French healthcare system with some expats being asked to give back their carte vitale. So how will this affect you?
If you are already in France, over the French retirement age (60 for women 65 for men), have an E121 and your carte vitale, this change will not affect you.
If you are working either as self employed or an employee, this change will not affect you.
If the husband is legally retired, the wife is entitled to a carte vitale as a dependant. It is currently unclear if the husband can automatically be considered a dependant if the wife has retired.
If you have an E106, this will not affect you until the E106 expires.
If you are thinking of taking early retirement to France, apply as normal, you may be lucky and get entitlement but this is not looking very promising.
Help numbers:
CPAM national English-speaking helpline: 0033 (0) 820 904 212
DWP Overseas Medical Benefits line: 0044 (0) 191 218 1999
French healthcare in general
Should you require a visit to a doctor in France you can pick
whoever you like. The appointment will cost you approximately
22 €, paid at the time of the visit. Evening
calls and visits are more expensive. If you are given
a prescription for medicine (which can be expensive) and
have taken out medical insurance, around £500 per
year, you can claim back all charges.
If you are required to have a blood test, the results
will be known to your doctor the following day and you
yourself will receive a copy through the post so you also
know exactly what the results indicate. (Vets do the same
for blood tests on pets) Again this can be around £50
(approximately 77 €) but can be claimed back. Should
you have to visit the hospital here in the Creuse you
would be very unfortunate not to be given a very nice
room immediately, either on your own or sharing with up
to three others. There are no queues, no waiting on trolleys
and when you visit they look like hotels and even offer
a choice of wine with your evening meal!
