Helen R
Active Member
I am planning to move to France next year. Does anyone know where I can get advice on accessing diabetes care in France? And if I can get free prescriptions there?
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living abroad
- Thread starter Helen R
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phoenix
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It depends It is complicated.
. If you are are eligible for French health care and a carte vitale (a healthcare card) and if your diabetes is treated by some form of medication then once you have chosen a GP (medecin traitant) your doctor can fill in the forms for it to be treated as an ALD (affection longue durée)
This means that treatment, lab tests, doctors visits connected with your diabetes will be almost totally reimbursed at 100% You may sometimes have to pay upfront. but you will get most of the money back except for a small ''franchise' (50c or 1€ for each box of pills, visit to doctor or lab etc. )
The 100% reimbursement does not cover anything unrelated to diabetes . if you needed antibiotics or broke a leg or needed a filling then you would not get all the costs back. Most people have a top-up insurance to deal with these sort of costs
You are eligible for French health care through working , or running a business and paying cotisations .
If you are of state pension age and receive an OAP from the UK then you need a form S1 from the Dept of work and pensions. This will enable you to affiliate to the French system with the UK government paying your costs to France.
If you are not of state pension age and are not working or have not set up a business, then it may not be possible to join the French system until you have lived there for 5 years legally. If this is the case then you would need to have private health insurance for five years at which point you become eligible to join the CMU as a permanent resident. When allowed to join, you would have to pay cotisation of about 8% of your residual income.(basically after the households personal allowance)
This would continue until you are in receipt of a UK state pension.(when you can get a form S1
(I say may, because the situation is in flux . A few years ago they stopped early retirees being able to immediately join the CMU through paying cotisations People had to get private insurance until the 5 years was up. There has been some pressure from the EU on France about this and the situation seems totally unclear http://www.frenchentree.com/living-in-france/healthcare/healthcare-rights-for-early-retirees/
I don't know of anyone who has come here as an early retiree recently without having to get private insurance.
If you are in this situation, don't move without healthcare. I know someone who has had to return to live with friends in the UK whilst undergoing cancer treatment. She has no healthcare rights here and they can't sell the house.
. If you are are eligible for French health care and a carte vitale (a healthcare card) and if your diabetes is treated by some form of medication then once you have chosen a GP (medecin traitant) your doctor can fill in the forms for it to be treated as an ALD (affection longue durée)
This means that treatment, lab tests, doctors visits connected with your diabetes will be almost totally reimbursed at 100% You may sometimes have to pay upfront. but you will get most of the money back except for a small ''franchise' (50c or 1€ for each box of pills, visit to doctor or lab etc. )
The 100% reimbursement does not cover anything unrelated to diabetes . if you needed antibiotics or broke a leg or needed a filling then you would not get all the costs back. Most people have a top-up insurance to deal with these sort of costs
You are eligible for French health care through working , or running a business and paying cotisations .
If you are of state pension age and receive an OAP from the UK then you need a form S1 from the Dept of work and pensions. This will enable you to affiliate to the French system with the UK government paying your costs to France.
If you are not of state pension age and are not working or have not set up a business, then it may not be possible to join the French system until you have lived there for 5 years legally. If this is the case then you would need to have private health insurance for five years at which point you become eligible to join the CMU as a permanent resident. When allowed to join, you would have to pay cotisation of about 8% of your residual income.(basically after the households personal allowance)
This would continue until you are in receipt of a UK state pension.(when you can get a form S1
(I say may, because the situation is in flux . A few years ago they stopped early retirees being able to immediately join the CMU through paying cotisations People had to get private insurance until the 5 years was up. There has been some pressure from the EU on France about this and the situation seems totally unclear http://www.frenchentree.com/living-in-france/healthcare/healthcare-rights-for-early-retirees/
I don't know of anyone who has come here as an early retiree recently without having to get private insurance.
If you are in this situation, don't move without healthcare. I know someone who has had to return to live with friends in the UK whilst undergoing cancer treatment. She has no healthcare rights here and they can't sell the house.
Helen R
Active Member
Thank you for a really detailed reply. It sounds like you are speaking from experience.
I am hoping to start a business, but it may take a while to get going. It will be mostly low key, so I'm not sure how much I will be paying in via taxes. My added complication is that my sister in law wants to move with us. She is disabled. I know that some of her benefits can move with her, but she cannot work. Do you think that she would be able to get her medications in France, or would the same rules apply to her? I reckon private medical insurance for her would be very expensive.
I am hoping to start a business, but it may take a while to get going. It will be mostly low key, so I'm not sure how much I will be paying in via taxes. My added complication is that my sister in law wants to move with us. She is disabled. I know that some of her benefits can move with her, but she cannot work. Do you think that she would be able to get her medications in France, or would the same rules apply to her? I reckon private medical insurance for her would be very expensive.
phoenix
Expert
- Messages
- 5,671
- Type of diabetes
- Type 1
- Treatment type
- Pump
Do your homework on the business and really try to find out as much as you can about how to go about things. They introduced a new schemes for small business a few years ago that makes things easier and less costly than it used to be . Make sure though that the info is up to date because the regulations are changing again in 2015 .
see http://www.frenchentree.com/living-...autoentrepreneur-system-for-small-businesses/
As to your sister, have a look at this site and contact them about exporting the benefit https://www.gov.uk/claim-benefits-abroad/illness-injury-and-disability-benefits
and the number on the sidebar in this one to see about obtaining a form S1 which would entitle her to join the health care scheme (basically with the UK paying for it.)
http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/Healthcareabroad/movingabroad/Pages/Introduction.aspx
see http://www.frenchentree.com/living-...autoentrepreneur-system-for-small-businesses/
As to your sister, have a look at this site and contact them about exporting the benefit https://www.gov.uk/claim-benefits-abroad/illness-injury-and-disability-benefits
and the number on the sidebar in this one to see about obtaining a form S1 which would entitle her to join the health care scheme (basically with the UK paying for it.)
http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/Healthcareabroad/movingabroad/Pages/Introduction.aspx
