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Hi All, New to the Forum and thinking of retiring to France in 18 months or so when I will have reached UK retirement age although my wife will still be in her 50s she will also be retiring with me.
She has two serious and chronic conditions and I am looking for help and advice on what cover under the French system she will have and what approximate costs the top ups may be. Any ideas or suggestions? Clivethejive

clivethejive wrote:Hi All, New to the Forum and thinking of retiring to France in 18 months or so when I will have reached UK retirement age although my wife will still be in her 50s she will also be retiring with me.
She has two serious and chronic conditions and I am looking for help and advice on what cover under the French system she will have and what approximate costs the top ups may be. Any ideas or suggestions? Clivethejive

Clive, welcome to the forum. I believe that you will be able to join the French health care system once you have obtained a form S1 from the UK pensions office and your wife will also be eligible as your dependent.

I'm no expert but I believe that chronic illnesses are normally covered in full.

Top up insurance is generally not related to your state of health, there are loads of websites that show comparisons, like UK comparison sites they normally try and sell you something. Just google mutuelle comparateur.

As one other contributor mentioned I, also, think chronic health conditions are covered in full.
Last January we cancelled our mutuelle and have saved the equivalent to a separate bank account. So far, we've saved over 3000€!!!
Luckily and thankfully we have no major health problem (70 & 80 years old).
Many of our French friends have no mutuelle because of the cost.
It's worth a good looking into.
Good luck and enjoy your life in France.

Hi ,I have recently developed a chronic illness.I have to take tablets for it.We are still at the stage of seeing how many I need in a day.The neurologist said I needed a letter from my doctor saying chronic etc,but who do I send this to, to get 100% on the tablets.Thankyou in advance.Peter

Allan wrote: Top up insurance is generally not related to your state of health,

In fact I believe that it is illegal for insurance companies to vary charges depending on your state of health.

Yes, chronic conditions are covered for 100% reimbursement but that is 100% of the agreed charges for treatments. Many specialists charge more than the state agreed fee so you, or your mutuelle, have to pay the difference.

Russell.

One must register with a G.P. to be reimbursed so I image you'd take your letter/prescription to him/her.
As one didn't have to register people were, apparently, going from doctor to doctor for the same thing and getting reimbursed each time, so to keep costs down registration became obligatory a few years back.
Hope this helps.

The list of conditions covered is here: http://www.ameli.fr/professionnels-de-s ... rantes.php. If your conditions appear on Liste 30, you'll need to ask your GP to set up an application; it's quite straightforward though you may be asked to attend a medical or interview with an independent doctor (organised by CPAM).

Once your application is accepted you'll receive a formal notice, copied to your GP, and will then be 100% reimbursement for any medication or treatment relating to those conditions - not for any other ailments, which will be reimbursed under the normal rules.

Peter you send (or preferably take) your Doctor's letter to CPAM. In fact if I remember correctly your doctor completes a form rather than a letter.

Ariègeoise wrote:The list of conditions covered is here: http://www.ameli.fr/professionnels-de-s ... rantes.php. If your conditions appear on Liste 30, you'll need to ask your GP to set up an application; it's quite straightforward though you may be asked to attend a medical or interview with an independent doctor (organised by CPAM).

Once your application is accepted you'll receive a formal notice, copied to your GP, and will then be 100% reimbursement for any medication or treatment relating to those conditions - not for any other ailments, which will be reimbursed under the normal rules.

A useful link but the full stop on the end of the URL stops it from working, try this instead
http://www.ameli.fr/professionnels-de-s ... rantes.php

Thanks everyone, these replies have been really useful and re-assuring.

find private consultants and specialists in UK by their specialty, name or illness.http://clinician360.co.uk/

lara123brown wrote:find private consultants and specialists in UK by their specialty, name or illness.http://clinician360.co.uk/

Do they make house calls to the Perpignan area

What the situation would be if there is a Brexit is yet to be determined....Worrying times for us UK ExPats.....

montgolfiere wrote:What the situation would be if there is a Brexit is yet to be determined....Worrying times for us UK ExPats.....

Worrying times if you choose to worry. But what exactly does it achieve?