Every Resident of France is Required to Have Health Insurance
"Every legal resident of France must have health insurance. As British citizens, you will not need to request a long-stay visa to live in France (as the UK is still part of the EU for now), so won't have to show health coverage for the visa. If you are coming to work in France, you will join the public health system through your employment. If you are coming to retire, you will be able to request to join the system after three months of regular and stable residency. The French public health scheme is not free - you will have to pay contributions (premiums) just like every employee in the system does, whether via deductions from your paycheck or via a quarterly bill if you are inactive. What is important to you is that there are no age limits or exemptions for pre-existing conditions in the French public health system. Only private insurers refuse pre-existing ailments," explained one expat in France.
Obtaining the Carte Vitale
The Carte Vitale is the French health insurance card which gives legal residents access to France's new universal healthcare system, called PUMA (Protection Universelle Maladie).
"After 3 months of legal residency in France, you may apply for a Carte Vitale (the French NHS card). It's not free, as you have not paid into French securite sociale, but the contributions run about 8% of your household income above 9600 euros. Depending on your and your wife's ages and medical conditions, this may or may not be less expensive than private insurance. In any case, the Carte Vitale does not take into account your age or medical condition when evaluating your application or calculating the contributions," explained another expat in France.
Private Health Insurance in France Typically Doesn't Cover Pre-Existing Conditions
If you don't immediately qualify for Carte Vitale upon arrival in France, you'll need to obtain private health insurance in France. "You should contact some expat insurers regarding the pre-existing condition and see what they say re coverage. Basically, if there is likely to be major costs associated with the condition during the period of coverage, it may be hard to get insurance and you may need to consider having to pay for any treatment required. If the pre-existing condition while being chronic is not likely to need treatment, you may get coverage or it may not be covered but if no treatment is likely to be needed, you may be comfortable with taking that chance of having to pay for treatment yourself. For example, if you have chronic bronchitis. It might not be covered but it also isn't likely to need any treatment in the near future. If you use an inhaler, well the cost isn't going to break the bank if you have to pay for it yourself. On the other hand, if someone is on kidney dialysis twice a week, the cost is significant, coverage by private insurance unlikely to be found and so it could be a major factor in being able to afford to make the move,"
Supplemental Health Insurance
"Note that citizens also purchase supplementary health insurance from companies called Mutuelles," said one expat.
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Having a Baby in France
"I had all three of my children in France between 1997 and 2007, the first two with a saddle block and the last by natural birthing methods. The last experience was by far the best. While I would now say that the French tend to be overly medical and scientific about it all, on the other hand this is an excellent country to have children. The entire system is very smooth, fully paid for by French social security, and you can get all of the preparation you want with a private midwife, and/or through birthing classes. The overly medical aspect tends to make birthing seem like something incredibly risky and difficult, they sometimes are so busy warning you about possible dangers they forget to tell you the vast majority of births go just fine. But when they don't, you can be sure everybody is fully prepared to face emergencies. As someone else metioned, you are mostly assisted by highly experienced midwives during labor, with an occasional helping hand by the OB/GYN. Anyway, for those who are considering having a baby in France, fear not and do so. Do take advantage of the full range of preparation options offered by French social security. Do have the monthly visits and ultrasounds, do check into your chosen hospital starting on the 4th month. Make sure you get your paperwork with social security in order," advised one expat mom in La Rochelle, France.
