miznoma7

Hi KathyC. The issue of mutuelles has me bewildered. I thought that elderly and /or disabled were allowed reduced charges. We are 76 & 63 years old. My partner requires medical attention frequently. He has been taken to emergency enough times without being admitted for lack of beds. This last time following 9 hours of wrangling with the medical staff together with a Doctors letter demanding he be hospitalized at 11 pm they admitted him.His 8 day stay consisted of X-Rays, blood tests and bed rest. I do not believe there was any other tests carried out. For that we were asked for 1400 euros. In total disbelif  I challenged the charge.They said the full cost was in excess of 5000 euros. That was our forfait. I think they plucked that one out of thin air.They said if we were to have 100per cent we would have to ask our Doctor. In the meantime they asked for the minimum payment  subject to Doctors confirmation. Our Doctor replied with "You do not have one of the 30 illnesses listed to qualify" I have since collected forms from CPAM requesting aide. WATCH THIS SPACE!!!!!!

Thanks Kelly. I would like the contact details for the mutuelle. And thanks for your concern. When you say ""they"  will contribute part of the mutuelle do you mean CPAM;? How do I get to do that? Our Doctor says my partner is not in the 100% category of illnesses even though he is physically unable to stand without major support. He has an equilibriam problem that makes him dizzy. This is of course in addition to all the other medical problems.(post-op) and on-going disability. The tax returns show zero to pay presumable because we are below the payment level and yet.I was told by an independant adviser that we would not be eligable for any financial help at all. . I cannot get my head around all this. Thanks

Bonjour Kelly. Thanks for your input. I have encountered a few difficulties regarding home help. Mainly because my partner has accumulated serious medical problems that have made him very nervous. He does not want to have any visitors which make it difficult for anyone tocome here (with or without me) I have to deal with this on my own as all attempts to get appropriate care have come to nothing. It is not easy to explain to anyone who does not experience these problems. As far as financial help is concerned we are just above the level of assistance for anything more than home help. We currently do not have any supplementary medical cover. Only state medical. But the medical costs are regular and frequent (including Hospitals)so now we have to do this in the hope that it will be slightly less expensive than day- by- day charges. Many thanks to all who have responded.

Hi Burgundy Maid. You seem to have some very helpful people at your CS. I collected a dossier from the Mairie. If I have difficulty filling it in I will go to our CS for help. With reference to the occupational therapist. I would be interested to know how that works out for you. Good luck.  

Bonjour Burgundy Maid. I am glad you are getting help with everything. Was any of it means tested? I was advised that the income had to be very very low to qualify. miznoma  

Thanks Tony F. Certainly food for thought. France is our home now. Rules and regulations change of policies all make for a very uncertain state. I hope we would not be compelled to return to the UK because of them.

Hi Tony F Thanks for your input. I was certainly taken back to hear that the UK can drop any responsibility if France provides  benefits. Does this include benefits like reduced medical transport and nursing at home and home help costs? I would like to just clarify something. We have lived in Europe for 8 Years. We never claimed any disability from the UK because there was no need. This unfortunate situation arose 2 Years ago just after buying our house in France. We were now committed to living here.I cannot see how the UK can provide any allowance above our retirement pensions now if we were not in reciept at the time of leaving the UK. I am not enamoured at the thought of claiming any benefits but in view of our plunging pensions and inability to keep up with the escalating medical costs. I do not see how we can manage. Going back to UK is now not an option. You caught me just at the time I was about to fill in the forms I got for the dossier. Is there a web site that can help with confirmation of the UK position in this situation? I do not want to step out of the frying pan etc.

I think you are right to say give it a go. I have trawled through the internet sites and it seems that nothing is straightforward or cut and dried. Thanks to all for your support and info.

Thanks NormanHH for clarification. We do fall within that income. Our last avis dímpot will confirm. So if we fill in the proposed form and send proof of income we should then be eligible for some form of supplement. I will do that.  

Well Now! My French did not pass muster on this one. I could not quite get to fully understand it..So I did a babblefish translation. This is what it came back with. The advantages disability have priority on l' Allowance with the handicapped people (A.A.H.). If the amount of the service disability granted by your case d' Health insurance remains lower than that of l' A.A.H., a differential A.A.H. will be granted to you by the CIF. If the amount of your service disability is higher than the amount of l' A.A.H., you n' will not be entitled to the latter. Attention, at 60 years, you are supposed “inapt for work” and the case d' Health insurance does not grant any more a pension to you d' disability (as the CIF does not grant any more d' to you; A.A.H.): if you cotisé with l' old-age insurance by carrying on an community activity, you will be able to perceive your retirement, to which will be able s' to add the complement of retirement and l' additional allowance; if you n' did not work, you will be able to perceive l' special allowance old age. I can see the differential aspect. However on the over 60 bit. Am I correct in saying that neither the AAH or CIF is granted.?   Re special allowance old age element.(non-working) Is this payable regardless of the aforementioned?. All in all. Do I apply using form http://www.cnsa.fr/IMG/pdf/ModeleA_8pages_v06.pdf  as provided by cooperlola. Or is this now not applicable?   

Thanks cooperlola for forms.

I have just emailed CLEISS (Centre des Liasions Eurpéennes et Internationales de Sécurité Sociale).myself. Perhaps they can offer some more info before I go to the local social security.   Thanks to all for you welcome and support. If anything monumental turns up to help others.   I will post.

The department we dealt with is MDPH ( Maison Départmentale des Personnes Handicapées ). We waited about a year without hearing anything. The person we had to fill in our tax return made a call on our behalf..We then recieved the card. Our liability (on income) is zero. As far as adapting the house. It is on one level and there is nothing that would benefit from adaptation---that I know of.  I read in an earlier post that carers that live- in (related or otherwise) do not qualify for benefits. So nothing there. We have incured mega costs for hospitalisation,cliniques,doctors,medications and transport. This is ongoing since march 2008. Should the card offer any CPAM concession without special conditions? Or does it all revolve around the means test qualification. If so what is the threshold?

my partner is 76.  After much binding in the marsh with the ADMR We recieved a carte d'invalidite 80% and a parking permit . However we do not recieve any financial support. I contacted CPAM and was advised that this card only applies to parking. We get no concessions for medical care only the basic E121. We do not have a Mutuelle. Are we missing something here?