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Thank you both for your replies, both raise very valid points. Grecian, I hadn't realised that about the insulin - another thing to bear in mind! Thankfully my husband's diabetes is very well controlled, but I know this is another potential worry for the future. Lots to think about, but I am more determined than ever now that we will achieve our dream!

Thank you both so much for taking the time to reply, I really appreciate it. I wish I'd come here first instead of spending ages trying to find the info everywhere else. We certainly don't mind paying for treatment if we're not contributing, but somehow we'd almost managed to convince ourselves that we wouldn't even be able to get access to a doctor at all! Honestly, we are normally fairly sensible people(!), we just seemed to be going round and round in circles with this problem.

Wow, that is fantastic - that's given me a bit of hope. My poor husband had practically convinced himself (and me) that we wouldn't be allowed "in" to France! I wasn't aware of that CMU at all, so I'm going off now to have a read about that. I'll be interested to see what it says if neither of us are working at all (which is the ideal really, I'd much sooner just retire!) so I'll see what I can see from there. Thanks again, I feel we're a tiny step closer to achieving our dream.

Hello, this is my first post and I am looking forward to finding my way around the forum. Basically, I could do with a bit of guidance - I've read so much recently that I'm getting myself in a pickle! I'd appreciate the benefit of someone else's experience if possible. A bit of background first. My husband and I are looking to retire to France next year, age 55. We have no dependants and will be financially secure. I am self employed (sole trader) at the moment, he works for the Civil Service. He is an insulin-dependant diabetic, and is really worried about how to get his insulin in France. We are quite happy to pay for it, I know we won't be working so won't be contributing as such, and that's fair enough. How on earth does he get his insulin though, do we just go straight to a doctor, register there, any pay for what he needs? Finding private health insurance is proving to be very difficult, so I need to do more research there. Another option I have is to set up my business again in France, with him, so if we did that and were therefore contributing to the state, would we then be entitled to access the French healthcare system? I am totally confused, please help!