Benjamin

Will the C I've only just read your second posting on 08/11/05 and am very interested as I am just about to buy top up insurance. I've got several quotes from various providers and no one, including my own bank (CA), have pointed this out to me. Taking your example of the dental work, presumably CPAM will reimburse 65% (estimated rate) of the total cost but the top up provider will only repay 35% of 100 euros: or am I wrong? Is the incidence of the rate conventione being less than the actual price charged for treatment in just a few cases/half/or in lots of cases? If, for instance, I have a planned corrective operation for a hernia am I liable to find that my 100% top up insurance will leave me still paying part of the cost of this operation or is it only for things like dental work that this is liable to happen? Conversely, if I'm rushed into hospital say, for emergency treatment for a heart attack could I still find myself paying for part of the cost of 10 days in intensive care?   Benjamin  

Derf I've just looked back at an old feuille de soins and there doesn't appear to be any way for the doctor to indicate what the consultation was for, so I assume my wife gets total reimbursement for any medical treatment not that just related to her disability.   Edyth Maybe the system has changed although this type of forum normally knows very quickly of any changes made by the UK authorities. My wife's E121 was issued early this year.   Benjamin

....and before somebody picks on Wolverhampton, as they usually do when this type of discussion takes place, DON'T..............or else.   Benjamin

This is nothing to do with the French authorities as all costs are reimbursed by the UK.   Benjamin

That's the anomally. Wife, disabled, but not yet at pensionable age gets all of her medical costs reimbursed. Me, younger still, fit and healthy gets back 60-70% because, in the eyes of Newcastle, I'm her dependent.   Benjamin

Thanks bigjim. So, it's stick with the Livebox or is there another solution to having the PC not plugged into a phone socket?   Benjamin

Taking the term "retired" to mean "have you stopped going out to work to earn a living?", then the answer is "yes", but by age, "no". Hope I got all the correct punctuation here!   Benjamin

Oops, sorry. I described the situation as it affects my wife and myself and didn't realise that this isn't the "standard" situation. There is an anomaly here though. Why should I, fit and healthy, be able to plug into the French health system at no cost,except for top up insurance, and others have to contribute?   Benjamin

Hi Horroll If you have (or are going to get) an E121 then the medical costs of  that person will be refunded 100%. This is unlike a French person who only gets back 60-70%. If this person has a dependent (husband/wife) then they are refunded like a French person and if they decide to, may take out normal mutuel insurance to cover the remaining percentage. You will need to visit your CPAM office to get yourselves registered.   Benjamin

Lautrec Can't answer the techie questions but our Livebox was delivered by post about two days after our system builder had arranged the contract with Wanadoo.   Benjamin

Bigjim Could I ask another question concerning your reply posted today @ 15.26? We purchased a new PC and moved into our house in March. The PC was purchased from a system builder who, as part of the deal, installed our Livebox together with related software because, not to put too fine a point on it, I was scared to do it! We only have the one PC and are not interested in any of the other services you can get via the LIvebox. The reason we had a Livebox was because we could not decide where to site the PC in the new house and rather than being restricted to putting it where there were phone sockets we were told we could have it anywhere in the house (modern house so no thick stone walls to worry about). We have a dongle (?) in the back of the PC. At the time (don't know if they are still available) you could buy a Livebox from places such as BUT for 99 euros but we reasoned at 3 euros per month it would take 33 months for us to start losing and 33 months is a long time in computers. In January we will be 10 months into our contract so if there is another way of connecting to our telephone line without being plugged into a phone socket then we make decide to cancel the Livebox part of the contract with Wanadoo. That's the history so now for the question. Is this what a router or router and modem will let us do? If so it then becomes a purely financial decision about what to do although (and I'm almost reluctant to mention this) we have not had a single problem with the Livebox or Wanadoo since the day it was installed.   Benjamin   

The density in the Vendee (listed under Pays de La Loire) is exactly the same as the department number - 85!!!!!!!!!!!!!   Benjamin

Lautrec If you are on the tariff where you get cheaper electricity at night then your bill will show two lots of consumption with the appropriate different prices against each. I think (but am not certain) that there are other tariffs available. To make certain that you are on the correct tariff to match your lifestyle visit your local EDF office and they will run your appliances, heating etc through a simulation program and advise you of the best tariff for you to be on.    Benjamin

But don't they all Mrs H, don't they all?   Benjamin

We have yet to pay either tax as we purchased our house in March of this year, but surely if you purchased in July (of 2005?) why are you paying either? The most you should be paying is a proportion of the taxe fonciere.   Benjamin    

About 20 years or so ago the then UK government hit on this wonderful idea to save the Nation oodles of dosh in the future by offering to give people a lump sum of money to opt out of the state earnings related pension scheme (SERPS). You still stayed in the normal State Retirement scheme but you then had this sum of money to give to those million quid a year bright boys in the Pensions Industry to invest for you and you would be much better off than if you had stayed in SERPs. My wife took professional advice and chose to opt out of SERPs ( strangely enough I took advice from the same financial advisor and the outcome for me was to stay in the government scheme; something to do with age). She becomes 60 this year and has had all the pension forecasts from Newcastle and amid the figures is a reduction in pension entitlement of 22 pounds a week because she opted out of SERPs. Fine you say that was her choice. If she now tries to buy an annuity with the pension fund she built up the best annuity rate she can find will pay her 21 pounds per week. When she tackled the financial adviser about this he said that successive governments had so fiddled about with the opting out rules that there was now, and hadn't been for some time, any advantage in being outside SERPs. In fact his company, like most others in the pensions industry, will no longer give advice on this subject. This is not so much as paying your money and taking your choice but is more about governments encouraging people to do one thing and then changing the rules so as to disadvantage those very same people. Rant over   Benjamin

The best people to ask, as always, are those nice people in Newcastle. They'll probably send you the relevant booklet also.   Benjamin

This couple missed by 1.000 kms. They should be in South Eastern Spain, but still no Ikea.   Benjamin

Thanks Rasputin. It sounds easier than it looks on the map. I'll give it a whirl.   Benjamin

I'm not getting into the discussion on CMU because I don't know what it is and don't understand it but you are being very naive if you think that French people and in fact many other Europeans aren't taking advantage of savings opportunities in these Offshore centres.    Benjamin

Ron All I'm quoting is a part of what the EU Savings Directorate which came into force on 1 July this year says. Part, but not all , of the withholding tax is paid over,anonymously, to the country where you are tax resident.   Benjamin

Thanks Rasputin and Brian. By pointing me at Orbec are you suggesting that I join the A13 near Pont-l'Eveque and continue across the Pont de Normandie or have I confused you by putting Caen etc. when the "etc." was supposed to mean "and then continue on to Boulogne"? I've looked at both Michelin and the AA's route planner and, of course, they can only give directions to get to the other side of Rouen using the existing N138/A13 route whereas the run through Rouen looks a nightmare on my map. I was wondering if anyone had experience of using the D313/D913/D940 and joining the A29 to the north east of Yvetot, or indeed any other way of bypassing the run through the centre of Rouen.   Benjamin

We are in the same boat with our Barclays current account where we would like to move away but know that no other bank will take us on. It's all down to money laundering rules which in themselves are a good idea to try to stop the vast amounts of money derived from illegal activities being laundered into legitimate commercial concerns. One avenue that IANS might like to try is the Offshore savings route. If you would like to pm me I will tell you who I'm looking at presently but there are lots of other companies out there. They are perfectly happy to open an account with a french address and you can elect either to pay the witholding tax and keep your name away from the tax man or you can be paid gross interest and have the details sent to the tax authorities in your country of residence and pay the tax there.   Benjamin

I'm going to Boulogne the first week in November. My normal route from the Vendee is Nantes, Rennes, Avranches, Caen etc. but I thought I'd give the new A28 a try. I can see from my 2004 Michelin road atlas where the A28 meets the A13 near Bourg-Achard but can anyone who goes this way regularly tell me the best route from there to the A29?   Benjamin

I was referring to the cranberry juice that I normally drink but I'll stick with my criteria of not tipping because I'm expected to, and only tipping when I receive exceptional service. Cheers!   Benjamin