NormanH

How come so many people on a Forum about France are talking about the weather in the UK? On s'en fou...

Perhaps a good reason to stay in the UK, since you obviously find it superior

For those watching the BBC serial  and can read French, you may be interested in the views of the book and the programme expressed by French viewers in this forum Make  a change from reading what British people are saying about France..

If you work you are covered by the payments you have made.(In the case of the OP apparently a year) If you are made redundant or are sacked (but not if you resign) you then get Assedic for a period (about 7  months minimum but it can be longer) and the Assedic pays your social security charges. After that you get gradually reducing cover until you start to pay again. At no point in this process (say 2 and a half years) would you be in the CMU. I am neither a tax expert nor a lawyer, but I have been there and have the T shirt. I am not,   never have been and never will be in the CMU. That is often the case with people who work or run a business in France.

Cerise is giving excellent advice here. I  worked in France from  the mid 90s, until last year and have never really got a job that reflects the sort of work I   was doing in the UK, for the sort of reasons quoted, but in fact my last decent job before retiring was training French graduates who wanted to go to work in the UK primarily London, so I saw things from the other side . Despite EU regulations UK qualifications (or indeed paperwork in general) are often misunderstood in France, and anything you can get together that reflects the French way of doing things will help. There is an emphasis on how many years of study you have done, expressed in "Bac+ and a number" , and much less emphasis on transferable skills. There tends to be a narrow specialized  view of career too, which means that a person employed in one field is regarded as unable to do other work which in the UK would be seen as close to the original. French secondary teachers of some minority subjects  for example are up in arms at the idea they might have to teach something else or re-train, whereas in the UK there are various career paths open to teachers. In terms of learning French, by applying what I found for French people going to the UK I can say that your husband should not just concentrate on technical French. I had students who were qualified pharmacists, accountants, and engineers, and I have also taught medical professionals. In almost every case the technical language didn't really pose major problems. 'Une ortite' is very like ortitis... It is the spoken language of everyday communication which will have to be used from the first day in the workplace with people who don't share the same level of technical expertise that can 'block' , so preferably find a real French teacher who has worked in a real job or in business, and not one who has only ever studied French in a linguistic way. FLE (French as a Foreign language ) exams and courses are covered in an introductory way here  

Did you go all through the process of signing up for the 'club France Televisions' with your email account etc.? Then pay either to rent (2.99 € )  or buy(8.99 € )  the programme? ( prices for the programe about the events of May 1968 as an example, payment by CB, France Télécom, INTERNET+.. I can get that far, but of course the BBC iPlayer is free, and this site , as I said above,  a pay site,so I didn't bother The Bablefish translation isn't much more ridiculous than some of the French translations I have seen suggested on here..

This is the Notaire's site on this topic http://www.notaires.fr/notaires/notaires.nsf/V_TC_PUB/CHANGEMENT-REGIME-MATRIMONIAL

I think so Patf. I would also point out that if you have one of the list of illnesses counting towards an ALD that isn't  an automatic guarantee of 100% cover, until your  your Géneraliste has sent in a 'formulaire de demande de prise en charge'  to your local Caisse, and you have the specific 'notification d'exoneration du ticket moderateur' and a list or 'protocole de soins' which shows which medicines and tests etc are covered. I mention this because it might be imagined that this is automatic.  You will be accepted if you apply , but it is much better to go through this rather long-winded process as soon as you are diagniosed  and have the right documents to produce in an emergency arising from your illness. Of course you are only covered at 100% for the things on that list.

[quote user="Clair"]I have no problem using the spell check facility in Firefox. I can use it in French or in English... [/quote] Me too...except (and only except ) when I post on this Forum.[8-)] I have tried the manipulation outlined here, and it still doesn't work Correction:  I can do it manually, that is to say highlighting the text area, right-clicking on it  and choosing 'spell check this area' However it doesn't seem to want to do it automatically. Still it's progress.  Thanks Claire. The reason I ask about it is that if more people could use it, it could prevent the sort of conflicts that can arise where somebody's post  is badly-spelled.

In Firefox2 there is a spellcheck which works on every other Forum I have been on, but not on this one. It is useful for highlighting 'typos' and words that have been hastily typed in wrongly, so does anybody have any idea why it doesn't work on here?

I believe you have to pay to watch on that site.

You could contact somewhere like the French American centre in Montpellier for advice. I have sent the URL in a pm in case it looks like a commercial link They have been organising culturam exchangesand language learning for over 15 years

[quote user="Patf"]Logan - the example of the heart attack. The cost was  covered only 70%, for some reason. Possibly because it was done via SAMU, not the medecin traitante. The hip replacement was covered 100%.[/quote] I have already stated that I believe Logan's premise that 'life threatening' conditions are automatically covered at 100% to be incorrect. This seems to back that up. I stand to be corrected if someone can quote from the http://www.ameli.fr/  site where Logan's idea is stated. If I am right it tips the balence of the argument back the other way if you might have to meet 20% of a serious operation and aftercare

[quote user="Cat"]Good grief, if Saligo Bay doesn't understand it then no one will Norman [:P] [/quote] Who is this paragon? Someone who doesn't understand the use of 'hosts' to mean host nation, and who assumes that if one French person agrees with a British one on a particular issue that causes a problem as far as the rest of France is concerned. I referred to a site (which nobody has commented on) which gives a pretty clear idea of the problem that this pest causes, and which outlines measures which can be taken against them in France, where France is the host nation and has the right to make the rules. If Little Britons conflate British attude with "brains," and French practice with "something else but we don't/cant read/ cant understand the website so we can't say what it is"  we are getting close  to arrogant smugness.

Nothing to add technically to the sensible and informative posts of Will et al, but I have an observation. A number of British people have been worried about the UK taxman for so long that they fail to be terrified of the French one. In other words if  you live in France forget British definitions.

[quote user="SaligoBay"][quote user="NormanH"]We are in France, so it seems logical to follow French custom and practice in the matter, and not impose British attitudes.[/quote] You are allowed to bring your brain with you to France.    And what if a French person agrees with your "British" attitude?   Puts you in a bit of a quandary!    [quote user="NormanH"] For an idea of what our French hosts think, [/quote] Do you live in a B&B?   [/quote] I presume your sarcasm means that you didn't understand the French site [:P]

I think that Deby and Ginger's comments echo exactly the sorts of experiences I have witnessed, and try to warn people about. Please don't come to France to solve other problems.

There is a list of ALD conditions which are covered at 100% on this thread: http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/1180182/ShowPost.aspx A few other points to consider are: The Sarkozy government is trying to save money on health care, in making people behave more "responsibly".  That is to pay more and more of the costs themselves. Recently the idea that all optical care should be paid by the Mutuelles ( or the patient if you don't have one) was floated by Rosalyne Bachelot (the Minister) "la ministre de la santé, Roselyne Bachelot, n'a pas écarté, dimanche, l'éventualité que l'Etat se désengage dans certains secteurs de la Sécurité sociale, comme l'optique, au profit des assurances complémentaires. La ministre de la santé, Roselyne Bachelot, n'a pas écarté, dimanche 13 avril, la possibilité que la Sécurité sociale se désengage complètement de certains secteurs, notamment l'optique, au profit des assurances complémentaires, provoquant l'incompréhension des responsables de la Mutualité française et la colère de l'opposition, qui dénonce "une privatisation annoncée" du système de santé." ( From 'le Monde 14th April) ( The Health Minister didn't rule out the possibility when she spoke on Sunday that the State would pull out of certain sectors of Health Cover, such as Optical care, leaving them to be paid for by 'Top-up' Insurance. This made those responsible for the Mutuelles claim that they didn't understand what she was talking about, and the opposition denounced a 'privatisation' of the Health Service...) My very free translation It might be assumed that this won't be the last such initiative If you read French easily there is much to learn here Secondly there is also a move afoot to re-examine the 100% cover. Nor can it be assumed that the CMU as it exists will remain untouched. It has only been in place since 2000 and was the brainchild of a Socialist government (the same one that brought in the 35 hour week) Given this general drift towards having to pay more towards Health Care I am happy to have Mutuelle which enables me to pay monthly rather than in a large sum just when I am least able to pay. As a last point, don't just assume one health problem. My payments top up several things at the same time: last year I broke my ankle, had to have a number of fillings in my teeth, an eye test, and 3 Xrays. None of these are 'life-threatening', but the costs mount up.

In the thread to which Claire refers there seems to be a belief that the patient doesn't have to pay the 20% of  treatment for things that are life-threatening. This is not my understanding. Certainly if you already covered at 100% for an ALD, or in some other specific circumstances Le montant du ticket modérateur varie en fonction de votre situation, notamment selon : la nature du risque (maladie, maternité, accident du travail, etc.) ;l'acte ou le traitement ;si vous souffrez d'une affection de longue durée exonérante ;si vous relevez du régime d'Alsace-Moselle ;le respect ou non du parcours de soins coordonnés ;si vous percevez une pension d'invalidité  you don't pay the 20%, but I believe that if you have fairly standard  surgery you would. Logan had a particular experience with ab operation from which I think a dangerous assumption is being drawn.

"State" hopitals will still charge for the part not covered by the Assurance Maladie. There isn't the same distiction between "cliniques"  which are privately run, but where the payments are made from the 'Sécu' and the Hospital Publique as there is in the UK. Both are state-funded. Can you afford to pay 20% of a major operation, not to mention all the ancillary charges ? I pay 800 euros a year for a mutuelle which covers me for everything 'normal' except for certain expenses in the dental and optical field. You can never be certain to remain in good health, either. My advice would be to pay for the peace of mind, and the fact that at an awful moment you wouldn't have to be bothered about being able to pay.

We are in France, so it seems logical to follow French custom and practice in the matter, and not impose British attitudes. For an idea of what our French hosts think, this site is interesting: http://www.peniche.com/Breves/eqte_sep_rag.htm

Two ideas 1) make sure you are typing in 0 not O...or even several 00 rather than just one 2)you might email your local centre..easier than trudging in.

[quote user="Eos"]In the interest of not misleading the public, perhaps the title of the thread should be "Airline ripoff" as the problem, based on the article cited, is endemic in the aviation industry as a whole. [/quote] Have edited it to use your suggestion

The practice of misleading the public on websites is under serious investigation: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=564763&in_page_id=1770&ito=1490

It's very attractive and "buzzy" in season Tends to be highly priced and very busy. I doubt you will get more than a holiday appartment for 150,000 A couple of years ago it was also quite trendy. I live near enough to visit, which I believe to be the best plan, so you benefit in the low and mid season, but not be swamped by the crowds in the summer I have sent you a pm with a couple of links