How long to get attestation after handing in E106?

[Judith]

I handed in my E106 at the local CPAM on 20 October, and wondered just how long it takes to get anything "accepting" you into the system.  I realise that obtaining the carte vitale is (a) not vital and (b) will take some time, but I am slightly surprised not to have had some form of acknowledgement yet (or is 6 weeks far too soon to expect anything?).  Also, I have still to sign on at a doctor's (on the list for this week ....), do I need the attestation before I can be accepted or not?

Asked hubby, but since it is three years since he went through the process, he cannot remember (at all) what happened, or how long it all took!

[giantpanda]

Hi!

It depends:

-on the office

-on their work load.

1st you get a paper " attestation"  which is basic just as " good " as the Carte Vitale, which then could take a further month ( or more because of Christmas ).

Yopurs,

giantpanda

[AnOther]

A Carte Vitale a month after the attestation, ours took best part of 12.

Can't remember how long our attestation took but I've asked 'er indoors who will know and come back to me.

[Judith]

[quote user="giantpanda"]Hi!

1st you get a paper " attestation"  which is basic just as " good " as the Carte Vitale, which then could take a further month ( or more because of Christmas ).

Yopurs,

giantpanda

[/quote]

Thanks, I already know that the attestation comes first, and that it's just as good as the carte vitale -

but are you saying, the the attestation could take "as long as it takes" due to the office's work load, or that it will be after Christmas, given the timescale in my original post?

As I said, the carte vitale timing doesn't worry me, having the forms to show I'm in the system does (as I shall need to get more medication fairly soon).  And do I need the medecin traitant form before I sign on at the doctor, or not??

[Judith]

Ern (sorry I preferred your previous moniker!)

Thanks, most grateful, to 'er indoors' - my 'him indoors' is useless at such. 

I'll look again later (or possibly tomorrow) as I see it is feeding time which will be followed by an evening spent writing Christmas cards!!!!.

[Boiling a frog]

Your attestation can take anything from a week to several months but in general around the 6 week mark, if you are worried about non receipt ask CPAM where it is, it is not unknown for them to loose paperwork. You may or may not be issued with a carte vitale, depends on the individual CPAM,s

The first time you go to the Doctor take this form with you

http://www.ameli.fr/fileadmin/user_upload/formulaires/S3704.pdf

and have the Doctor complete it.

You will then have to hang onto it until you receive your attestation as the form asked for your social security no which you will not get until you receive your attestation .

After you receive the attestation send off the medicine traitant form to CPAM along with any feuilles which you have for reembursement.

Simple. [:)]

[AnOther]

From 'er indoors:

"We got our E106 from 29th September (we took paperwork in during

October 07) and our 1st attestation is dated 15th November.  Our CV's

arrived in August 08"

That would be about 5-6 weeks for the attestation then (I recall now CPAM saying within 6 weeks when we applied) followed by nigh on 9 months for the CV's although we received the invitation to apply for them a bit before that of course so lets call it 8.

[Mikew]

We took our E forms (121s for us, perhaps 106s are different) to the CPAM at our Mairie, we were given temporary attestations as a form of receipt. These were perfectly acceptable at docs and pharmacie.

[Ron Avery]

Maybe this is the reason why you have not got an Attestation yet, nobody seems to have noticed this bit of your post.

"Asked hubby, but since it is three years since he went through the process, he cannot remember (at all) what happened, or how long it all took!"

So this is not a straight forward E 106 application is it?  Your husband had an E 106 in his own right and is now presumably in the CMU base, but you are not, presumably.  Now that you have moved to France, your healthcare is under an E 106 and you will not be admitted into the CMU base when it expires, or will you?  Normally you would just piggyback on your O/H's cover in the CMU base, assuming that he is paying into it, but as you seem to be doing it individually rather than as a family unit, you may find that this is causing the delay. I am sure people here have come over at different times, but I have no idea how it works if one is already in the CMU and the other covered by an E form and what happens regards payments which are based on a family unit or whether you would have the right to entry into the CMU when your E form expires.  If your O/H has an E 121 you can just piggyback on that without bothering about an E 106.

[Judith]

[quote user="Ron Avery"]

Maybe this is the reason why you have not got an Attestation yet, nobody seems to have noticed this bit of your post.

"Asked hubby, but since it is three years since he went through the process, he cannot remember (at all) what happened, or how long it all took!"

So this is not a straight forward E 106 application is it?  Your husband had an E 106 in his own right and is now presumably in the CMU base, but you are not, presumably.  Now that you have moved to France, your healthcare is under an E 106 and you will not be admitted into the CMU base when it expires, or will you?  Normally you would just piggyback on your O/H's cover in the CMU base, assuming that he is paying into it, but as you seem to be doing it individually rather than as a family unit, you may find that this is causing the delay. I am sure people here have come over at different times, but I have no idea how it works if one is already in the CMU and the other covered by an E form and what happens regards payments which are based on a family unit or whether you would have the right to entry into the CMU when your E form expires.  If your O/H has an E 121 you can just piggyback on that without bothering about an E 106.

[/quote]

Ron

You assume incorrectly that my husband is here on a E106.  Also that I won't be eligible for CMU base when my E106 expires.  Wrong.  He is here on a E121 as he is retired.  Yes, I know I could piggy-back, I've known that all along, as I did do my research before I came (for those who have read any of my posts, it was my profession), but I was looking for actual experience of timing. 

I've worked all my life, I am entitled to an E106 in my own right, and an E121 next year, again in my own right.  Maybe seems strange but it's the way I like to keep it.  Since I also do not use his name, I do not know if they will  have tied it all up - knowing French bureaucracy, possibly not.  As far as I am aware, there was no indication of tying my application to anyone else - it was not needed, it was perfectly legitimate to apply for my own cover.

The consensus, and many thanks to those who did answer my question, (and for the form, boiling a frog), was that 6 weeks onwards is the norm - so I will not worry until 8 weeks have passed and then, when passing, may call in, if needed. It may be that the many jours feries that happen in November won;t have helped.

I don't think there will be any problem if I need to see the doctor before it arrives, as it will be the same doctor as my husband's, and he's used to these odd English people now!

[Ron Avery]

Refer to the message on the tradesmens entrance from noddy's mate, I know my place[:P].

[Boiling a frog]

[quote user="Ron Avery"]

Judith good to see you know what you are doing I hope you have not confused CPAM with your application.  The others who have quoted timescales which vary hugely between departments probably applied iin the normal way as couples and did not create unecessary problems for themselves.

[/quote]

 

Ron, I wonder sometimes what you are on about

There are countless couples,ourselves included, who are both entitled to E106's or as in this case one with an E121 and the other with an E106. We are living in the 21st Century where it is not uncommon for partners both to work, and that includes the French. 

We have never experienced any problems when we both had E106's and the kind people at CPAM even suggested when we moved over to CMU that the health care should be in my wife's name as she reaches 60 and an E121 entitlement some 3 years before I become entitled so I will piggy back on her E121 for three years and then have health care in my own right on reaching 65. 

[Ron Avery]

B a F  In what way is your situation similar to that of Judith?  

[Judith]

Ron

Perhaps I'm thinking of the future, seems much simpler to keep things separate.  Dealing with taxes (I know) is different, but with healthcare, it seems that when one of a couple dies (as must eventually happen) if that one is the one with the affiliation and the other is the piggybacker, it makes it simpler, as there is no need to "get one's own"  - it's already in place.

[Ron Avery]

If moderators reserve the right to remove posts without the common courtesy of a notification I reserve the right to do the same.

[Judith]

[quote user="Ron Avery"]Yes that is a good point if there were a significant gap betwen one getting E121 cover and theother given the current rules about entitlement to the CMU.  So you are the O/H's arm candy then eh!![:D][/quote]

I'm neither young enough or pretty enough to be "arm candy" - and any man who's ever tried that one on me, soon knew what I thought of such a mind. 

And since we are second time arounders, and have now been married to each other for coming up to 23 years, it could never have been said of me even when we met! 

To conclude:  I would not have any problem with entitlement to the CMU in my own name at any point now or in the future, so the point you tried to make (somewhat pointless if I may say so) is wasted on me.  Strangely, we had the sense to research all this before we came, so the changes made last year had no bearing on our situation at all.

[Ron Avery]

Went round the the back but  no one was in, so didn't leave a message

[bigears]

ron

Ron this lady seems to be a very independent lady who wants to do it her way, respect that. 

[Judith]

Big Ears,

Thank you for your support. 

Occasionally I wonder why I bother posting for information, as posts are often unhelpfully "hijacked" to no good purpose.

Thankfully this time, several posters gave me sensible answers, which gives me the info I needed, and to those also, many thanks.

[Owen]

Hello Judith,

As indicated the time taken to receive your attestation can vary enormously but that does not mean therefore you should wait for weeks and weeks. It has already been mentioned that the CPAM does lose paperwork from time to time but hopefully you have a stamped copy of your application to affiliate. This would be useful if you needed potentially expensive treatment such as hospitalisation as the hospital/clinic would then be able to obtain confirmation from the CPAM that although no social security number had yet been issued, the application was being processed, and therefore the cover was there.

However you should not wait forever for this attestation particularly as you will require medication in the near future and at least initially you will have to pay the full amount up front. Proof that you have paid the full amount ie; copies of your "feuilles de soins" would be good supporting evidence of an official complaint to the CPAM of them taking an inordinately long time to process your application. For once French bureaucracy is on your side. Once a complaint is lodged it has to be answered within 3 weeks.

Finally, as you are affiliating via E106 you may not receive a "carte vitale". By definition it has temporary validity so some CPAM offices only issue an attestation. If your CPAM does follow this procedure then not been issued with a CV is the one disadvantage of you not piggybacking on your husbands E121. However, from what you have said the advantages of you going your own way in this matter far outweigh this possible inconvenience.

Regards

Owen

[email protected]

[Judith]

Owen (Peter)

Many thanks - as it happens, I did not get any "proof" that I have handed in my E106, they said I would receive an attestation, and that if in the meantime I needed treatment etc, just to send in the feuilles de soin.  I will certainly go in soon and check, for the attestation.  I also understand re the CV, as I will change to an E121 in a year's time (actually 51 weeks, as I handed in the E106 a week after my birthday (!)), so your supposition that I may not receive a carte vitale for that period is quite understandable.

As I have already said, since the E106 will happily cover me until I get my E121, (it was in fact dated until the day before my next birthday, when I reach 60 and officially become entitled to the E121, so DWP have hte correct details for me it seems).  Since this was so, it seemed much easier to "go it alone" as it were, and if the lack of the CV is the only reason to piggyback, it really is not worth it.  I'm grateful for your confirmation of that point.

[Judith]

An update.  I waited until the New Year and called in - they were surprised that I had not received anything, as I was on the system, no problem.  I asked for and he gave me my number, and rang someone to request I be sent the attestation.  The attestation arrived today.  So the only problem would seem to have been the actual sending of the attestation - whether it would have arrived wihout my prompting I shall never now know! 

In fact I had already visited the doctor using the form I downloaded, and with the number filled in, so no problems there either.  They imply that the carte vitale will follow - we shall see!

[Llantony]

I took my E121 (and all the other documents required) to the CPAM rep at the Mairie.  He didn't give me any receipt.

I do wonder how long to wait if I don't hear anythng.  Two people I know contacted them after hearing nothing for a long time.  In both cases they were told the photocopied certificates were difficult to read so they had not got into the health system - but no-one had notified them!  In one case, the excuse was that they couldn't read the marriage certificate - but had sent the Carte Vitale for the spouse....     My husband's birth certificate is faint as the ink has faded.  I asked the man if that would be a problem, saying 'well, you've seen the original' and he agreed.

[Araucaria]

Six weeks after handing in the E121 papers we'd heard nothing, so we went along to the CPAM rep (in our case, once a week at the "Maison des Services") and asked. She logged on to the network, found that everything was going forward properly, and printed off an attestation on the spot. And then photocopied it, so we'd have a copy after giving one to the mutuelle.

As an aside, I'm not quite 60 but my wife is a little older, so I'm piggybacking on her for E121 purposes. When we first took the two sets of forms in to the CPAM 25 miles away at the prefecture (I mean the departmental head office) the unhelpful chap behind the counter accepted my wife's application but rejected mine - said it wasn't in my own name. This was of course true but quite irrelevant. So the following week we took it along to the CPAM rep - who I'd dealt with before - in the Maison des Services (5 miles away) who accepted the papers quite happily. I'm afraid once someone behind a desk decides your papers aren't in order, there's little you can do to change his mind (England or France).