Carte Vitale for pensioners?

[newtoareathanks]

Hi,  I am still

concerned about the carte vitale. Being 60, I applied for a pension from the UK and they said that any pension rewarded

entitled me to  free medical care in France.

I then filled in the forms. I asked at this time if my husbands earnings were

taken into account and they said my medical benefits were based on my

independent pension. My husband works in Japan and still earns. I received

my carte vitale.  I was never asked about

him. I have now met someone who tells me that she pays an astronomical sum for

her carte vitale . She doesn’t work and is only 50, her husband works abroad.

Can anyone please still the panic!

[Sunday Driver]

You are in receipt of a UK old age pension (and therefore a form E121), which entitles you to French state healthcare insurance without having to pay any contributions.  The other person is too young to qualify for an E121, therefore she has to pay her own contributions.

 

 

[Hereford]

You do not have to pay anything into the French health service as such but the medical care you get is not free. You get 65 - 70% refunded, just as a French person does. You should look at top-up insurance too.  Lots of info on this on this site.

H

[daisymay]

I thought that if one of a married couple was in receipt of a state pension that the other spouse could be included on the carte vitale as a dependant. Am I wrong?

[Ron Avery]

"I thought that if one of a married couple was in receipt of a state pension that the other spouse could be included on the carte vitale as a dependant. Am I wrong?"

You are correct Daisy in 99% of cases, but it is not a foregone conclusion particularly where the man is a lot younger than the pensioner woman, there have been cases where he has not been deemed to be a dependent particularly where he had the income and the " pensioner" was the dependent.

[cooperlola]

[quote user="daisymay"]I thought that if one of a married couple was in receipt of a state pension that the other spouse could be included on the carte vitale as a dependant. Am I wrong?[/quote]Not always.  Your ability to "piggy back" onto your partner's card is dependent upon just that - whether you are financially dependent upon them.  In the o/p's case her o/h has made all his own contributions so it's likely that the tax bods in the UK will expect him to have his own cover so he won't be able to piggy-back.

Sorry Ron, a bit of simultaneous posting there!  But I reckon we've come to the same conclusion.

[Ron Avery]

No problems C-L but what I cannot understand is who makes the decision? I have heard of cases where the French have refused to accept a dependent as we stated,  but I have also been told by a very fit and private pension receiving chap of 58 that he got his E121 from Newcastle on the back of his wife's E121 for invalidity benefit. So if Newcastle issue them and apparently take no notice of dependency for IB related cases, who makes the final decision, or is it different if you are a pensioner?  It seems to me that the French have no interest in turning these people down for E121 cover as the UK then picks up the tab for their treatment.

[cooperlola]

Well, in our own case, my  o/h's E106 (which we got when we orriginally moved here) had a box on it which was ticked to say that it covered all other members of his family living in the same place.  The CPAM just then happily accepted that it covered the two of us.  We have a while to go before E121 time but I'm assuming that this will be the case when the day does arrive - ie that my o/h's E121 will cover me just as his E106 did.  I'll find out in about 6 years!

I quite agree that the French can't have much interest in not allowing piggy-backing if the UK agrees to pay, but maybe they feel that they'd be better off with 8% of our incomes and taking the risk!  We need some evidence for those in this situation I guess, or of course the difinitve SD answer!!

[newtoareathanks]

I am SO happy. terrified of doing something illegal  here.Thanks to all.