It's expensive!

[chessfou]

OK, so French health services are very good but, wow, aren't they expensive.

We have E106 for the next 18 months or so, so we have Carte Vitale & (basically) 70% reimbursement. Our Mutuelle (for the other 30%) costs (for two of us) approx 2/3 of what we paid for private health insurance in the UK. Of course, in a year or so, we'll also be shelling out towards that 70% as well.

On the other hand, you find some interesting things. I have a regular prescription for a beta-blocker (standard BP medication) which cost £6+ a throw (standard prescription charge) in UK but here is only EUR 3.something and, after the 70% CPAM/Carte Vitale kicks in, a mere EUR 1.14 or thereabouts (i.e. ca. 78p).

[KathyC]

If your health care is costing you 2/3 of what you were paying in the UK, I can't quite see why you find this so expensive. If it were costing you more I could understand it.

[chessfou]

[quote user="KathyC"]If your health care is costing you 2/3 of what you were paying in the UK, I can't quite see why you find this so expensive. If it were costing you more I could understand it.[/quote]

Errrm ... what we were paying in UK was optional (opting into private healthcare) while what we are paying in France is not (unless we wanted to "self insure" and run the risk of needing to find 30% of the cost of hospitalization, which a phone call to the admin dept. of the local hospital established could easily run into many thousands EUR). Ipso facto, "expensive."

[Rosebud]

[quote user="chessfou"]On the other hand, you find some interesting things. I have a regular prescription for a beta-blocker (standard BP medication) which cost £6+ a throw (standard prescription charge) in UK but here is only EUR 3.something and, after the 70% CPAM/Carte Vitale kicks in, a mere EUR 1.14 or thereabouts (i.e. ca. 78p).
[/quote]

It's true that many medications seem much cheaper here, but other things very expensive.  We are Switzerland based and pay for our health cover there, so we pay for everything we need here then claim it back.  I went to get some standard bloods done the other week and was amazed to receive a bill for 190EUROS!!![:-))]

 

[KathyC]

[quote user="chessfou"][quote user="KathyC"]If your health care is costing you 2/3 of what you were paying in the UK, I can't quite see why you find this so expensive. If it were costing you more I could understand it.[/quote]

Errrm ... what we were paying in UK was optional (opting into private healthcare) while what we are paying in France is not (unless we wanted to "self insure" and run the risk of needing to find 30% of the cost of hospitalization, which a phone call to the admin dept. of the local hospital established could easily run into many thousands EUR). Ipso facto, "expensive."
[/quote]

I know private healthcare is optional (I'm not stupid!) but it doesn't make any difference to the comparative costs. You were also paying for NHS healthcare at the time and while you have your E106 you are paying nothing. I don't understand why you should feel that paying for private healthcare is a reasonable expense, but paying for it in a state healthcare setting is expensive.

[Suze01]

Expensive.  The inhaler I have to take every day to control my asthma costs 70 euros and lasts one month [blink].  I would expect that in the UK it would be covered the the standard prescription fee (whatever that is now).  Here it is covered by our Carte Vitale and the mutuelle. Even so it's damned expensive.

[Llwyncelyn]

We live in France and have the carte vitale and based upon E121 when we came here.  My wife has suffered for over thirty years with Rheumatoid Arthritis.  Here I am going off the track but just to emphasise a point.  I am Welsh and for over 25 years lived in Chepstow right on the border.  Gradually over the years the Welsh Assembly has had a policy of reducing prescriptions down to zero and they are almost there.

What happened was that people just over the border moved Doctors to those in Wales and of course benefitted from the prescription saving!

France is expensive but one cannot put a price on health.  Could you in the UK ring a specialist and see him tomorrow and for him to charge you 48 euros and then you recover that from the support and insurance agencies?

I do not think so.  In the UK and before we left for France we paid amost £200 per month to BUPA and that was only for the comfort factor of being able to access health assistance and when you wanted it.  No other reasons.

For those of you who benefit from company BUPA its wonderful but a cost to the business and the other reason its available is to compete in a full employment market place and to ensure that if you are ill and need an operation that its done as quickly as possible and you are back in harness as quickly as possible. Thus a limited cost to the business.  Still I am off the track and I apologise.

 

[Russethouse]

Isn't the problem for the OP going to be when the E106 runs out and they have to cover the whole cost ?

Llwyncelyn, I think that you will find, that as  in England health care in France is patchy, over all I suspect they are bigger, better patches. [:)]

I had to go to hospital on Tuesday, because I was early (10mins) I was actually seen and out before the time of my appointment ! My recent treatment for a broken shoulder would be hard to fault, I was operated on within 4 days of an operation being deemed necessary, but then I live about a mile and half from the largest non teaching hospital in the UK...I know there are plenty of pretty dreadful examples .

[Will]

People in France with E106 or E12, or the early retired who pay their 8% plus topup costs are fortunate.

The self-employed pay a similar health charge, but are also forced to contribute to the French retirement, unemployment, family allowance, training etc funds, few of which they are likely to benefit from personally to any extent. This amounts to nearly half of taxable income - that's what I call expensive. It is similar for employed people, for whom the employer has to pay similar vast contributions in addition to the employee's share, effectively keeping wages down.

[Jonzjob]

[quote user="Llwyncelyn"]

France is expensive but one cannot put a price on health.  Could you in the UK ring a specialist and see him tomorrow and for him to charge you 48 euros and then you recover that from the support and insurance agencies?

I do not think so.  In the UK and before we left for France we paid amost £200 per month to BUPA and that was only for the comfort factor of being able to access health assistance and when you wanted it.  No other reasons.

[/quote]

llwyncelyn I may be wrong, but I think that you will find that since the beginning of the year you will have to go through your own doctor to get the specialist fee re-embursed. You can still go straight to the specialist, but it will cost you most of the fee pert etra... You will still get to see the specialist a darn site quicker than England/Wales, probably within a few daze and to suite you...

John.

[Will]

Just in the interest of a balanced debate, though, not everything in France is quicker. Seeing an opthalmologist, for example, where there can be a wait of up to a year for even an eye test. But you don't need to go through your doctor in order to see one - perhaps that coule be part of the problem? And just to be totally pedantic, you don't get the full consultation fee refunded, even through topup insurance. A whole 1€ is retained to help reduce the enormous deficit, something the French system definitely shares with the NHS.

[Llwyncelyn]

 In Gwent in Wales the waiting time to see a specialist say for a replacement hip operation is 78 weeks yes one and a half years. Here tomorrow? and yes I do understand that initially the introductions have to be from one's Doctor.  But is that not the case in the UK?

What I do have problems with is the level of top up insurance for I see conflicting quotations at 100% 150% and even 200% and 300% per cent.

We live in rural Manche with St Lo Cherbourg and Granville and Avranches hospitals nearby.  The nearest teaching hospital is Caen.

The difficulties we have is where to pitch our needs and hence the premium.

Seemingly dental and optical work here is expensive and thus the premiums reflect that cost.  In the UK optical work is perhaps under a more competitive framework and of course there is perhaps a movement of + 2% in TVA.

Currently I do not have any problems with either my teeth or my eyes but tomorrow I may have and the day after someone may tell me that I need a triple heart bypass.

Therefore and after some soul-searching does one just go for the maximum amount and content in the knowledge that if it does happen your have the man in the wardrobe.  For those younger people on the forum this was an advert in the UK for the banking people and when someone got into trouble they had the guy in the wardrobe.  Problem is today the wardrobe is in the sub-continent.  Here I am not making a point apart from the fact that the UK banks need to drive shareholder values and thus overhead costs in the sub-continent are less than the UK.  I can but just imagine if CA or SG or BP said to the the French nation sorry we are moving our call centres to Indian.  Guadalope would be a problem but India we would have a revolution.

 

 

[Sunday Driver]

French treatment/drugs may be expensive but as far we're concerned heathcare here is cheaper than in the UK.

When we lived in the UK, I paid for our "free" NHS healthcare through my income tax and had to pay £6 a shot for our prescriptions (£45 a month).  I paid for all our eyetests and spectacles and all our dental work.  My company BUPA hit me with a tax benefit and when I took early retirement, this cover ceased and I was asked to pay £1,200 a year to maintain the same level of private cover - just to get priority for the treatment I'd already paid for through my taxes!

Now I'm in France, we're on free CMU through our E106.  When it expires, we'll have eighteen months of the "8%" until my wife qualifies for her E121, then we're back onto free CMU.  We pay 1,100 euros a year for a mutuelle which gives us full healthcare and hospitalisation, all our prescriptions paid, but minimal specs and teeth (no different to the UK).  The mutuelle has already paid for itself in terms of one hospital visit, regular blood tests and prescriptions.

Given that my French tax bill is substantially less than my equivalent UK one, even with the cost of the mutelle, I'm quids in......[8-|]

 

 

[Jonzjob]

[quote user="Llwyncelyn"]

  I can but just imagine if CA or SG or BP said to the the French nation sorry we are moving our call centres to Indian.  Guadalope would be a problem but India we would have a revolution.

 

 

[/quote]

Sorry Ll, but it's started here too. Just try to phone the call centre for Wanadoo, sorry Orange. That's in N Africa, 'cause it's cheaper!

Sorry to go off topic, but?

John.

[Llwyncelyn]

Does this just not show the extent of my knowledge.  Here I was believing that France was different but the word over  the so-called shareholder value seems to rule.

Going quickly here off track.  Spent lots of my career with Cable and Wireless remember those one of the first that Maggie privatised?   (Mercury) Later its Chairman was David Young and he was a lovely guy but of course one of the Ministers in Maggie's Govt.

I will remember shares at +£15 now just over £1.  Lost its way lost shareholder value and all I can now dream of when I look at those lovely share certificates is that I should have moved quicker.

Does anyone know of a charity (seriously) to which one can donate shares not huge amounts but if someone else can benefit?

 

[Benjamin]

Just Google "donating shares"  and take your pick.

Benjamin

[KathyC]

If you Googel "donate shares" you will find a variety of charities giving information as to how you can give them your shares and they can claim the tax relief as well.

Sorry, didn't read to end of thread and can't delete!

[Llwyncelyn]

thanks sorted out one a based upon looking after dogs so goes well with my approach in this area.  Thanks again

[derf]

"someone may tell me that I need a triple heart bypass.. Therefore and after some soul-searching does one just go for the maximum amount and content in the knowledge that if it does happen your have the man in the wardrobe. "

And If you did have this type of life threatening illness you would almost certainly be covered by CPAM 100%, you have to weigh up the pro's and cons.

[Chauffour]

it's not only a question of money.... back in London i had several visits with nhs and private 'specialists' (read=useless) doctors, nobody spotted my blood disease...

here in france, after 1 visit to my local doctor and 1 simple blood exam my illness was diagnosed and, even if a cure does not exits, it's now under control... 

massimo