Disabled parent coverage

[peterw]

Good Morning

I am soon moving over permanently from Australia with my family of 6.

My wifes parents are accompanying us. The Mother in Law is in a wheel chair due to diabetes. Will she be able to be covered under my health cover (as a dependant) or will they have to apply for a carte de sejour to get their own health coverage.

They are both retired and on an Australian pension.

 

[Val_2]

If you are Australian nationals and not EU nationals then you may have some problems regarding health cover here. Suggest you contact the nearest CPAM where you will be living to find out what your entitlements may or may not be first. No one  should presume that they are entitled to anything here, its not as easy as the UK to get benefits/health cover etc and usually depends on your history and payments already made in the UK which has a reciprocal agreement with France. EU nationals do not need a Carte de Séjour these days but other nationalities will need residency paperwork as far as I know still. Our friend's daughter who is UK born but married to Australian and lives there had to go to London to get a special Visa for them all to visit France for a holiday. If you have private health insurance for all your family then you shouldn't have any trouble but still visit the CPAM to make sure otherwise in case of any illness/accidents you may find a nasty bill waiting to be paid and no help from any insurers.

[Teamedup]

Couldn't the French Embassy in Australia help you with at least some of these questions.

 

Also, as your parents in law have their own income, it is hard for me to see how they could be dependants. I have friends who have parents on low pensions here, but their parents are not their dependants.

[peterw]

Dear Val

Thankyou for your reply- your point about the difference between being Australian vs UK is well taken and may very well be the big issue here. I will follow up- thanks again.

TeamedUp, you seem to have a problem with me asking an innocent question. Silly me for thinking that this was a forum where people try to help each other. In fact I asked only one question not "questions" and the French Embassy in Australia seems to be as helpful as you are. Your comments about your friends parents in law are ignoring the fact that mine are disabled and are dependant on us (they currently live with us in Australia). Does your friends parents in law currently live with them?

[Ron Avery]

Without stoking up an argument here Peter, I thought TU's reply was a quite reasonable and helpful, the French Embassy would be an ideal place to ask this question, and the follow up questions that would arise from the answers. 

If you post questions to a forum, don't have a go at the respondee just because you don't like their answer,   I agree with TU, I do not see how parents can be dependents in the medical care sense,  particularly as they obviously have their own income.  Another point you might like to consider, just because they get allowances in Australia, do not assume that these allowances would automatically be paid by the French or continued by the Australians, it does not work like that at all.

[Val_2]

Peter. In France everyone over 20 is independent here where health cover/pensions etc are concerned and you have to pay accordingly,maybe younger if the teenagers have left school and found employment and are paying social charges but not many finished education until well into their twenties. In our case, my husband is the breadwinner and as such we have a family health cover with the CPAM version of his artisan bureau and a Mutuelle top-up insurance for the other 50%+ that the CPAM does not fund. We are all dependents on my husband and when the children reached 16 years old,they received their own Carte Vitale with the family reference on it. Now, my daughter is 20 and a full-time student she has to have her own health cover through a specialist student company and is not on the family one anymore. For pensioners coming here and who have their own private monthly incomes, they too, have to have their own health cover and eventually a Carte Vitale and a Mutuelle to pay the outstanding percentage. In the case of your parents, they must apply individually and supply the details of their pension and retirement certificates plus an old salary slip too I believe as well as the usual birth,marriage and passports. I have helped several retired people relocate here with their paperwork but being UK nationals it was easy as they were assigned forms E121 by the UK social security dept first and this is a required form for the french authorities. Perhaps there is an equivalent certificate from the Australian dept of social security for people emmigrating overseas as proof of their previous payments and benefits that you can get,dosn't cost to ask.

Regarding TU's reply. She has lived in France for nearly 24 years with her husband working here full time and has had her children here (or at least one of them) so although she may come over rather outspoken sometimes, she really does know what she is talking about and you have to remember that France dosn't give something for nothing which is why the locals get worked up about all the brits demanding assistance when they get nothing themselves. Replies in cyberspace are not the reality of the spoken word, so please don't get upset if people respond differently or a little gruffly.

[Teamedup]

Stands back in amazement.

Most of us are here from other EU countries and as far as I am aware those from non EU countries have to get visa's and work permits and or maybe even residency permits. If I were travelling abroad, then I would contact the  Embassy. I contacted my local french consulate before moving here to make sure I was doing things properly.

So here are the places I think that you should contact:-  the French Embassy in Australia, the CPAM (www.ameli.fr), the Prefecture in your chosen department, the ministère des Affaires étrangères in Paris and explain your situation. Whatever we tell you, I would imagine that you were going to have to have dealings with at least two of those agencies I have mentioned, if not three or all and maybe even more. If your MIL is classed as handicapped then the COTOREP is probably another place to contact too.

All we can do is give you contacts and that is what I have done, the rest is up to you to sort out.

[Lori]

When we came here 4 years ago (from the U.S.A.), we HAD to go through the French Consulate - in our case in Los Angeles - to get our VISA(s) for legal long term life here.  If you are not arriving from an EU country and you plan to live in France for more than 6  months, you are legally required to get a VISA.  I don't think this law has changed.  We had the usual thousands of questions too.  The French Consulate staff were extremely helpful to us.  Once we arrived, we then had to deal with what seemed like dozens of governmental agencies for this, that or the other.  It can be a bit overwhelming, however, it is necessary to insure all is legal and correct.

Not sure if that is helpful or not, but if the Embassy staff is not offering you the answers you need, go to someone higher up ...  it is their job.