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Just retired-entitlement to health care


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Can anyone clarify my position or advise me where I can get an accurate answer?  I retired from teaching in December, 6 months after my 60th birthday.  We have owned our French house, paid all the necessary taxes etc for over 2 years. Just after Christmas I began moving everything over, having sold my house in the UK 30th November (living temporarily with daughter).  By April, everthing will be in the French house and so will my wife (aged 53) and myself.

Will either of us now have to take out private health insurance and if so when and for how long?

Many thanks.

Alan D

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You need to ask the DWP for an E106 which will give you health cover paid for by the UK government for up to 30 months (in your case at a guess it will last until January 6th 2010 as in effect you get the remainder of the year in which you last worked, plus two more).  Between that date and 5 years after you move into your new home (which is when you begin being a resident here) - or one of you reaches UK state retirement age - then you will need private insurance cover. 
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No, it means if you didn't retire until 63, then you wouldn't have to pay.   The date the E106 validity begins, is the date you stop paying employees' NI contributions.

EDIT :

How they work :

Form E106 is issued where a non-employed person transfers their residence to another EC country, but has 'residual' entitlement to Incapacity Benefit - Short Term (IBST). 'Residual' entitlement means that the contributions conditions governing the award of Incapacity Benefit are satisfied and if the customer had remained in the UK and claimed benefit that benefit would be payable. The duration of E106 cover equates to the duration of IBST had the person claimed the benefit.

E106 entitlement is awarded in line with 'Benefit Years' which run from the first Sunday of January to the Saturday prior to the first Sunday of January the following year.  We investigate the National Insurance (NI) contributions record of the 3 complete tax years prior to the Benefit Year in which a person leaves the UK. If those tax years show sufficient NI contributions E106 entitlement is given to the end of the Benefit Year in which the person leaves the UK.  When entitlement is established this way we would look to extend this by considering contributions paid in later tax years.  I have set out below an example to illustrate this.

A person leaves the UK on 1 July 2007 to reside in another EC country.  The person worked for an employer paying earnings related Class 1 NI contributions and ceased working on 30 June 2007. The 3 complete tax years prior to the current Benefit Year are those running from 6 April 2003 to 5 April 2006. Sufficient NI contributions were paid in those tax years giving initial entitlement to 5 January 2008 (end of the current Benefit Year). Sufficient NI contributions have also been paid in the 2006/2007 tax year to extend the E106 cover to the end of the next Benefit Year which is 3 January 2009.  If, in addition, the person had earned enough (approximately £4,350) to pay sufficient NI contributions from 6 April 2007 to finishing work on 30 June 2007 the E106 cover would extend to 2 January 2010. This would give total entitlement from 1 July 2007 to 2 January 2010.  It would not be possible to extend the cover beyond this point as NI contributions would need to be paid in the next tax year, which would not be possible as the person would by then have finished working and would have left the UK.

Forms E106 are issued under Article 19.1(a) of EC Regulation 1408/71.

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[quote user="Russethouse"]

But surely the OP is already retired (if I understand the OP correctly) and is 60 - if he waits until he is 63 will he not have passed the period when he has  E106 entitlement ?

Or have I got this wrong ?[8-)]

[/quote]No, I think you are right.  I also think that's what I said?  Perhaps a little obtusely?[blink]

As said in my earlier post, I think the o/p's E106 should last until January 2010.

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  • 1 month later...

Just been re-thinking the issue and does it matter whether I am economically active or not? There is a likelihood that after a year of house renovation I will have somewhere that allows me to start a business-ie renting out a gite, or maybe I'll do something different.  If I was working in France, or more likely self employed, wouldn't I have to pay the equivalent of Nat Ins contributions? In that case would I be entitled to any benefits from the health system? I have also just discovered that my teachers pension counts as a Govt Service Pension so no joy on that one as far as French tax is concerned!

Thanks,

Alan

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If you are living but not working in France the new rules are that you must have adequate resources and comprehensive medical cover.

An E106 counts as medical cover but you would probable only be covered until January 2010 with this but check with Newcastle.My reasoning is that you have made no contibutions this benefit year having stopped work in December last year.You would then need private medical assurance until you reach 65 at which point you will be entitled to an E121.

If you work then you obtain medical cover however self employment can be expensive.Renting out a gite I believe does not count as working.    

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  • 1 year later...
I love it when people revive 2 year old threads, I wondered why Coops and other mentioned the E106 lasting until 2010 !

[quote user="joeleitz"] So at 60 you're eligible for the E106 entitlement but at 63 you're not? Okay, thanks![/quote]No that is completely wrong.

If under 65 age in fact has nothing to do with it, it depends entirely on your NI record over the previous 3 tax years.

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  • 2 months later...
"the new rules are that you must have adequate resources and

comprehensive medical cover".

I am so tired of explaining this 'old chestnut'!!

There is nothing new in this.

These requirements  were always there pre 2002, and have been re-established post 2007.

It was a temporary blip which let them drop.

Thankfully it has been put right, but what is annoying is to see the thin minority (often victims of TV programmes) who would never have come to France before, and are ill at ease now, talk out of the top of their head about things they don't undersatnd, and probably never will, given their ignorance of French

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I think Norman is another one who hasn't twigged that this thread is over two years old.

The comment that he takes exception to was made by a long standing member of this forum who certainly could not have been described as ill at ease, and who had a very good understanding of the situation and a good command of French.

Still, Norman wouldn't have known this because he hadn't even joined the forum at that time.....[;-)]

 

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This is interesting:

http://www.french-property.com/news/french_health/expats_cmu_access/

The commission at least seems to agree with FHI's take on the "new" (well, OK, revived and much altered - I will concede to) rules.

What is interesting is the point which is being made is much what we were saying, in that the rules post November '07 differ from those in  place in  the past which Norman cites, in that it is illegal to live here as an early retired person without comprehensive insurance, which it is impossible to get if you have even the most minor (but chronic) health problem which prevents this.  Thus it is now illegal for a  person who is ill to retire early to France.  This is what I took exception to (discrimination on the grounds of  health) as regards the new (and by that I mean 11/07, not those which existed nearly a decade ago) rules.  Nice to see that the EU has finally realised what this government is doing in the name of free movement within  the European Union.

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