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EDIT :  PLEASE NOTE THAT NOT ALL THESE PROVIDERS MAY OFFER THE KIND OF COVER YOU NEED - PLEASE ENSURE THAT YOU READ ALL THEIR CONDITIONS CAREFULLY.

THIS LIST IS FOR INFORMATION ONLY.

I am looking into the various alternatives for those who need full health care insurace.  So far, I have come up with :

http://www.exclusivehealthcare.com/File/client/Plan%20Platine%202007.pdf

http://www.exclusivehealthcare.com/File/client/Plan%20gateway%202007.pdf Please note that the "Gateway" plan will shortly be extended to cover permanent residents in France - ie it will not just be available to the newly-arrived (as the conditions state at present).

http://www.exeterfriendly.co.uk/interplan_euro.htm

http://www.bupa-intl.com/asp/products/sanitas/

More to follow.  Anybody know of any French companies who provide full cover, which we can add?

VHI (link provided by ams)

http://www.vhi.ie/global/index.jsp  Ireland ONLY

http://www.php.co.uk/ins_individual_and_family_cover.htm

Their agent, Kurt Harper, is very helpful and you can e-mail him here [email protected]

http://www.medexpat.co.uk/

http://www.goodhealthworldwide.com/expat-insurance.asp

http://www.phaexpat.com/

Brokers/Comparison sites

There are also a number of insurance brokers who may be able to help, and could be useful in sifting through all the small print.

http://www.asttral.com/cadreus.asp (English speaking)

Roger White  www.healthcare-france.com

Amariz http://www.amariz.co.uk/en/index.shtml

 http://www.globalinsurancenet.com/default.asp

http://www.angloagence.com/  (English speaking brokers, based in France)

Edit by RH - I am making this thread a sticky - to help everyone please try to keep on topic

FRENCH PROVIDERS

SECARA http://www.secara.fr.:80/

http://tinyurl.com/29smdk

GMC https://www.gmcnet.fr/index.php

ACS/AMI http://www.acs-ami.com/en/acs/ami_expatfr_zoneb

ALLIANZ http://www.allianzworldwidecare.com/EN/IndividualBusiness/Step1/index.php?gclid=CIbivti9644CFQkvlAodzH3MJg

Credit Agricole Britline http://www.britline.com/g1/insurance/healthcare_full.asp

GERMAN PROVIDER

(I am informed that this company is approved by the French government, for French nationals wishing to "opt out" - as they now can)

http://www.dkv.com/uebersicht-private-vollversicherung-zusatzversicherung_167.php (German language!)

DANISH

(Site in English)  http://www.ihi.com/english.asp

 

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I have made enquiries to one or two French companies, plus an agent (who is in fact English, but in a French company) and it is unlikely that any mutuelle will be able to offer the kind of policies the early-retired are likely to need.

However, he and a number of UK underwriters, are aware of what is happening and are currently in the process of formulating new syndicates and policies for this eventuality.  He tells me that they are particularly aware of the crisis likely to occur for those with long-term and pre existing conditions and are attempting to help to resolve this.  Whatever, it will be costly, no doubt. I will post on this when there's more news - probably in a week or so.

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[quote user="ams"]

I have asked Axa for a quote and to see if they can transfer the soon to be useless mutuelle against the cost. [/quote]

When I spoke to our complémentaire providers I was told that if we had to cancel through no fault of our own ie having to return our cartes vitales to CPAM then we would receive a total refund of any unused portion of the premium, or a transfer to a corresponding private policy (which up until that moment I had no idea they provided).

Sue

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    Hi, just to advise that VHI only take Irish residents.   (in case this info is of any use to anybody !)

Global from Vhi Healthcare is International Private Health Insurance

for Irish residents who are moving, travelling or studying abroad for

more than 6 months.

Dominique

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[quote user="Dominique"]    Hi, just to advise that VHI only take Irish residents.   (in case this info is of any use to anybody !)

Global from Vhi Healthcare is International Private Health Insurance for Irish residents who are moving, travelling or studying abroad for more than 6 months.

Dominique
[/quote]I've altered my list to reflect this, thanks.
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  • 2 weeks later...

Pacifica (the insurers of Credit Agricole Britline) have indicated that they are likely to be formulating a new full cover policy for those affected.

AGF has also indicated that they are willing to discuss full cover.

Might I suggest that if you use either of these companies for you mutuelle top-up cover and have an existing ongoing condition, that you contact them first as they may be more helpful to you than any new insurer.  Just a thought.

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I have just received the following e-mail from Kurt Harper

"I am going to discuss this with a number of insurers and the likelihood of
setting up an Umbrella scheme to cover all the expats as a whole through
ourselves. This would gain you and the community a number of advantages as
we would be able to negotiate premiums as a bulk scheme rather than on
individual rates, which are always more expensive. We would of course as an
intermediary, not a direct insurer, be able to pass the scheme to market
each year as try to gain a cost reduction to members. The other advantage is
that rather than been fully medically underwritten we could get better terms
to cover dome pre-existing conditions.

Just a few questions to get the ball rolling

How many expats do you have in the forum?
I take the average is quite high?
Is the forum specific to a region of France and do you have any links to
any others in other areas?

I look forward to hearing from you in due course."

I thought that the specific mention of those with pre-existing conditions was or could be very helpful.  I will continue to keep in touch with him and keep you up to date.

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Correction  Pacifica are the insurers of Credit Agricole,  not just Britline

For a quote, policy or query go to your nearest CA branch, Pacifica are based in Clermont-Ferrand, but your bank clerk/manager is the agent for them, after a recent car claim that I had to sort out, not impressed with them,  but it maybe that in France they do not argue the toss for years over who was to blame for a fairly minor accident.  I hope Groupama come up trumps, if we need it, with all the E 121 holders and dependents and those with 5 years here possibly being exempt from being booted out, there is only me and Coops left who need a policy.[:P]

Which on serious note leads me to wonder at the end of the day, when they have decided who is and isn't entitled to continuing in the CMU, just how many people will be affected and will it be worth insurers creating policies for a relative few which will diminish each year as more and more get E 121s?

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Kurt Harper - in co-operation with other insurers and brokers -is already having some luck in motivating the insurance industry to look at providing a new Umbrella insurance scheme which could provide some welcome relief, particularly to those with long-term conditions, who are most affected.  However, for this to work, it will of course need support and at some stage there will be the necessity to establish how many people might be interested.  

As there may, obviously, be some conflict of interest here vis a vis this forum and its relationship to Archant, would anybody who is interested in persuing this, please contact me, or Kurt Harper direct,  by pm or e-mail.  This is only my personal view, not an industry one, but I imagine that it will need others, like myself, who have no pre-existing conditions, to add their support too, so please bear this in mind.

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I have just received the attached email from the British Embassy on potential numbers of people looking for health insurance and I have forwarded to Kurt Harper:

 

"There are potentially 7420 'early retirees' from the UK who are resident in France and whose E106 will expire over the next 2.5 years.

We are unable to give figures regarding the number of UK 'early retirees' in France who are not E106 holders, or indeed any figures regarding persons with pre-existing conditions.

Kind regards.

British Embassy
Press and Public Affairs Section"

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Hi everyone,  we are 2 healthy active Francofiles, of the few that have just completed their E106 cover waiting to join and pay into the French System, with a 19 month gap prior to the E121 arriving.  After 2 weeks of discussions with our CPAM man, who has been very helpful and genuinely unhappy not to be able to help, we have admitted to ourselves that the French system is closed to us. Even though we have been here and 'in' the system for 2 1/2 years, we have no extension until March 2008. We are chasing our complimetary insurance provider (AGF) this afternoon, to see if they are gearing up to this 'situation'.  That said, I had this promising reply today which indicates that these guys are on the case to fill the gap. We have been without health cover for a few weeks because the French system doesn't know what is going on and the health insurance wasn't ready for this change (complimentary insurance is invalid with no E106).  I hope this post helps others feel less alone.  (I have no affilliation with the company below)

We have joined you guys in lobbying all and sundary as we believe the French Governments decision is not legal and against human rights.

Thanks for all the support this forum offers to people like us.

Thank you for your email.

We do offer a range of Full Cover

Policies, the details of which can be found on our website  www.exclusivehealthcare.com

All the

Full Cover Plans are subject to underwriting and acceptance of the terms are

required. Following completion of the medical questions the insurers reserve the

right to ask for special terms or to decline the proposal.

We are

also developing a new range of policies to meet the needs of the changed

situation. Once these policies have been finalised the details  will be sent to

you by email and you will be able to find them on our website  www.exclusivehealthcare.com

 

The home page of our website www.exclusivehealthcare.com does

contain information of the current situation regarding CMU and is regularly

updated.

 

Please do not hesitate to contact us for

more information.

 

Kind regards

Polly Parsons

EXCLUSIVE HEALTHCARE 

tel:0870 449175
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So Lebois, the stuff on the Embassy website about the reprieve until March 2008 holds no water?

Does anyone have the phone nos for the companies and insurance brokers as am getting no reply to emails (deluged no doubt)? Would it be prudent to wait a few months as new policies tailor made for this may come out and be cheaper, or do you think the cos will up their tarifs to take advantage of us all?

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[quote user="kwaito"]

So Lebois, the stuff on the Embassy website about the reprieve until March 2008 holds no water?

Does anyone have the phone nos for the companies and insurance brokers as am getting no reply to emails (deluged no doubt)? Would it be prudent to wait a few months as new policies tailor made for this may come out and be cheaper, or do you think the cos will up their tarifs to take advantage of us all?

[/quote]

The 'stuff' on the websites is great if you you are in CMU, but we were are in the gap.  Our E106 has just run out and we are now new applicants to CMU, response, sorry! That will be the same for all E106 holders that run out before March 31st 2008. Apparently, there are over 6000 E106s issued per year, so about 500 a month will start to drop out from now, then at the end of March all the CMU members drop out the system (who knows how many). We are working on our problem and of course be altuistic with our information when we have something useful to offer. 

The E121 is the ticket to get.   But the destination of the French Health System is unnown, we didn't cause the financial problems.  You could always pitch up at the job centre at 58-9 or 63-4 years old and ask for a job!

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Apologies for being slightly off topic but I hope you will appreciate the importance of this post. I APOLOGISE FOR IT'S LENGTH BUT PLEASE IF YOU CAN READ IT IN IT'S ENTIRETY. Effectively we are not allowed to do this... but if you take the time to read the whole of this message you will see that we believe that there is an ethical issue at stake here which is more important than local regulations (you may or may not chose to copy it into an email and send it on)
********************************************
I would be very grateful if you could read this email *including the very important messages at the bottom* and understand the potential importance for the anglophone community, and then pass the message on by cutting and pasting the portion below the asterisks into a new email and adding any comment you would like to make above the asterisks. Send it to anyone and everyone you think might be able to spread this message, please.

We're trying to get our unique English Language Medical Practice established (the Ville Rose Medical Practice) -
www.britishgp.fr - and need the help of the entire anglophone/non French-speaking community in the Midi Pyrenees to do this in a limited amount of time... about 1 month.

What do we need?
We want EVERY SINGLE PERSON IN THE MIDI PYRENEES who (a) doesn't speak French or (b) would simply prefer a medical consultation in English to be aware of us and have put our website on their internet "favourites" IN THE NEXT 3 WEEKS. No registration - no obligation - just to know about us is all we ask.

What's in it for the community?...
Simple -
1) We promise that if ANYONE is admitted to an intensive care environment in South West france (or has a loved one admitted) and wants to speak to a native English speaking doctor (who is also an emergency physician with experience in anaesthetics and ITU) to help explain what is happening in language they can understand, WE WILL PICK UP THE PHONE ANY TIME OF DAY OR NIGHT FOR ABSOLUTELY NO CHARGE- provided that we are in the area (i.e not on holiday elsewhere or such).
2) If, heaven forbid, anyone should be bereaved WE WILL PICK UP THE PHONE ANY TIME OF DAY OR NIGHT FOR ABSOLUTELY NO CHARGE to provide whatever assistance we can to those who need it - again subject to our being available, which is almost always the case.

Why so urgent?

Due to rising interest rates in the UK, and the international squeeze on credit, the banks are unwilling to lend the practice sufficient funds to allow it to have a more "organic" development. As a result, we have heard today news which effectively gives us 4 weeks to make this a success... so please, if you feel that this is a service you could benefit from, help us to contribute to the anglophone community now.

Why should we help your practice? If you came out here, surely others will come to take your place?

The move to Toulouse has required over 12 months of negotiating the numerous bureacratic hurdles necessary. The economic climate in healthcare in the UK and US as opposed to France means that any doctor wanting to come to work here would have to REALLY love France to make the financial sacrifice. We do. Nobody owes us anything and we are not asking for charity here. We CHOSE this wonderful country, for the same reasons as most of you... because of it's wonderful quality of life, the chaleureux Tolouse folk and its beauty and climate. If we leave, others "may" choose to take our place for the same reasons, but the bald facts are that even before GP salaries rose in the UK and their out of hours committment decreased, in the last 5 years not one native English speaking doctor has chosen to come to work in the Midi Pyrenees and, in the entire South West of France only one other doctor has made the move (to the Pyrenees Orientale). He left 2 years ago. We are in contact with another UK doctor in the East of France who is having to leave the country intermittently to work elsewhere to pay his bills. There has been one other doctor whom we are aware of who is looking at the possibility of moving here at some stage about 5 years in the future. If anyone out there knows of another Native English speaking doctor, *please* let everyone else know. We are *not* looking for preferential treatment.

There was a case a few weeks ago of someone who did not know about our service who left a critical care unit early, perhaps uncertain of the severity of his diagnosis, perhaps due to linguistic or cultural problems. He tragically died hours afterwards. The family had to cope with their grief in a strange land without even the token benefit of a doctor who knew their culture and language supporting them. We shouldn't let that happen again.

If you feel that you want this service to be available please visit our website at
www.britishgp.fr and email or call us now so that we can convince those who need convincing that there is a need here.

Most sincerely

Dr Huw Casson MBBS MRCS Ed
Dr Judith Casson MBBS Hons DCH DRCOG DFFP

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Is anyone able to clarify re existing conditions? If, for example, someone has a long-term condition of contolled hypertension, does this mean that they would not be covered by an insurer for a future heart attack or stroke? Or does it simply mean that they would not be covered for hypertension drugs / blood tests / cardiograms etc? It is hard to understand the advantages / disadvantages of the different offerings without some understanding of what it might mean in practice. Is there anyone out there with a good understanding of health insurance who might be able to help?

regards

Lisa

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