A Glimmer of Hope?

[Ninthace]

[quote user="Keith CHANNING"]Absolutely - provided it is tempered with the lost beatitude - Blessed is he who expecteth nothing, for he shall not be disappointed![/quote]

Then truly I am blessed because all my trips to CPAM were undertaken with that in mind (I also take a good book of crossword puzzles). 

We have now received a second attestation direct from Toulouse, fortunately with the same social security number as the one from St Gaudens. Each attestation says at the bottom that all previous attestation documents must be destroyed but the last one received predates the previous one [8-)].  Personally I think I 'll hang to everything, especially as these attestations have different social security numbers to the attestation we received just after we got here in 2005.  The new number starts with a 7, the previous numbers started with a 5 for me and a 6 for Mrs Ninthace.

I have contacted my private insurer asking for a refund of outstanding premiums.  They had already taken the payment for March but the e-mails I have had implied there should be no problem getting March back - we will wait and see.  They have always been very fast, friendly and efficient so we should not have to wait too long.

We also contacted the Union de Recouvrement de la Haute-Garonne concerning the possibility of a pro rata payment for the Jan-Mar quarter's cotisation but they would not discuss anything until they have actually issued the bill and have a reference number so if we get anything, it will have to be via appeal rather than by being pro-active.

Edit:   Update - insurance company have not only refunded March premium but also part of Feb premium back-dated to my e-mail to them cancelling the policy.

[rothrugby]

I keep all my old attestations as well, never throw away anything official is my belief. As to PHI premiums, as you should not have been denied CMU in the first place, would CPAM be liable to pay up compensation for any premiums paid whilst waiting for them to sort the mess out.

[minnie]

CPAM at Agen (47) telephoned us this afternoon, having received our appeal against refusal 2 weeks ago.  The lady asked for original birth certificates, as she was working on our dossier. (We had sent copies with the appeal as they had had the originals with our original application).  We are E106 expirees.  The lady informed us that the Government had altered their policy.  This would indicate that Agen is now following the revised policy for "inactifs".

[seb47]

We too approached our local CPAM this morning ( Head Office Agen). Having spent ages collating paperwork for 2006, the lady said she required 2007 details! Also, she looked us up on the screen by our previous social security number, and said she wouldn't need certificates again as they'd been seen when we applied under E 106. I then rang Agen to check on the year needed and she confirmed 2007. We will still take all the filing cabinet with us when we go back. Still not quite there yet!

[krusty]

We went to our CPAM in Limoges today and got a good response.

The lady helped us with the form to join CMU and told us we should have a new attestation within a month.

One thing she did point out as she looked through our paperwork was that our tax d`habitation shows our home as a maison secondary  and at one stage she said we would have to go to the hotel d`impots to have it corrected but then changed her mind.....do we need to get it changed ? (it is our primary residence)

The only copies she attached to the form was the letters from DWP stating our E106 had expired and could not be extended and our tax form for 2006.

For any one else in this area the office is at 22 Avenue Jean Gagnant. They have 10 desk`s so quick service .We went to the international office at number 24 , but be aware due to construction work outside the building the doors are closed off at present and you have to gain access through number 22.

[Keith CHANNING]

We went this morning to Riom (Puy-de-Dôme) with the filing cabinet. The very nice lady looked through the dossier, took copies of relevant documents (passports, 2006 tax statement, E106 etc., DWP refusal letter & phone bill - I think that was all), noted what we had given for 2006 but asked for 2007 income. I gave her a prepared sheet but she wanted justicatifs. I explained that my pension fund only issue a pay slip when the amount differs from the previous month by £10 or more, so she said she could happily accept bank statements to show the money being paid in to my UK account.

Printed these off, went back this afternoon with them and the dossier has now been accepted. We now have the wait.

I think I shall delay adding Riom to the list until I get the letter (which will probably come from Clermont-Ferrand anyway)

[milkeybar kid]

Krusty you asked-

One thing she did point out as she looked through our paperwork was that our tax d`habitation shows our home as a maison secondary  and at one stage she said we would have to go to the hotel d`impots to have it corrected but then changed her mind.....do we need to get it changed ? (it is our primary residence).

We can pass on to you an experience we had as regards the above quote .Scenario-

Note.-Because of our ignorance we missed the first year of declaring tax in France.

It was pointed out by a French friend that out tax habitation was high, she turned to the back of the tax habitation and pointed to a paragraph that related to different bands –one for holiday home , one for permanent resident. We thought we were permanent resident because at that time we were paying the CMU (and before anyone shouts –no, they did not ask for our tax form in France , just a letter from our UK bank stating our resources –this was in 2002) .

So we go to see another French friend who is in business and had always told us that she has good friends  in the Impot and could always ask for discreet help- ( I explain this so you see we are not flying totally blind in this!) she speaks to the Tax habitation dept – they very, very strongly advised do not query it any further for this last year because there will be a knock on effect – questions will be asked “if you are permanent resident where is the previous tax declarations”!! So the unanimous vote was to pay up the slightly higher tax hab and for the year following it would have reduced to other band of the tax hab and our  declaration of income tax would be already in and everything will be Ok -  don’t rock the boat!

In effect the records state we are resident in France from I think 2002 rather than 2001- for us that’s acceptable.

I have been watching to see hoping you would get a reply. I read all avidly but apprehensive to write, some people shout just too much at others , scary  –sorry.[:$]

Hope this helps .

Mrs MBK

 

[milkeybar kid]

oops -twice. Moderators- maybe this post above should be somewhere else , does not quite gell wilth "a glimmer of hope"-will u move it?

[krusty]

thanks MBK , I assume the milkybar`s are on you.[;-)]

Quite often threads go off subject , but this could be important to other people too.

The part of the form that was pointed out was near the top in a column labeled Nature it has an "S" in it .

Our tax hab is only 69 euros ? 

[cooperlola]

Ninthace, have you had any news on your insurance refund yet?  I had a conversation with Exclusive Healthcare today, and they advise us that they will give a full backdated refund of premiums to anybody who is admitted to CMU, from the date of that admission.

They also tell me that you should report any insurers who do not comply to your CPAM.  This has already been done by one idividual, and the CPAM in question contacted the insurers and told them that they must cancel policies, on pain of losing their license to trade in France!  Although whether they can force anybody to backdate the refunds is not clear.  FHI is looking into this bit of legislation more closely, but we'd be glad to hear any feedback from people who have or have solved this problem.

[seb47]

Coops - we are paying for our English policy quarterly, and the policy states that so long as no claims have been made, they will refund any premium or part of premium in the quarter of cancellation on a pro rata basis.  

[cooperlola]

Thanks, Sue.  The interesting point is if - as in Ninethace's case, and as will happen to many - your CMU cover is backdated (as are the payments!) then one may end up paying for both.  The point being, would you be able to backdate your cancellation? - because, in theory at least, we believe this should happen.  As said above, we're doing some research into the law on this.

[Ninthace]

Coops

I edited my post of 25/02 to include the response from my insurer.  They did indeed refund my premium pro rata up to the date when I e-mailed them cancelling the policy.  I think that is entirely reasonable - they were carrying the risk up to that point.  I have yet formally to receive my bill from the French authorities so I have not contested it yet.  However, I don't think it is reasonable for them to charge me for a service they would have refused to provide between the date my E106 expired and the date at which we were admitted to the CMU-B.  Equally, I don't see why a non-French insurance company should have to refund the premium I paid to cover this interval - as I say, they were carrying the risk.

[cooperlola]

Thanks for that - sorry I failed to pick up your edit.  However, one might argue that if one's cover were backdated by CMU, then any costs should be picked up by them and refunded to the insurance company, so there would have been no liability and no risk involved.  They may take the view (as one company I've spoken to does) that by refunding premiums, they demonstrate goodwill which may bring them future top-up business.  As said above, this is the subject of some investigation at present.

[krusty]

follow up from the 6/3/08 , something must have been wrong with the form the cpam helped me fill in ....today we have received another one to fill in plus they now want a copy of my passport  ....oh well keep trying [:P]

[krusty]

Finally today I have received my new attestation. Thanks to all who made it possible.