Cost Question.

[Russethouse]

I'm amazed as a relative with a heart complaint of long standing had very good care at the new JR.

Seems like you got the B team, but on the whole I suspect the JRs reputation outshines its current abilities in some disciplines. 

PS. Just thank your lucky stars it wasn't Wexham !

[powerdesal]

RH, we too were surprised at the treatment by the JR, its got a very good reputation as one of the top hospitals in UK.

My daughter works for the same trust, at the Churchill and she was disgusted and embarrassed at being a member of the same hospital trust, her dept at the Churchill share her views.

Her thoughts and feelings have, apparently, been passed to the JR management. I suspect it wasn't the B team but rather the Z team. We couldn't fault the resus team but afterwards............

[Rabbie]

[quote user="idun"]

 

I hate hospitals, I don't trust them.

[/quote]Not surprised. They're full of sick people [:D]

[mint]

And, whilst you're at it, stay away from doctors completely if at all feasible.

I forget the figures, but iatrogenic diseases (doctor induced illnesses) are perfectly frightful!

[cooperlola]

Does anybody like hospitals then?

However, they (and my little Micra) saved my life, so I cannot actually hate them.

 

Hope Mrs P/D mends soon and doesn't have too many more encouters like that. Sounds grim.  Give her our best.[:)]

[powerdesal]

Thanks Coops,

She is still in Avranche Hospital whilst they try to get the medication sorted out, complaining bitterly about boredom and the food, but I guess that's hospitals all over the World.

I think there must be a special training school for hospital cooks (you can't call them Chefs) where all the World send their kitchen staff.

[woolybanana]

Perhaps you could take food in to her, in those containers that keep it hot.

[mint]

See, that Wooly does come up with some very good ideas, doesn't he?

Steve, my thoughts are with you and Mrs PD.  All the very best.  Just as well you aren't in that place whose name I forget but where they have palm trees and boring things like that!

[powerdesal]

Thanks for the kind thoughts Sweet, its actually a pity we are not in 'that place', the treatment in the hospital there is excellent and our Company provided private medical insurance would have taken away any financial worries. Unfortunately the medical cover was geographically limited to the UAE and did / does not cover treatment in Europe.

As we have now returned to UK as residents we are at the 'mercy' of the NHS, even though the UAE insurance is still valid (but only in the UAE).

Costs in France are a fact of being ill on holiday, if they are recoverable from UK then fair enough, however there seems to be some doubt about such recovery. C'est la vie. Health takes precedence over bank balance obviously.

[cooperlola]

Ask the hospital if they have a patient wifi service, they do at LM.  I don't know how I'd have coped without mountains of books, the internet and DVDs - yup, hospital is tedious.  Tough for you too - I often think it was harder on Mr C than me at times.

Courage.

[powerdesal]

We are hoping that tomorrow will be release day. Otherwise the WiFi suggestion may well be a good one.

Yes, hospital is boringly tedious and I am burning up diesel going up and down the A84. Mrs PD finds the language barrier more of a problem than I would so that doesn't help. They do seem to be getting a handle on the food issue though if today's 'debriefing' from Mrs PD is anything to go by. I won't say she is a 'faddy' eater but she is a strong willed woman who knows what she likes and, more to the point, what she doesn't like.

Rabbit food and baby 'mush' do not go down well !!!!! Neither does lack of salt ! What exactly is it about a carnivorousness diet that some places don't get ??????

[mint]

PD says:

Health takes precedence over bank balance obviously.
 

So very true, PD...and it's good that you can afford the costs, don't you think?

I don't know about the reclaiming bit.  I have an EHIC and, when I was ill in Spain, I was able to reclaim the amounts that I had to pay up front.

Mind you, I am an OAP, so probably older than Mrs PD and therefore I don't know if my experience is anything to go by as far as she is concerned.

 

[cooperlola]

There are so many variables, it is really difficult to tell.  You'd think that it would be a straightforward 30% of costs but that doesn't seem to be what happens. 

Exclusive run a top-up scheme for people with holiday homes in France which you just pay for as and when you are here (I think it used to be called Gateway.)  I don't know if that's worth looking into for the future, Steve?  There are probably other companies who do a similar thing, it's just that I don't know of them.

[powerdesal]

[quote user="sweet 17"]

PD says:

Health takes precedence over bank balance obviously.
 

So very true, PD...and it's good that you can afford the costs, don't you think?

I don't know about the reclaiming bit.  I have an EHIC and, when I was ill in Spain, I was able to reclaim the amounts that I had to pay up front.

Mind you, I am an OAP, so probably older than Mrs PD and therefore I don't know if my experience is anything to go by as far as she is concerned.

 

[/quote]

Affording the costs is something that has to be done whether we can or cant.

Treatment is on an EHIC and Mrs PD is 63. Even so, there seems to be a question as whether the UK will actually refund the amount we previously paid and will pay this time.

[mint]

Well, Steve, Coops gave me the information which was to send all receipts to the Pension people in Newcastle.  After a few weeks, they sent me a euro cheque with exactly the amount that I had to pay.

I am sure you would have looked into this and it could be that they have moved the goal posts yet again.  But this was only last autumn.

In my case it was very little money; less than 30 euros, but the principle should be the same?

[idun]

Call 0191 218 1999 and ask.

I know that you need all the receipts from France.

[powerdesal]

In UK a couple of weeks ago (after the last Avranche 'holiday') Mrs PD contacted whoever and was promised a form to complete. I think the amount of claim made them wary, it was Euro 500+, this next one will be more.

The general gist of the conversation was something to the effect that French Citizens would have to pay the 500+ therefore a Brit tourist should pay the same, and claim on travel insurance.

ps The promised form never actually arrived, a repeat was promised, not yet arrived.

[idun]

Yes, that is right. You are only entitled to the amount that the french social security would reimburse a french person. In the past people on holiday in France have handed these forms into the CPAM office where so ever they had had their treatment in France and got reimbursements. No idea if this still works like this or not.

http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/Healthcareabroad/countryguide/Pages/healthcareinFrance.aspx The links on here tell you about the amounts you can expect to get back.

I have just looked at the french CLEISS site and they say that if you don't ask for the reimbursement in the country you get treated in, then you can apply for it when you get back to France.

Si vous n'avez pas demandé le remboursement de vos frais médicaux lors de votre séjour, vous pouvez présenter les factures et les justificatifs de paiement à votre caisse d'affiliation à votre retour en France.

 

So maybe you should be asking the CPAM for your reimbursement.

[mint]

Steve, I have re-read the thread where I asked for advice.

Here it is:

http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/1/2319402/ShowPost.aspx#2319402

I see now that it may well be that you do not get anything back as Mrs PD was in France.  As I understand it from Coops' link, I got money back because in Spain, prescriptions are free to pensioners.

But, that's only for prescriptions.  I didn't pay to see doctors. As Mrs PD was an emergency, there might be issues to look into concerning what and if French residents pay for emergency services.

As idun says, just ring up and ask.

Edit:  sorry, I was looking up the info and writing even as idun was replying.

[idun]

Mrs PD should be covered for the amount that the french state pays. This is exactly what the CEAM was brought in for. 

My mutualist bill when I was rushed into les urgences and kept in for 10 days was a lot of money. The state covered some of the cost, but it would have drained us if we had not had our mutualist. I suppose that that is the part that holiday insurance should cover.

My full bill was over 7000  € and nothing much with specialists, simply nursed really, only I use that term in the loosest of ways, I was not really nursed in the way I understand nursing should be.

[Chancer]

If you submit the form to your local social security office and give them your EHIC to copy and an RIB for your French bank account then you should get 100% of your hospital and ambulance costs (because it was an emergency)  refunded to your bank account within 4-6 weeks, less a deduction of around €17 per day for the forfait journalier and I think a contribution of €1 for each operation (cant recall for sure the amount but its not much).

Out patient treatment, consultations, prescribed medicines etc are all remboursed at the standard rate of 65%.

From what you have said, given the possibility that the UK may only repay you 65% of everything or even nothing, because they say "that is what a French national would get",  I reckon you will be far better off submitting the claim in France.

Did the hospital copy your EHIC when your wife was admitted, have you recieved any bills yet? In my experience these can take up to 2 years to arrive which is crazy, someone that has no mutuelle/and or EHIC would have fiché'd le camp long before, but no, c'est normale monsieur to take that long to treat a dossier.

[powerdesal]

Chancer,

Thank you for the reply. I may well be able to find the relevant local social security office, up to now, as a non resident holidaymaker I have never needed to know its location.(you do mean the French social security office I presume )

The Hospital asked for, were given and copied my wife's EHIC when she was admitted. We received a bill at the time of discharge and paid it there and then, by carte bleu on our French account.

[cooperlola]

Put your post code in here to find your local office:

http://www.ameli.fr/assures/votre-caisse/index.php

However, my own experience with this is that the EHIC amount was billed direct to the UK and the rest had to be paid subsequently.  I was with a friend of mine who was taken ill here and I had to countersign the admission forms to act as guarantor.  I remember because when my friends couldn't pay I got a bill for 3k€![:-))] - and that was just the bit not covered by the state.  (Don't worry, I did get the money back.)

Yes, Sweets, Idun et al - that it the way I believe it works - you get what the national of the country you are sick in would get and your travel insurance or you must cough up the rest.

 

[powerdesal]

Thanks to everyone for the time taken to pass on info to me.

Its all getting a bit worrying now. The latest word from Mrs PD is that she is hooked up to a 24 hour ECG continuous trace device, the results will need to be analysed, my fear is the next stage is likely to be surgical - although simple ablation is not that serious a procedure.

Stand by for a high cost holiday !!!!!!!

[cooperlola]

Poor old thing (sorry -I'm sure she's not really old - it's a figure of speech[:)].)

Worry not, my experience is that ops are better funded, especially if considered urgent.  My mutuelle didn't get any bills for all my emergency ops and surgery (about 20 hours in all) - just the hospital stay and tests/x-rays etc.   Talk to the hospital administrators if you can to establish how much you're likely to have to cough up yourself.  Better to know than just to sit dreading a bill and not really knowing what it's going to be, imho.

I'm assuming from all this that you don't have travel insurance.  B*mm*r.