The new legislation does affect French nationals.

[Helen]

Theres a transcript of the interview at ; http://quitter_la_secu.blogspot.com/2006/05/la-fin-du-monopole-de-la-scurit.html

 

3 insurance companies are mentioned as 'official', presumably they cover all that they should do if/when people have to take out private insurance. ( edit:they're all already on the thread about insurance)

[Chancer]

[quote user="Will"]

Although the above is basically useful and interesting, it cannot be taken too seriously, unfortunately.

First of all anybody - particularly a Frenchman - who apparently does not know the difference betwen RMI and SMIC is not somebody I would wish to believe (unless it was a genuine slip of the tongue, of course).

But more seriously, this person's carte vitale should have ceased to be valid as soon as the reason for issuing it - i.e. employment - ceased. I suspect that if he tries using the card he will find it will be rejected. If he has used it in the last three years then his CPAM has surely made an error. Or maybe there is more to this than meets the eye - you have already said they run a 'black' building operation, so could they, like quite a few others, be registered unemployed (and thus probably still have valid health cover) while living off rental income and working au noir?

On the contrary, this person sounds very 'worldly wise' under the surface, particularly in view of the closer scrutiny promised by Sarko which applies to all 'non-workers', not only the British.

[/quote]

Hi Will

Sorry that I was away and not able to clarify and hope that I did no stir up a hornets nest.

Twas I that could not think of the name of the authority, he referred to them as "them" (eux in fact) on my journey I thought maybe I should have said CPAM but maybe that would also not have been right.

He does have his own carte vitale and uses it, he has been living on and declaring his property income (and yes not the black income) for nearly four years, before that he worked in a factory (perhaps more than one) for I would estimate 18 years, I dont think he has ever been unemployed he is someone like me who wont sit on their backside and will always find or create something.

To reitereate he (and the other guy) is definitely not claiming unemployment benefit.

I would not describe him as worldly wise, he is similar to most people in my area, not well educated, naive and with a tendancy to think that they are more clever than their peers.A bit of a charming Dell boy perhaps, he has often offered me "deals" which to me could not be what they purported to be, when I have refused explaining to him why, he didn't give out a forcefull denial and seemed shocked that someone (he regards me as a worker like him) could see through him.

In hindsight I made the wrong choice of title, I didn't mean to say that the new legislation is going to affect the French as well, rather that perhaps it had always been that way for the few French inactifs who for reasons of either being born to millionaires, or looking over their shoulders whilst working on the black were unlikely to have complained too loudly or formed a pressure group.

I have only briefly scanned the other replies but still think that maybe a French national in the same situation would be in the same situation regarding loss of Carte vital, however thay would have other avenues available such as seeking work or affilliating to their partners CV.

One other nugget of information came out of the conversation but it may well have been several years ago, he told me that he had a young (French) girlfriend move in with him (perhaps from her parents, I am filling in gaps here) he said that as she had only done summer work she did not qualify for her own carte vitale, he made enquiries with "eux" and found that she could be on his CV as his conjoint or perhaps that should be concubine. Too few details I know, i.e. why did she not seek work etc? Perhaps she was still studying and left her parents to move in with him in another departement, but it does illustrate two real life examples of French people being refused a carte vitale.

When I have the time I will reread the posts and the French articles and perhaps see that they have/had the right to join CMU, it would not surprise me that he would not know of the existance of siad organisation, When I moved here I asked virtually every person that I met what to do and where to go to register my UK car, nobody knew, why shouldnt I drive it on UK plates like all the others they see? they said, disbelief or a shoulder shrug when I said it was illegal, I finally had to ask an immigrant, that is when I finally found one that had actually reregistered their car[:)]

[Will]

Thank you JR for the clarification. Though it does still seem that there is more than first meets the eye in this particular case, I do agree with you that French nationals are likely to be treated differently. I suppose it is up to those affected to gather as may specific case studies as they can to compare with their own situation.

[Chancer]

Will

In this guys case there are certainly things that he doesnt know or is ignorant of as he has basically been keeping his head down since ostensibly living off his rental income for obvious reasons.

Also he may well have said some things that I misinterpreted or missed by trying to keep up with the conversation although my French is very good now and we communicate well, he certainly would not hide anything from me, I think!

It still leaves unanswered what I believe to be a fundamental question of concern to the lobbying movement:

If there were such an animal as an early retired French inactif in the same situation would he be treated in the same way or differently? perhaps someone who had worked abroad and made their little nest egg?

I was pretty sure that the first strike on I believe September 17th was for this exact reason where the new government was threatening the rights of train drivers amongst others to retire at 50, although I am not sure whether it was healthcare or retirement benefits that were being threatened.