Can an American get into the French health care system??

[Bushwacked]

Bush is driving me out of the USA. If I move to France and buy a retirement home, how can I get conered by the French health care system if I need it? One more thing, I was born in France and did my service in France but am now a US citizen.

[Tony F Dordogne]

I would think a phone call to your local French Embassy/Consulate would give you all the answers that you need.

[Owen]

Hello Bushwhacked,

You can affilaite to the French system under residence criteria once you have been here for 3 months. The fact that you were born in France is not really relevant in this context.

Regards

Owen

pjowen@expathealthdirect.co.uk

[PossumGirl]

[quote user="Bushwacked"]Bush is driving me out of the USA. If I move to France and buy a retirement home, how can I get conered by the French health care system if I need it? One more thing, I was born in France and did my service in France but am now a US citizen.[/quote]

If you were born in France, you are a French citizen no matter what.  My husband and I are both dual nationals: he was born in France and became an American citizen, I was born in the States and became a French citizen.

We decided to move the day after the 2004 elections, Bushwacked, and haven't regretted it since.  We are considered "repatriated" French citizens and were able to sign up for social security as soon as we were here.

Please email me if you have any specific questions with which we can help you.

Good luck.

PG

[PossumGirl]

Have you registered at any point with the French consulate?  We had done that and we went and received an attestation that we were repatriating.  It made LOTS of things simpler for us, including customs when we were bringing our personal goods over.

PG

[Lori]

Be careful, if you go in on a long stay Shenghen Visa, you will not be able to enroll in the French Health Care System right away.  We had to PROVE we had our own insurance and I had to sign an attestation that I would not work for five years.  Depends entirely upon your entry papers.  Each year, for five years, I had to prove/sign these types of documents when renewing my Carte de Sejour.  I suspect you can apply for a change once you are here, but I didn't do that (as health insurance privately was far cheaper than joining the French system, plus where I live there is little work available), so cannot speak to that.  You will find lots of different advice on this subject.  I would recommend you take an appt. with your nearest French Consulate and review your choices fully  with them.

Most folks here are not American (short of PG - who has posted here and of course some others) and the requirements for EU citizens are totally different to American citizens.  AND, there are different types of entry Visas you can apply for.  Just wanted to you know what our procedure was with the Shenghen Visa. 

[PossumGirl]

[quote user="PossumGirl"]

If you were born in France, you are a French citizen no matter what.

[/quote]

I should actually add to this that the above is true unless  you specifically renounced your French citizenship to an appropriate French official.  I know that it is almost impossible to renounce U.S. citizenship, even if you want to, and I would imagine most countries are the same. 

You really need to check with the French consulate.

PG