Are you really entitled to healthcare in France?

[Will]

Looking into the situation of an Irish national who had been refused an E106 I found what strikes me as a bit of a bombshell.

It would appear that if you are a UK national, who is resident in France but neither you nor any family member you live with are working or receiving a state pension, you are not actually entitled to an E106. I know of a lot of people who come in this category and who seem to get E106 forms from Newcastle which entitle them to French health benefits.

I don't want to alarm anybody unduly but I do think this is worthy of debate and some input from those who know more about the subject than I do.

This is the important bit of what I posted in reply to the 'Irish question':

This page of the EU web site explains things at considerable length.
http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/free_movement/guide_en.htm

Quote from the site:
<"- Form E 106 for employed or self-employed persons

Anybody who is neither employed, self-employed, or not receiving a state retirement or invalidity pension, would seem to count as 'non-active'. And, to quote the site,

<"persons who are neither employed nor self-employed
<
<"In some cases, they enjoy limited protection as
<
<"In some cases, their own private insurance may

I interpret that as meaning that English (or Irish) people living permanently but not working in France are not actually entitled to any benefits in France - surely that can't include health care?. This is explained in the paragraphs headed "SICKNESS BENEFITS IN KIND" ("Benefits in kind comprise medical and dental care, medicines and hospitalization") and, just below, "RESIDENCE OUTSIDE THE COUNTRY WHERE YOU ARE INSURED".

This defines those entitled to sickness benefits as "all categories of persons covered by the Community provisions on social security (employed and self-employed persons, unemployed persons, pensioners and members of the families of these persons), regardless of their country of residence." - i.e. NOT non-working people.


Will (50)
Forum moderator

[Pucette<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Pucette<FONT><P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">"Qui ne connaît pas la campagne lhiver, ne connaît pas la campagne et ne connaît pas]

This has always been my understanding of the situation, I was astonished when I learned through the forum that inactive people were being given free healthcare through the E106 system. And now with the abolishment of the CdeS there are no checks whatsoever to ensure that anyone is covered, rightly or wrongly.

[Owen]

Hello Will,

You are causing undue alarm! At least as far as UK Nationals are concerned who come to live in another EU state. I have given a possible reason why the E106 was not granted in the Republic of Ireland and it fits with EU regulations on this subject..

At this point I must emphasise that I am not a lawyer!

The key EEC legislation in this matter are Regulations 1408/71 and 574/72 dealing with social security and healthcare. These two pieces of legislation underline the principle of the freedom of movement of workers as provided for in the Treaty of Rome. As this is in respect of workers, or active persons if you will, then at first sight early retirees would not come within the scope of these regulations.

However Regulation 1408/71 assumes a link between social security cash sickness benefits and healthcare. The principle is that there is underlying entitlement to benefits eg Short Term Incapacity Benefit even if they are not actually paid. It is for this reason that the UK will issue E106, albeit for a limited period, and if the required amount of contributions have been paid.

I trust this posting will bring some relief.

Regards

Peter Owen
pjowen@expathealthdirect.co.uk