Healthcare Update November 5 2007, 2

REGIONAL state health authorities (CPAMs) are still confused - and are giving different replies – regarding the five-year residency rule. The rule allows early retirees (ie non workers who are not in receipt of an E106 nor an E121) to continue to affiliate by paid subscription to the French healthcare system if they have been resident in France for five years. This has been explained to The Connexion by Stéphanie Gaillard, spokeswoman for the French Health and Employment Ministries, and is outlined on the website of the British embassy in Paris:

http://www.britishembassy.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1165343995323#health

However several readers have contacted Connexion to say that their local CPAM is unclear on the ruling and that there is confusion as to whether the rule exists at all and, secondly, whether it applies only to those who had been here for five years when the announcement concerning CMU withdrawal for ‘non-active’ expatriates was made this year. This is not the case. It applies to all residents when they meet the five-year residency requirements which must be verified by the prefectures.

Ms Gaillard explained that expatriates acquire a permanent right of residence after five years. She said the new stipulations about expatriates and CMU do not apply to people with this “permanent right.”

The denial of the CMU to “inactive” foreigners is based on Décret no. 2007-371 du 21 mars 2007 relatif au droit de séjour en France des citoyens de l’union Européen - this March 2007 decree refers back to a 2006 law, which forms part of the Code de l’entrée et du séjour des etrangers et du droit d’asile.

Article L121-1 of this code says foreigners from other EU states have the right to live in France for more than three months if they satisfy one of several conditions, one of which is working in France. The relevant condition for “inactive” people refers to having, “for him or herself and their family, sufficient resources so as not to become a burden on the social security system, and health insurance.”

The “permanent residence” right after five years is also found in this same code (Art.L122-1), which deals with foreigners’ rights in France.

Ms Gaillard said: “This right is acquired after five years’ legal and uninterrupted residence in France. This right annuls the double condition of health insurance and sufficient resources. As to evaluating whether someone has acquired this right, that is down to prefectures.”

This means that if you have been in France for four years, for example, you will have the right to belong to the CMU in another year, as you are no longer obliged by French law to have private insurance. No one has been available in the last week at the Direction de la Sécurité Sociale today to double-check this point.

This issue and others, like the serious illnesses question, is meant to be clarified to all CPAMs in a circular, which was originally promised at the start of October, but which has been delayed as discussion on the issues continues. The Connexion believes this lack of information from central government is what is causing the confusion in local areas.

A spokeswoman for the prefecture of the La Vienne department, in Poitiers, told us that someone wishing to prove their five years’ residence should go to the bureau des étrangers at their prefecture and bring documents showing dates and their name and address, such as tax demands, rent receipts and utilities bills. The prefecture can then issue documentation which can be shown to the CPAM.