Healthcare Update September 23, 2007

ALL Britons living in France who are below the UK state retirement age and are not working or in receipt of an E106 must get private health insurance by April 2008, French officials have confirmed.

This will particularly affect the thousands of Britons who have moved to France in early retirement.

The government has started a six-month countdown to the closure of the CMU Couverture Maladie Universelle for ‘inactive’ non-French residents of France. The deadline for those already covered to find private health insurance is March 31, 2008. After that date their affiliation via CMU will stop.

Non-working expatriates currently pay to affiliate to the CMU (free entry is only granted to those on a very low income ) – but this will no longer be possible. The change will affect all early retirees irrespective of their financial situation.

Those in possession of an E121 form, which is given to people of UK state pension age, are not affected and will continue to receive cover.

Anyone with an E106 form will continue to be covered but will need to seek private insurance by the time the form becomes invalid (after a maximum two and a half years) if they are not then entitled to an E121 at that time.

The change in the law has been clouded with confusion with different helplines and bodies producing different answers at different times. This includes a statement by the British Embassy in Paris which announced that those currently paying into the CMU would remain in the system – the French government has clarified this is not the case.

A spokeswoman for the key body concerned, the Direction de la Sécurité Sociale, which includes officials from the health and work ministries, Stéphanie Gaillard, told The Connexion a circular would be released to all healthcare bodies across France (CPAMs) at the beginning of October giving more information on practical details and answering a range of questions - many of which were posed by The Connexion.

The latest official statement can be seen at http://www.securite-sociale.fr/comprendre/europe/europe/cmu_inactifs.htm

One of the issues still being discussed is the future of people already diagnosed with illnesses such as cancer who cannot get private insurance. The French government’s latest statement appears uncompromising leaving them without any healthcare cover and potential treatment bills of hundreds of thousands of euros. A spokesman for the UK Department of Health said the healthcare of expats not covered by the E106 or E121 is France's concern, not theirs.