Mutuelle system unfair

I became resident in France in 2013 as a UK pensioner, clutching my S1, and obtained my carte vitale soon after. I had paid fully into the British system during my entire working life.

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The French system covers only a variable and often small part of medical (and even less for major dental) costs, therefore it is necessary to pay an insurance company for mutuelle insurance to cover the remaining costs.

At my age (70) the cost of a mutuelle is around €1,000 per year which is a huge proportion of my income, and which rises by about €50 per year (age related) and is not reimbursable by the British government. On the other hand, if I had chosen Spain instead of France, my medical care would have been “free”, with Britain reimbursing Spain fully for my healthcare costs.

If the French system creates the necessity for me to pay all this money for a mutuelle, then logic dictates this cost to me should he reimbursed by the British government, otherwise it is fully supporting retired expats in Spain but not in countries such as France. This is a grossly unfair, an unequal playing field which nobody seems to take account of or even know about.

Susan TRAFFORD, Paris

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