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HEALTHCARE

What are the rules on holiday health cover for pensioners in France?

If you're a pensioner living in France and planning a holiday, then the rules around healthcare can get pretty complicated. Here's what you need to know.

Published: 1 July 2019 16:04 CEST
What are the rules on holiday health cover for pensioners in France?
Illustration photo: AFP

Having access to France's lauded healthcare system is seen as a positive, even an incentive, to move here once you're retired. 

But in order to make the most of it, you need to first understand the rules – and they aren't always that clear, as one reader who wrote to us pointed out. 

Gordon Spector, a British retiree living in the south west of France said: “From reading relevant online sites I understood that if I was a member of the French healthcare system with a social security number I (and all Britions in same situation as I in France) would be entitled to apply online to the French 'CEAM' European travel health card.”
 
Gordon said he believed that as a resident in France, he would not be entitled to the UK's EHIC card. 
 
READ ALSO:

Photo: AFP

But somewhat confusingly there are a few exceptions to the rule regarding EHIC vs. CEAM cards. 
 
The page on the NHS website covering this subjects states that if you live abroad and you:
  • receive a UK State Pension or exportable UK benefit
  • you are a posted or frontier worker
  • or you are living in the EEA and are family member of someone working in the UK
then you need to apply to renew your EHIC by contacting Overseas Healthcare Services. You can find the address under the Living abroad section here, as well as a contact number. 
 
British pensioners in France are registered with their local health authority in France with an S1 form. 
 
This form means that the UK is your ‘competent state' – responsible for funding your healthcare. You are affiliated to the French health system via CPAM and receive health care on the same basis as a French national, but the UK reimburses France for your health care costs.
 
Similarly holding an EHIC card, rather than a CEAM, means that the UK will cover any emergency treatment you need in other EU countries. 
 
 

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COST OF LIVING

Emergency room visits to cost 50 francs in Switzerland

People who visit the emergency room for non-urgent treatment will now need to pay 50 francs after the Swiss government issued final approval for a rule change.

Published: 17 June 2021 11:49 CEST
An ambulance approaches Geneva University Hospital. Emergency room visits will now cost 50 francs in Switzerland. Photo: Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP
An ambulance approaches Geneva University Hospital. Emergency room visits will now cost 50 francs in Switzerland. Photo: Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP

The proposal was originally developed by Zurich National Council member Thomas Weibel and received approval by the National Council in 2019. 

The Council of States on Wednesday accepted the parliamentary initiative, meaning that people who seek treatment in the emergency room for non-urgent health issues a fee of 50 francs. 

This will be introduced as a co-pay, meaning that the patients would have to pay out of their own pockets (i.e. it will not be covered by insurance). 

READ MORE: Switzerland to introduce 50 franc fee for emergency room visits

MPs argued that this measure may dissuade those who are not seriously ill from going to the emergency room and overloading the system, while also taking medical staff away from patients who need urgent help.

Opponents countered that this may discourage people from visiting hospital who actually need treatment, however the measure passed with a narrow majority. 

EXPLAINED: Everything you need to know about health insurance in Switzerland

No concrete indications were given as to what amounts to ’non-urgent’ treatment in the eyes of the law.

This is expected to be laid out by the National Council who are now charged with the responsibility of drafting the rules. 

Exemptions could apply to children and adolescents under the age of 16, patients referred to the emergency room by a doctor, and those whose treatment subsequently requires hospitalisation.

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