Healthcare overseas (france) for long term condition...

[dilbertina]

Ok, am mulling the options here and a potential problem has occured to me...DH has been asked by his company to relocate to France for probably 2 years. I assume normally our healthcare would transfer there BUT I have Type 1 diabetes. Currently I have an insulin pump on the NHS and they pay for all the consumable bits that I need to go with it - although I order them direct from health company.

This obviously complicates it...can I choose to remain under NHS care? We will keep house in uk, although will prob. rent it out. I only need a couple of appts /year so could come back for them pretty easily....or would they refuse to fund me if I am not properly resident?

Does anyone have any experience of this sort of thing? (I do appreciate there are French Type 1 diabetics - but no idea if they use insulin pumps widely, in the uk you have to fight hard to get one!)

Do you or dh speak french? would say call up the hospital in the area you're moving to & see if you could speak with a specialist doctor to get an idea of the treatment options. If you have need of medical help it would be easier if you had your case history with a local doc.

DH speaks good french - mine is appalling - am hoping total immersion will help! Yes, you're right it would be sensible to at least have gp type care there...just would rather keep the specialist stuff here! Have not yet ever needed emergency treatment because of the diabetes - but never any guarantees I guess...

Assuming your husband is going to be paying social security contributions in France (ie employed by the French branch of his company) he will get a French social security number so you will be entitled to care in the French system.
I don't suppose the NHS would approve of you using the service and not actually being resident. But if you are keeping your UK address, would they actually know?

If your husband is still employed by the UK branch of the company he will be paying his contribution in the UK so it won't be a problem. You would then have to take out an insurance policy that covered you for your health care costs in France.

What Otherside said

Plus long-term conditions are 100% covered by the state health fund, so if your DH does qualify for cover your private insurance wouldn't be necessary for diabetes treatment.

Health care is pretty good here.

100% State cover for long-term illnesses does not always mean 100% for everything. You need to find out what items you need are 100% covered and what is not included in the 100%. Can your husband's Personnel people help?

MM

Apparently the pumps are reimbursed at 100% if you are in the French system

here

Bonne chance!

What everyone else says - medical care here is very good on the whole (especially in the big cities).

If you are going to be in the Paris area, I would be happy to ask around for a recommendation for an endocrinologist.

A lot of this would depend on what cover your husband has through his work. If he's on a French contract he'll be covered by SECU (French social security) he will also need private insurance (MUTUELLE) usually provided through his company. I've found that almost everything that isn't covered by SECU is covered by our mutuelle (and my daughter has SN so we have a fair few appointments every year) but I've often had to clear this with them beforehand. Usually under these circs the SECU will pay the first 60 or 70 per cent of charges and the mutuelle covers the rest, but I wouldn't know specifically for diabetes. Most of the expats I know who aren't on French contracts have private insurance provided by their company, but again this depends on the company. However, I'd agree with Anna that medical care here is, on the whole, very good. You need to get your husband's company to confirm what his cover will be and enquire from there.