Healthcare coverage in France - a possible Sticky?
May 17th 2016, 8:10 am
#31
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Re: Healthcare coverage in France - a possible Sticky?
Unfortunately not. The 8% is made up of 7.5% CSG and 0.5% CRDS (i.e. contributions sociales - repayment of the social debt), and is levied on ALL pension income. It is nothing to do with contrinutions to join PUMA (formerly CMU)
May 17th 2016, 8:10 am
#32
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Re: Healthcare coverage in France - a possible Sticky?
If you've never been registered in the French Healthcare System, then you won't have an S.S. number.
You can't be the only one in this situation, hasn't the Pensions Office provided for this eventuality? Maybe an "inactif" in France with private healthcare insurance, about to apply for their UK Pension, will come along to advise, but I'd be inclined to contact Newcastle...
May 17th 2016, 8:17 am
#33
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Re: Healthcare coverage in France - a possible Sticky?
So I think what you will need to do is figure out which caisse would have covered you at the time, and contact them.
That at least how it used to have to be done. I was in the same position, in that I'd worked in France in the 70s and when I came back 30-odd years later and wanted to work again I had to start by finding out my old sécu number, which involved writing to the appropriate caisse in the départment where I used to work. I told them my name, date of birth, who I was employed by and the dates. And amazingly, they wrote back within a couple of weeks with my number.
If you were an employee your caisse will almost certainly be CPAM, and presumably you know which town your employer's head office was in so I suggest you start by writing to the CPAM that deals with that town. Or if your employer is still contactable, you could contact them.
If you were self-employed it won't be CPAM but you would have to give a little more info before anyone can advise.
Things have become slightly more joined up since I had to do this so there may be an easier way, but I doubt whether it's joined up to the point of having a central national office with everybody's records in it, and I suspect this will still be the procedure you have to follow.
Last edited by EuroTrash; May 17th 2016 at 8:22 am.
May 18th 2016, 2:54 pm
#34
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Posts: 5
Re: Healthcare coverage in France - a possible Sticky?
Reading between the lines - if you need a French sécu number to collect a French pension, that means you must have worked in France at some point in the past, and presumably, since you say you don't need a carte vitale, you no longer live here and haven't for some while.
So I think what you will need to do is figure out which caisse would have covered you at the time, and contact them.
That at least how it used to have to be done. I was in the same position, in that I'd worked in France in the 70s and when I came back 30-odd years later and wanted to work again I had to start by finding out my old sécu number, which involved writing to the appropriate caisse in the départment where I used to work. I told them my name, date of birth, who I was employed by and the dates. And amazingly, they wrote back within a couple of weeks with my number.
If you were an employee your caisse will almost certainly be CPAM, and presumably you know which town your employer's head office was in so I suggest you start by writing to the CPAM that deals with that town. Or if your employer is still contactable, you could contact them.
If you were self-employed it won't be CPAM but you would have to give a little more info before anyone can advise.
Things have become slightly more joined up since I had to do this so there may be an easier way, but I doubt whether it's joined up to the point of having a central national office with everybody's records in it, and I suspect this will still be the procedure you have to follow.
So I think what you will need to do is figure out which caisse would have covered you at the time, and contact them.
That at least how it used to have to be done. I was in the same position, in that I'd worked in France in the 70s and when I came back 30-odd years later and wanted to work again I had to start by finding out my old sécu number, which involved writing to the appropriate caisse in the départment where I used to work. I told them my name, date of birth, who I was employed by and the dates. And amazingly, they wrote back within a couple of weeks with my number.
If you were an employee your caisse will almost certainly be CPAM, and presumably you know which town your employer's head office was in so I suggest you start by writing to the CPAM that deals with that town. Or if your employer is still contactable, you could contact them.
If you were self-employed it won't be CPAM but you would have to give a little more info before anyone can advise.
Things have become slightly more joined up since I had to do this so there may be an easier way, but I doubt whether it's joined up to the point of having a central national office with everybody's records in it, and I suspect this will still be the procedure you have to follow.
Many thanks. In fact I was a manager in a French company but not in France. There are a dozen or so like me in the UK and we would all like to know the answer. I will have a go at CPAM.
May 18th 2016, 4:31 pm
#35
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Re: Healthcare coverage in France - a possible Sticky?
Normally you accrue your pension where your bum is when you do your job.
If you weren't working in France, what makes you think your employer paid into the French social security system for you and why would you get a French pension? Were you not paid in the national currency, subject to national tax and national social security arrangements, ie if in the UK paid in £££s, PAYE, with NICs deducted? Thus paying into the national pension scheme of the country where you worked?
If you weren't working in France, what makes you think your employer paid into the French social security system for you and why would you get a French pension? Were you not paid in the national currency, subject to national tax and national social security arrangements, ie if in the UK paid in £££s, PAYE, with NICs deducted? Thus paying into the national pension scheme of the country where you worked?
May 19th 2016, 8:57 am
#36
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Re: Healthcare coverage in France - a possible Sticky?
Normally you accrue your pension where your bum is when you do your job.
If you weren't working in France, what makes you think your employer paid into the French social security system for you and why would you get a French pension? Were you not paid in the national currency, subject to national tax and national social security arrangements, ie if in the UK paid in £££s, PAYE, with NICs deducted? Thus paying into the national pension scheme of the country where you worked?
If you weren't working in France, what makes you think your employer paid into the French social security system for you and why would you get a French pension? Were you not paid in the national currency, subject to national tax and national social security arrangements, ie if in the UK paid in £££s, PAYE, with NICs deducted? Thus paying into the national pension scheme of the country where you worked?
It is a private scheme and I am not sure how far the French national, public social security scheme is involved. I left the company at age 39, having paid local taxes and have been drawing the pension since age 60. It is only recently that the "numéro Sécu" has been called for. I have now been given a lead by an ex-colleague and am chasing that.
Jun 17th 2016, 9:30 am
#37
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Re: Healthcare coverage in France - a possible Sticky?
It is a private scheme and I am not sure how far the French national, public social security scheme is involved. I left the company at age 39, having paid local taxes and have been drawing the pension since age 60. It is only recently that the "numéro Sécu" has been called for. I have now been given a lead by an ex-colleague and am chasing that.
Jun 17th 2016, 10:15 am
#38
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Re: Healthcare coverage in France - a possible Sticky?
If you have a livret de famille then you do have to keep it up to date. But if you didn't get married nor have a baby in France, you wouldn't necessarily have one. Basically they are a record of changes to the "état civil" of a family, and yes you do need to have it updated every time a change occurs, it is legal obligation.
French fonctionnaires sometimes have trouble getting their heads round the concept of a household with no livret de famille, because every couple who gets married and/or has a baby in France has one.
Assuming the lady in question has no livret de famille, the best you can do I think is send copies of all the "état civil" certificates anyone could possibly want - birth certificates, marriage certificate, hubbie's death certificate - with a polite letter explaining that she cannot send a livret de famille because she does not have one, her changes of état civil have been registered in the UK not France and the UK does not have an equivalent to the livret de famille. I don't think there is any way she could apply for one at this stage even if she wanted to.
French fonctionnaires sometimes have trouble getting their heads round the concept of a household with no livret de famille, because every couple who gets married and/or has a baby in France has one.
Assuming the lady in question has no livret de famille, the best you can do I think is send copies of all the "état civil" certificates anyone could possibly want - birth certificates, marriage certificate, hubbie's death certificate - with a polite letter explaining that she cannot send a livret de famille because she does not have one, her changes of état civil have been registered in the UK not France and the UK does not have an equivalent to the livret de famille. I don't think there is any way she could apply for one at this stage even if she wanted to.
Jun 17th 2016, 10:29 am
#39
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Re: Healthcare coverage in France - a possible Sticky?
If you have a livret de famille then you do have to keep it up to date. But if you didn't get married nor have a baby in France, you wouldn't necessarily have one. Basically they are a record of changes to the "état civil" of a family, and yes you do need to have it updated every time a change occurs, it is legal obligation.
French fonctionnaires sometimes have trouble getting their heads round the concept of a household with no livret de famille, because every couple who gets married and/or has a baby in France has one.
Assuming the lady in question has no livret de famille, the best you can do I think is send copies of all the "état civil" certificates anyone could possibly want - birth certificates, marriage certificate, hubbie's death certificate - with a polite letter explaining that she cannot send a livret de famille because she does not have one, her changes of état civil have been registered in the UK not France and the UK does not have an equivalent to the livret de famille. I don't think there is any way she could apply for one at this stage even if she wanted to.
French fonctionnaires sometimes have trouble getting their heads round the concept of a household with no livret de famille, because every couple who gets married and/or has a baby in France has one.
Assuming the lady in question has no livret de famille, the best you can do I think is send copies of all the "état civil" certificates anyone could possibly want - birth certificates, marriage certificate, hubbie's death certificate - with a polite letter explaining that she cannot send a livret de famille because she does not have one, her changes of état civil have been registered in the UK not France and the UK does not have an equivalent to the livret de famille. I don't think there is any way she could apply for one at this stage even if she wanted to.
I'd add that I mislaid our Livret de Famille and got into a panic. But no need to, the Mairie where we got married sent me a new one, free.
For general info, it mentions details of the couple and of their respective parents, the date and place of marriage, followed by pages for details of the births of any children. There's space for deaths and/or divorce.
I don't know about fines, but you certainly need to produce the Livret on specific occasions, and I've often wondered how people who didn't marry/have children in France manage.
