Chucks Mum (and why can't Chuck ask his own questions?) There is also a section in English here.

Thank you.

It is your 'médecin traitant' (GP) who initiates recognition of 'une affection de longue durée'. The GP's are the 'médecins genéralistes' who provide primary health care in all the villages. You can choose who you go to, and you fill in a form to be for them to be your 'médecin traitant'. They then do your referrals and so on, like in the UK. You can self-refer, or go to a different géneraliste, but the re-imbursement will be less. This system is more rigid than it used to be, to try and impose some kind of gate-keeping, as previously one could go to any consultant without referral and be fully re-imbursed - and people did, at great cost to the state!

If you have a serious chronic illness which is on the list, then your médecin traitant completes a form called 'protocole de soins', which translates as 'protocole of care'. Once this is registered, the cost of all treatment relating to this condition will be re-imbursed at 100%, but other treatments/investigations stay as before at 70%. The conditions on the list are serious ones - like cirrhosis of the liver, epilepsy, cancer, tuberculosis. Serious hypertension is there, but probably does not mean the mild kind for which people take fairly straightforward medications.

I think it is probably useful to have some kind of a summary of your medical records to date. I think a lot of people look for english speaking doctors. Personally, I think it is much more helpful to work on your french, and use it as a learning opportunity for medical vocabulary, certainly if you are planning to live in France long term. The more you practise, the easier it gets, and also I think people can run into problems it they have relied on an english speaking GP and then they find they need other investigations and treatments in hospital, and they have not learnt any of the key words. I wish you luck with this, there is no easy way, just have to learn it I'm afraid! No magic!

Chuck is my Springer Spaniel. I'm sure he does have his own questions but needs keyboard lessons. My OH is a tanker driver and works away from home all week, without access to a computer. He catches up with the forum at weekends but does not have the time to post himself. He rings me every evening and often comes up with questions for me to ask. He is however retiring from work 11/01/08 so I'm sure you will be seeing him posting himself before too long.

Buy OH a laptop, there are plenty of Wifi places he could use to contact you free of charge with webcam and messenger or similar.

I have found that this will vary on how bad the LdL HdL and blood pressure is and while you are at it get a fitness check (stress Test) to see what the blood pressure is doing at rapid heart rate, if you have not had this done already. Having had a heart attack in france witnin a month of moving here trust me they will look after you. ANd the food in hospital cold be better but is better that England.

Wonderfully informative and clear post, cupoftea - this is such a good summary of how medical care works here! It is when people expect medical procedures and the system to be similar to the UK that things get really complicated.

But of course, in order to follow above procedures, one has to be in the system and affiliated to the Secu (CMU de base) - and a number of people are trying to avoid having to deal with all that (although I am in no way implying that this is the OP's case!).

If the doctor has diagnosed one with colestoral issues and hyper tension (ie High Blood Pressure) then the next stage will be to refer the individual to a cardiologist the cardio will probably go through a stress test, medication a beta blocker a cholesterol lowering drug as long as the liver is in good health and possibly an arterial expander this will lower Bp, however should all of these levels be high one can then expect an angiogram this involves at least 2 or 3 days in hospital a catheter is inserted into the fema artery and a tube that injects xray fluid is moved up to the heart they then take a very close look at the arterys that supply blood to the heart muscle. Most of the large Hospitals in france have the very new MRI scanners(known as rmi in france) which are very detailed.

I have found that the university hospitals are the best in France and once you get to that level of Treatment Good English speaking doctors are abundant. in the 4 and a half years i have been here even the doctor who came with Smur (Service Medical Urgence Response) from the hospital spoke English. One thing i would note is that Ambulance Rides are not 100% covered by the state so top up is or could be needed for these. When i had my heart attack we got a 400 euro bill for hospital transfers which i did not begrudge paying(they had just saved my life). This was due to at the time not being in the system and not having top up cover. Keep it all up to date the last hospital stay i had cost some one and not me over 900,0000.00 euros im very glad i did not get the bill.

From what understand of her previous posts, Chucks Mum and her husband will be arriving with an E121, so they will be able affiliate in this way and they will receive 70% re-imbursement.

The CMU de base is what there has recently been all the fuss about. Up until now any 'inactifs' ie those without paid employment (via which cotisations are paid) or running a registered business (through which cotisations are paid), and who did not have an E121 (state retired), E106 (for up to 2 years depending on UK NI contributions) or E109 (UK invalidity benefit), were required to join and thereby received 70% re-imbursement. This right has now been withdrawn for new arrivals, although those who are already 'in the system' on CMU de base, will be able to stay in it. All other 'inactifs' will from now on be required to provide evidence of comprehensive health insurance as a requirement of residency in France.

It does seem an administratively complex system but it does seem to work extremely well, and the World Health Organisation have found it to be one of the best in the world. Having worked in health care for all my career in the UK, and also for the past 4 years since I have been living in France, I very much agree with their assessment. I also have a disabled son who has been dealt with with such expertise and sensitivity, it has put the UK services we received to shame.

Sounds like you have had a rough time. Feeling ok now I hope. We are not at this advanced level. Just pop the pills and get normal readings on check ups. Who would have believed transfers could amount to that much. Mutuelle sounds like a necessary expense then. Do you have to wait to be affiliated to CMU before applying?