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| Healthcover - Don't hold your breath |
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| Tuesday, 04 December 2007 | |
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Unofficial statements suggesting the plight of those whose healthcover was to be removed on March 31, ’08, may well be cured in a few days… a month… or more The EU’s five-year residency rule should mean that expatriates in France who currently enjoy benefits such as health cover in their host member state cannot be deprived of them retrospectively. However, while EU laws take precedence over member states’ own domestic laws, each state has a time lapse within which to implement EU directives and no official statement has yet been published by the French Health Ministry that this rule now applies. Now, a circular has been signed by the ministry, to be officially published and released to CPAMs throughout France “within the week,” according to the EU and international liaison body for the Social Security matters CLEISS, or “days to a month”, according to the national healthcover authority CNAM. No one will reveal its contents but the CLEISS says that the Circular will give rules for dealing with current beneficiaries on a case-by-case basis. It seems likely that, at the very least, those people most hit by the new rules – for example, very modest means or with long-term or pre-existing medical conditions – will be allowed to continue on the CMU. As of press day (November 25) none of this had been officially announced. There has been extensive lobbying and negotiations. HM British Ambassador to France, Sir Peter Westmacott has talked to the UK Minister for Europe Jim Murphy, who has talked to his French counterpart. Groups such as the online campaign set up by Deborah Dudley have gathered the support of various MEPs, notably Mary Honeyball, and the CLEISS (Centre des Liaisons Européennes et Internationales de la Sécurité Sociale) has intervened successfully in certain cases already. The most logical place for the Circular to appear would be the social security site – that is where the last one on CMU etc appeared which, in fact, is still there. The harmonising of all 25 EU states’ reciprocal healthcover arrangements will be a mammoth task and well-placed sources in Paris suggest that talks are occurring with the Danish, Belgian, Dutch etc health authorities. Large numbers of other EU nationals are affected, such as the Germans, Poles etc. This could explain why the CLEISS mentions case-by-case assessments. Effectively, these could set precedents for eventual harmonisation. Ex-UK civil servant Ron Wright says sorting it all out will take time: “All this spells time and more time, to my way of thinking, because the Circular must apply to all EU nationals residing here in France. Departmental civil servants (French, British – whatever) work for their minister and it is the minister who decides on the final content of government Circulars and who generally signs them. Naturally the minister seeks the advice of civil servants who must present the case, but the political considerations and their effects are for the minister to assess when deciding on the final content of the Circular. It seems to me to be prudent to await the Ministry Social Security Circular because this is what CPAMs will work to. The views of civil servants are interesting of course but they do not have the weight and authority of a Ministerial communication.” French News and other publications and fora have heard of a number of worrying cases which do not fit into a category and for whom the situation is still unclear while the UK, EU and French authorities make up their minds who is responsible for them. Sir Peter Westmacott, HM Ambassador to France, told us he was alive to the concerns of expats and most especially to those who have no means of getting insurance to cover badly needed treatment. The contributors to articles on these two pages are doing their best to help individual cases. The long awaited French Social Security Circular should be published on the following French government websites: www.securite-sociale.fr www.service-public.fr www.ameli.fr MN |
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