I cant find the original expat-France thread?
If its dissapeared into the abyss, i just wanted to say, did you know that you can have free beauty /hair/phycology treatments? You probly did and i am the last person to know!
I am having physio for my pelvic floor muscles (thats a different story) and the receptionist was talking about my hair problem and legal advise etc etc. So she phoned up Oncarmor for me and told them my plight. They said i should go along to see them and get my free treatments and there are all sorts of different departments one being free legal help and advise!
So i phoned and made my appointment for 25th March, looking forward to the facial or manicure but not the phyciatrist bit - do i need one? lol but i think if you go you see both so nothing to loose and maybe they can help me in my battle to get my free beutiful wigs. Aparently if you have your 100% thing for having had cancer then you are all intitled to this for 10 years! I will report back!
Hi Pineapple
The old expat thread was in ‘Living with Breast Cancer’ (I think!), but I would say that ‘In your area’ is definitely more logical!
What a mine of info’ your physio’s receptionist was. That’s brilliant and should be a real help to you.
I have the 100% entitlement, which I’ve found most useful for getting my lymphoedema treated. MY GP has just given me a prescription for 30 sessions, which I wouldn’t have been given by the NHS ( was one of the ‘not THAT bads’, apparently) and would have cost me about £750 privately in the UK.
I didn’t know about the free hair thing, mind you haven’t thought much about it as mine is still very short and not growing back as quickly after Taxotere as it did on FEC a few years earlier. But I’ll bear it in mind. Thanks!
All the best for now
X
S
I am really looking forward to it. After all the gardening i think i need a manicure though so will see whats on offer and how often you can have all this. I have a feeling its once a month but could be wrong. I actually feel abit of a fraud going there 3years later and dont really want to go if its full of people thats having chemo etc because it makes it all real again instead of in the past - oh well because of my hair i at least look like i am on chémo so should feel at home.
They did say nobody there speaks any English so will drag my daughter along with me for the phyciatrict bit.
If you dont see me posting on here any more you will know they have locked me up 
Hi,Sounds great, great that you were able to find out about this, When I was in England I went to Look Good Feel Better and had lots of treatments at the McMillan Support Centre. It was great to have a bit of pampering and was good for the spirit.
I have only just joined the French system, it was my one major worry moving over, leaving the medical team I have trusted behind. However I am really impressed so far. I have been given the 100% cover and have been told I can get prescriptions for prosthesis and lymphoedema sleeves. My doctor was disgusted that I have a 2 yearly mammogram and wanted one arranged straight away. My bisphosphonate treatment has been set up with no problems and my Femara will continue.
I had obviously worried unnecessarily, thinking nothing could better my treatment, after all I am still alive!! It seems a lot of things I have had to fight for are an accepted level of care here. When one of my prosthesis split leaking silicone from the hole I was told in England to stick a plaster on it as I wasn’t due for another one for another 6 months. I can not imagine that happening here.
Enjoy your treatments and hope that they can help in some way with your hair treatment.
I wrote a reply yesterday and somehow managed to lose it so hope this one makes the forum.
Hi Linda, glad you have got into the system! its not always easy and they changed it all about a year ago and made it even harder.
I havent lived in England for 20 years so very out of touch with how everything works.
I even get a perscription for flight socks and stockings - the ones you are fitted for - i had a pair of each and that bill was about 60 Euros.
Shame they wont buy me a wig! but they will in the end - by the time i have finished.
Yes, you will always have a yearly mamo and they do an echographie afew mins later too.
So you will also be entitled to these beauty treatments i am getting.
Hi there pinklinda (and pineapple, too)
Glad to here that you are pleased with your care here - I have been with mine, too. I find it much more patient-centred and less stressful than in the UK.
Also pleased to hear that you have been accepted into the system here without any problems. It was my one big worry when we moved over since, as Pineapple has pointed out, the social security system was undergoing a lot of changes at the time and was in a state of flux when our applications were being processed.
I suppose I ought to find out about these beauty treatments, Pineapple - mind you, they’d have their work cut out with me.
All the best for now, everyone.
X
S
As a UK-based member, am very envious of the beauty treatments you talk about!
Are these the same that we are given - Look Good, Feel Better and six sessions of massage from the Macmillan centre, or does the French system give one more?
Verite R
I dont know how many sessions you can have or if there is limit. I will find out when i go on the 25th. Dont know about the procedure, i just phoned and said i want an appointement and because the receptionist at my physio’s phoned first asking on my behalf , she alread knew about me.
I will let you know how i get on.
The website is oncarmor (you can get there from the site ameli.fr)
Hi All,
Hope life in France is good for you all at the moment. I am loving it, especially enjoying the lovely weather we are having recently.
Having got my E121 from England I have now received my Attestation and having sent off photo etc am awaiting my carte vitale.
My attestation states:-
Hospitalisation et soins externes hors budget global.
100% sauf medicaments vignettes bleues (-35%)
Invalidite 100% au 31/12/2024 sauf vignettes bleues
Tout document papier d’attestation de droits, anterieur a celui-ci, est a detruire.
I am confused about if I need another insurance. What is a vignettes bleues? not sure if I would need one.
Are vin blu’s used in hospital, I have to go in soon for a tooth extraction. As I am on bisphosphonates the dentist can not do it so I will need to be sorted before I have this done.
I am sure the system is easy once you have worked it all out but it is confusing at first. Hope some of you can help. Thanks Linda
Hi Linda, i havent a clue what vignettes bleues is. I know we are covered for everything the exceptions being things like
dental, glasses and other stuff like wigs ! But you are still rembussed for a portion of these things like i get 300 euros a year towards dental work etc so i would imagine vignettes bleues is what these things are.
Just hold on to your Attestation - make a photo copy of it and keep it in your purse. use it as you carte vitale till you actually get it as it might take months. my hubby got his new one but it took about 4 months!
Make sure that your mutual works automatically when your carte vitale it used so you dont have to send stuff off to your mutual. Ask the person you got your mutual from for this.
This system works so well it really does.
Hi
I’ve not heard of vignettes bleus, either. I’ve got a ‘certificat d’affliction de maladie de longue duree’.
I think - but I’m not completely sure, that as Pineapple says cancer and other long term chronic conditions are covered 100% by CPAM (hence my certificate). For me, for example that’s cancer and high BP. But not my anti-osteoporosis meds, for some reason.
Everything else seems to be reimboursed at the rate 65% CPAM, 35% Mutuelle, I think.
I have to say, I’ve been here just about 2 years now and I still find elements of the system confusing - I think possibly because there are always changes going on.
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Hello ladies, forgive me I’m a bit behind with this conversation and only just came across this thread again, anyway, welcome to Pinklinda, I’ve seen your name but didn’t realise you also lived in France.
We’ve been here for almost 6 years, lots of things about life in France confuse me totally, like the tax forms that are just being sent out - have you all had yours too?
Although the weather has been lovely this week, I understand from my neighbours that it is going to change this weekend, Bahons isn’t too far from me in SW France, and Pineapple is right at the other end of the country.
I’ve never heard of Oncarmor, so I’ll have to check out where they are in this neck of the woods.
Anyway, hope you all have a good nights sleep ladies
P x
Hi there - yes, we’ve received our tax forms! Sympathy all round to all those in the same boat!!!
Made me want to hide under the bed! I think the French call this time of year the ‘vendange’ - the harvest!
Last year’s (our first) was a nightmare - because we had got married in 2007 we had to fill out out one each for the time up until we got married and then a joint one for the rest of the year.
As they lost our first forms, all this happened later in the year when I was having Taxotere. I remember sitting in the Tax office feeling SO ILL, trying to get it sorted. Fortunately they were very kind and this year we will be making an appointment there for some help before we even start!!!
BTW, I have a son at Uni in the UK, and I believe I heard that I can get some tax relief for him. Anyone else in the same position or know anything more about this?
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Hi Bahons
Hopefully this year you’ll be feeling much better at having to fill out the tax forms.
Ours were quite simple really, as we hardly earned anything last year, so hopefully we might get a cheque back!!!
I have heard a whisper on one of the forums about tax relief for Uni in UK, have a look at Total France, that’s where I saw it. There is a chap on there called Pomhorn who knows everything about tax affairs, he is the best one to ask.
Good luck and hope all goes well.
Speak soon
P xx
BTW I think we have a big storm coming across tonight and a break in the lovely weather!
Thanks for your answers, if I find out what a vignette blueu is I will let you know.
Haven’t had a tax form yet, don’t know what I will do with it, I pay tax on my teachers invalidity pension in England so hopefully that will be it as neither my husband or I earn anything in France we just spend our UK incomes here.
Hi
Peacock - thanks SO much for that info’ - really helpful - will check it out asap.
Linda - I think that if you are ‘fiscally resident’ in France, you need to fill out a French tax return, even if your income originates in UK and even if it is very low. So…I imagine that if you have been given an attestation for healthcare, you are indeed ‘fiscally resident’.
The French Tax year runs from 1 Jan to 31 Dec, so you don’t need to worry about it this year unless you moved to France before 1 Jan 09. They aren’t automatically sent out in the first instance - the onus is on you to get one and fill it in. You can pick up a form at your local tax office - the deadline for completion is 30 or 31 May, I think.
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Hi ladies
Just wondered how all fellow expats are getting along and hope that you are all enjoying the lovely weather that we have?
We got our blow up swimming pool out last Saturday, and so far have spent every day in it cooling off! Long may it continue.
We have been busy planting, seeding and preparing our veg patch. The soil has been very dry so lots of watering (dread to think what the water meter is going to read this year).
I don’t know about you all, but have you noticed how the price of shopping has increased in the supermarkets? Probably because its holiday season and the prices shoot up for all the holiday makers.
Hope that you are all as well as can be, and happily coping with all the tourists and village fetes and vides greniers!
Take care all
P xxx
Hi All
Well, despite hours of prep. the tax declaration was not straightforward and we have an appt. next week. Oh joy. Well, they’re very nice about it - there doesn’t seem to be a problem here in this area with late submission provided you front up at the office before the deadline and get the ball rolling - has anyone else found the same?
Peacock - manged to get to the bottom of the Uni thing - there is a box to tick on the main form (downloaded the Connexion tax guide, which was a help). There is another one you can tick if you have children at school…
Yes, I think prices are creeping up again here - fuel is definitely getting more expensive - we fill up in Spain when we can.
The weather, at long last, is fab here. Hope the same goes for everyone else.
Take care all
X
S
Hi All in France.
On Thursday I am going for my first mammogram / check up since moving to France. I was sent for cancer marker blood tests yesterday. I have never had tis test done in England. Does anyone know what normal is and whether high or low score is good?
Still loving being in France only complaint is I could do with more hours in the day to squeeze in everything I want to do here.
Best wishes love Linda x
Hi Linda
Glad you’re continuing to enjoy living in France! Like you, I’ve never had these done in the UK. Since being in France, I get tested for the following:
‘Antigène Carcino-Embryonnaire’ up to 5 μg/l,(non-smoker) 10 μg/l (smoker) is regarded as normal I think.
And…
‘Dosage du CA 15.3’ in UI/ml (ditto anything below 28)
I don’t know much about what they signify, tho’.
X
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