Residence - What comprehensive sickness insurance is required?

Comprehensive sickness insurance is a requirement for all residents if their presence in France is to be deemed ‘legal’.

a) For "existing” residents (resident before 23rd November 2007)

Those who were previously accepted into the CMU may remain in it, and those who held a valid Form E-106 on 23rd November 2007 become entitled to access the CMU and to receive a Carte Vitale on expiry of that form. (Note 7) (See existing residents)

As the wording of the regulations stands at present, acceptance into CMU may well be denied to holders of other E-Forms who were also resident before 23rd November 2007 -such as LTIB Form E-121 and Form E-109 - and persons in these categories may be required to take out private health insurance on withdrawal, cancellation or expiry of validity of their form. However, the UK Embassy has given us to understand that these cases will be investigated at local level and that acceptance into CMU may well be forthcoming, although this has yet to be tested in reality. FHI would be grateful to hear from anybody who finds themselves in this situation now or in the future.

b) For “newcomers” (arriving after 23rd November 2007)

Possession of one of the E-Forms issued to U.K. citizens by the Department of Work and Pensions meets this requirement as long as the form is valid as the UK government contributes a per capita amount to France, for each E form holder. Thus they are not considered a burden on the social security system here.

If and when an E-Form expires or is withdrawn, the holder must take out comprehensive private health insurance (PHI) for themselves and their dependants in order to comply with the rules of residency.

Those who do not hold a valid E-Form will require to take out PHI from the outset of the period of residency unless or until they have

lived in France for five years
taken up employment or
reached UK state pensionable age, and thus gained the right to an E121 from Britain.

The extent of cover needed to conform with the requirements of the French government are examined in our Insurance section. These requirements are very onerous, and should be discussed in detail with your prospective insurer to ensure that the policy offered and the cover it will provide will fulfil the requirement of being ‘comprehensive’ in the context of this legislation, and will stand up to scrutiny at some future time.