A&E treatment in France

[baxlin]

Mrs B had cause to visit A&E while on holiday in France a few months ago, using her EHIC card.

She has now received a bill for the treatment, OK it’s less than £20, and won’t break the bank, but do we have to pay it? Do French Nationals have to pay for NHS treatment, or is it another case of the UK abiding by the rules? It’ll cost more than the bill to send it, unless we send cash Euros.

Anyone any experience with this?

Thanks
Malcolm

 

[Deleted member 6183]

Similar situation in 2018, my Mrs was rushed into hospital in Spain and spend a week receiving care and making use of their expensive kit and treatment, presented EHIC card on admission and received no bill at all, in fact she was given fistfulls of medication to go home with.

 

[Petrol Pete]

Do any Foreigners get charged for treatment done on the NHS ? Yes loads of them it happens all of the time (usually after having multiple births on the NHS) , do they ever actually PAY the bill ?....well thats another question that I think we know the answer to.

 

[whitenemesis]

From the GOV.UK website -
"Generally, you will only have to pay a 20% co-payment towards your treatment. Sometimes it will be free. Inpatients will have to pay a daily hospital charge of €20.

If you are admitted to hospital and receive any major medical treatment, you will need to pay the daily hospital charge.

This is a flat-rate contribution of €20, in addition to the 20% co-payment."

Healthcare in France

 

[CaptainChaos]

Yes, you will have to pay it. If it was a longer / more expensive stay you could claim it on your travel insurance.

 

[Rory]

I think even French citizens pay about £20 to see their GP. Most can claim it back.

 

[gaz_l]

I'd pay it and be happy. A friend of mine had the misfortune to fall ill in the USA recently, and after a visit to the emergency room at the weekend and a subsequent follow-up with a specialist on the Monday, he's (in his words) "into it for about the price of a Camry". Great care, admittedly, but he's now bricking it in case his insurance doesn't pay out.

Cheers,

Gaz

 

[tylerdurden]

Bet no one had to wait hours on a trolly in France or Spain?

 

[Mr. B]

Bet no one had to wait hours on a trolly in France or Spain?

The majority of A&E patients in the UK shouldn’t be there in the first place. They should attend their local doctors but either can’t be bothered or it takes too long to get an appointment.
The clue for me is in the name Accident and Emergency and not Drop in Centre.
That’s another topic which has probably been covered in the past.

 

[Swotty]

I am told by friends who have a holiday home here that they have had to pay to see the doctor over here and then claim it back from the UK.

Don't know anyone who has been to A&E but probably the same?

It's €26 to see the doctor now. Unless you have top-up insurance, you get 70% back.

For €20, I'd pay it and then see if you can claim it back under your EHIC.

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

It's a constant fascination how little Brits understand the Universal Healthcare system invented by Bismarck 140 years ago.

It's a fairly straightforward system. Healthcare is provided by specialist healthcare advisors, usually in very smart modern facilities, who charge the patient a small, very affordable token payment, and who charge the rest back to a Government supervised medical health insurance system, run by independent providers. This has the massive advantage of keeping Doctors honest, and scrutinising the relevance and fairness of the costs that they charge. Medical insurance is paid by those in work to fund the whole exercise.

The British system of "rock up to any hospital, get triaged and queue for hours, before getting treated by an exhausted trainee doctor" doesn't apply. You don't use A&E as an alternative to Pharmacies, Doctors, or specialist clinics.

As the rest of Europe have pointed out to us ever since we failed to implement Beveridge properly after the war, a badly funded, unsupervised bureaucratic healthcare system like ours just doesn't work, which is why no-one copies us.

Is it unfair to be charged the cost of a cinema ticket and a beer to be seen quickly and effectively by A&E ? Europeans don't think so.

What happens to the chronically ill who have to repeatedly use the system? They don't pay - their special circumstances are respected.

Trolley waits and delays in accessing doctors? The French have exactly the same problem of an ageing population and a shortage of trained medical staff - as do the Germans, Italians and Spanish. Not helped by medics moving to the UK because the pay is better.

French medics warn health service is on brink of collapse

German doctors walk off job in nationwide strike

Doctors strike for second day as workload demands not met

Italy loses 10,000 doctors in 10 years to emigration

As regards Cross-European (not cross EU) coverage, the EHIC provides the coding system to enable a short-term travelling Brit to be seen abroad, with her healthcare charges being recharged to the UK, and vice-versa for the Frenchwoman visiting the UK. Reside in another country for longer and you have to take up local health insurance.

Gotta hop, I've just remembered I need to pop round to my local pharmacy to get my free supplies of ibuprofen and paracetamol. (Bonkers system) Stocks are running low.

 

[Peter103]

A friend has had a house in the Dominican Republic for many years, he flies there for 3/4 months each year, during our winter. Last year he had a minor heart attack aged 70, he now says they cannot afford to go and will sell it. Why? His flight from London touches down in Miami where he has to change planes, he's there for about an hour and a half at most and does not leave the airport arrivals and dept,s his travel insurance has now risen to £700 per trip. To change planes in USA is very expensive.

 

[Swotty]

It's a constant fascination how little Brits understand the Universal Healthcare system invented by Bismarck 140 years ago.

It's a fairly straightforward system. Healthcare is provided by specialist healthcare advisors, usually in very smart modern facilities, who charge the patient a small, very affordable token payment, and who charge the rest back to a Government supervised medical health insurance system, run by independent providers. This has the massive advantage of keeping Doctors honest, and scrutinising the relevance and fairness of the costs that they charge. Medical insurance is paid by those in work to fund the whole exercise.

The British system of "rock up to any hospital, get triaged and queue for hours, before getting treated by an exhausted trainee doctor" doesn't apply. You don't use A&E as an alternative to Pharmacies, Doctors, or specialist clinics.

As the rest of Europe have pointed out to us ever since we failed to implement Beveridge properly after the war, a badly funded, unsupervised bureaucratic healthcare system like ours just doesn't work, which is why no-one copies us.

Is it unfair to be charged the cost of a cinema ticket and a beer to be seen quickly and effectively by A&E ? Europeans don't think so.

What happens to the chronically ill who have to repeatedly use the system? They don't pay - their special circumstances are respected.

Trolley waits and delays in accessing doctors? The French have exactly the same problem of an ageing population and a shortage of trained medical staff - as do the Germans, Italians and Spanish. Not helped by medics moving to the UK because the pay is better.

French medics warn health service is on brink of collapse

German doctors walk off job in nationwide strike

Doctors strike for second day as workload demands not met

Italy loses 10,000 doctors in 10 years to emigration

As regards Cross-European (not cross EU) coverage, the EHIC provides the coding system to enable a short-term travelling Brit to be seen abroad, with her healthcare charges being recharged to the UK, and vice-versa for the Frenchwoman visiting the UK. Reside in another country for longer and you have to take up local health insurance.

Gotta hop, I've just remembered I need to pop round to my local pharmacy to get my free supplies of ibuprofen and paracetamol. (Bonkers system) Stocks are running low.

It's quite funny that, even with a pay-up-front system, the French seem to be the world's biggest hypochondriacs.

As you say, there are shortages in the recruitment of healthcare professionals here. GPs are a particular shortage out here in the sticks. France has been recruiting GPs and dentists from Romania where there is, apparently, quite a large French-speaking part/community.

For OAPs like us, complementary health insurance very generally costs approximately €1200 per annum per person. That covers everything apart from eye and dental care. My diabetes care is refunded at 100% so the missus has hospital insurance, costing €400 per annum.

Should the UK introduce a flat rate for seeing a GP?

 

[Deleted member 6183]

Should the UK introduce a flat rate for seeing a GP?

Yes.

It would cut the waiting time considerably and I say that as someone who can get a Dr appointment on the same day as I call.

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

Understood about French hypochondriacs, although the Americans - owners of the worst and most expensive healthcare system in the world - come a close second.

But if you're in France, you can understand why. The local Pharmacy - one in every village - is the first point of health care - and is very proactive in sticking pharma down your throat. Then the local medic will whip you in for tests and specialist consultation as soon as you cross her threshold, while the English GP will typically say "take these for two weeks and come back if you're not feeling better by then." Drive through any French town and you'll see plenty of medical laboratoires along the roadside, servicing local needs. Nothing like that exists in the UK.

And, Dear God, the French, and Americans, can bore for...France... on the subject of their ailments and treatments. The elderly English can be bad, but the French as a nation do seem particularly enthused by illness and medication.

 

[Petrol Pete]

A friend has had a house in the Dominican Republic for many years, he flies there for 3/4 months each year, during our winter. Last year he had a minor heart attack aged 70, he now says they cannot afford to go and will sell it. Why? His flight from London touches down in Miami where he has to change planes, he's there for about an hour and a half at most and does not leave the airport arrivals and dept,s his travel insurance has now risen to £700 per trip. To change planes in USA is very expensive.

On a slight tangent One of my recent contracts was in Jamaica, from memory it was about 12 return flights overall, most of the other guys were from Panama/Trinidad/Columbia/Guatemala etc (great bunch..but don't mess with them) . It was me and 2 others from the UK during the installation and we were told to take ANY route we wanted to Kingston from the UK ...but NEVER go through Miami. One guy did not heed that advice and because of the 'unique' way Miami customs works for people in transit he ended up missing his flight and a very important family event back in the UK. Avoid if in transit.
Apologies for slight hijack

 

[st13phil]

But if you're in France, you can understand why. The local Pharmacy - one in every village - is the first point of health care - and is very proactive in sticking pharma down your throat.

I always thought the French preoccupation for the administration of pharma was via an orifice rather lower down...

 

[Vintage Racer]

I had blood tests here in the Dordogne this morning at 10.30...........results emailed to me at 13.48!

Phoned for a doctors appointment on Monday morning at 09.00........given an appointment for 16.00 the same day!

Enough said!

,

 

[Swotty]

I had blood tests here in the Dordogne this morning at 10.30...........results emailed to me at 13.48!

Phoned for a doctors appointment on Monday morning at 09.00........given an appointment for 16.00 the same day!

Enough said!

,

That's the posh Dordogne, though!

Yes, even here in the Lot et Garonne, our surgery has just moved onto online bookings. You can get an appt the same day if you need to.

Don't know if you've had to use specialist services, though. When we arrived here 12 years ago I was sent for a raft of heart, circulation and eye "controles" and they were done within a week.

Now the eye appt. takes 4-6 months, the heart 2-3 months and the circulation 4-6 weeks.

Agree about the blood tests ... I have them quarterly and they are on the screen within hours. The huge annual "bilan", however, is always the following day!

Where are you in the Dordogne? Pm if you don't want to say on here. I help to run a Classic Car Club and we have a couple of TR3As. Do you go to the Creysse meeting on the first Sunday of the month?

 

[Deleted member 6183]

That's the posh Dordogne, though!

Yes, even here in the Lot et Garonne, our surgery has just moved onto online bookings. You can get an appt the same day if you need to.

Don't know if you've had to use specialist services, though. When we arrived here 12 years ago I was sent for a raft of heart, circulation and eye "controles" and they were done within a week.

Now the eye appt. takes 4-6 months, the heart 2-3 months and the circulation 4-6 weeks.

Agree about the blood tests ... I have them quarterly and they are on the screen within hours. The huge annual "bilan", however, is always the following day!

Where are you in the Dordogne? Pm if you don't want to say on here. I help to run a Classic Car Club and we have a couple of TR3As. Do you go to the Creysse meeting on the first Sunday of the month?

Do you speak fluent French?