Health Cover - Progress?

Yesterday we thought that we would have another go at getting our Carte Vitale reinstated. Armed with all our paper work, passports, birth and marriage certificates, and “impôt sur les revenus”, we headed back to CPAM in Carcassonne. Realising that one of the ladies at the accueil was the same that we had seen last time, we were expecting the worst. When it was our turn, she couldn’t have been more different. She smiled, even tried a little English and as the queue was so long, arranged an appointment for us today. We shall see what the rendezvous brings.

***

We have had our rendezvous with CPAM. They accepted all our paperwork and taken our completed form. All we have to do is to wait for our new attestations confirming that we now back in the system. How long that will be, I don’t know, but the process has started!

People Watching

The weather was looking a little dull at home, so rather than go stir crazy indoors here, we decided to go to Toulouse and walk around the town. Although it is only takes about an hour to get there, we haven't been there many times. We always seem to get lost on the way back. I think we made a wise decision. The sun was out and apart from a rather fresh breeze - it was lovely. I love sitting in cafes, drinking a coffee and watching the world go past, and the world in Toulouse is a very mixed one.

****

Since we moved here, we have enjoyed watching the birds in our garden. Usually about June, we have had Hoopoes on our lawn ( that is probably too grand a name for it) pecking through the soil for grubs. Anyway, one arrived today. It has spent most of the day eating, probably building up energy after its long flight from Africa.

Sunshine and Snow

We looked at the mountain webcams and as the sun was shining we decided to head up to Monts d’Olmes, which is near Lavelanet and about an hour and a quarter for us. We were amazed how little snow there was; much less than our last visit on Christmas Eve. The last fall had been on 4th February. The resort was fairly busy with groups of all ages having their skiing lessons and families enjoying the winter sunshine. About a third of the runs were open but the snow must have come from the snow cannons. Unfortunately there was no snow at all on the little toboggan run, which is probably about my level. Instead we sat outside watching everyone else skiing down the mountainside whilst having a very enjoyable lunch in the warm sunshine.

Health Cover Encore!

OK, I thought it was too good to be true. It was announced last month that “inactive, early retirees” like Richard and I could join the French Health Service, rather than having to take out very expensive private insurance cover. We waited a few weeks to allow the information to be passed down to the staff and, armed with all our documentation (even a copy of the French Minister of Health’s letter) went to the CPAM in Carcassonne. We weren’t expected to be welcomed with open arms but we did hope that they may help us. The lady we spoke to was less than helpful and wouldn’t even acknowledge that there going to be changes. I am sure that it will all be sorted out in the end, but it is very frustrating in the meantime. I suppose that is French bureaucracy for you!

What a Boar!

Spring?

It is exactly 2 years since we left the UK, and it is weekends like this that confirm that our decision to move was a good one. The weather has been fantastic. It has been more like spring rather than the end of January.

Yesterday Richard and I decided to walk on the plateau at Leucate. We have a book of local walks and have tried this particular one several times. In spite of following the signs carefully, we never seem to complete the route as planned. I think we have cracked it now, with a few deviations. The sun was warm, sky was blue and it was lovely to see the almond blossom beginning to flower. Bees and butterflies were flying everywhere. We even found a flock of sheep with lambs.

Today we went to a truffle fair. Again as usual, it is based around food and drink.
There were stalls in the village selling baguettes. There was a choice of foie gras, magret or truffle omelette. I decided to have the magret and Richard the omelette. They were lovely. One could also sample a variety of wines from local vineyards. One of the highlights of this fair is the Banda, Les Bestioles de la Garrigue. Their music certainly put a smile on everyone’s faces and made the feet tap.

Health Cover

After coming home from shopping, I put the computer on checking for e-mails, checked the next Scrabulous challenge that my daughter, Sally, might have set me and checked the latest forum updates. There it was on the Anglophone-direct forum. Someone had written that there had been an update on the latest health issues for Ex-pats. As "early-retired inactives", we knew that our health cover would run out this month, so since the news was announced last year that our health cover would cease, we have been looking for a good assurance policy. We finally made our decision and received our acceptance from the company last week. Fortunately we were given a 14 day cooling off period which runs out tomorrow, so we quickly sent the appropriate paper work, cancelling the policy.

I guess we will have to wait at least another couple of weeks for the message about the new rules to get to our local CPAM. It is then going to be a matter of filling in CMU application forms and getting our Cartes Vitale re-issued. Remembering how long it took to get them first time round I am not going to be holding my breath. After that, we will have to re-start our Complementary Insurance. In the meantime, I assume, we will just have to pay for any medical treatment and keep all our receipts.

Our route home from the post office took us past the local bergerie. The herd somehow had got out and were blocking the road. They decided that they would return home, slowly, in front of our car. Thirty minutes later, they arrived at their field. It was amazing that we didn't see any cars during this time. As it was at 12:30, I suspect most of the usual people using the road were probably sitting down for lunch.