Mnemosyne asked; I answer

Mnemosyne asked:

Tell us more about the ins and outs of the health insurance issue. You have to have coverage until you can get French coverage? How long will your mother have to wait until she can be on the French insurance program? Can she get coverage even if not a French citizen?

This all has to do with the visa process. For a non-EU citizen to get a long stay visa to live in France, there are a fair amount of hurdles to be jumped. One of them is health insurance. You need to show that you have health insurance that will cover 30,000€ of expenses, including repatriation costs if you get really sick.

Now, in Mom's case, she won't be needing repatriation (anymore than WE would), because she's moving her permanently. Since most regular U.S. insurance policies are not really set up for paying costs in foreign countries, you need to find one that will.

None of this is a problem for a relatively young person, but most of the policies we found are not available to be sold to anyone over the age of 75. I understand, because most people over that age do have some type of health issue. But, it was a real stumbling block for us. We were worried that the whole thing would be derailed if we couldn't resolve this one issue.

Once you have been resident in France for 3 months, however, you are eligible, indeed HAVE TO, register with the French health system (Securité Sociale), It is also called CPAM (Caisse Primaire de Assurance Maladie). The feels one pays for that are calculated on 8% of one's income. There is a bottom amount, below which you get coverage for free.

So, Mom will be covered by the French system after 3 months residence, which will be far less expensive, in her case, than anything she could get in the U.S.

I'll go over the other things one has to do to get a visa in later entries.

Ciao for now.

Randy