Health Insurance

[GordonG]

My wife and I will be moving to Paris next year as retired, non-working, non-EU residents. I know we need private health insurance to obtain a long-stay visa, and I'm interested in feedback from forum members on insurance plans/companies that would be available to Canadians.

[KimMii]

I'm not sure if they're 'world wide' but NOMADS is very good and easy to do (can be done over the internet...and renewed over the internet)

[GordonG]

Thanks, I'll check them out.

Originally Posted by KimMii

I'm not sure if they're 'world wide' but NOMADS is very good and easy to do (can be done over the internet...and renewed over the internet)

[Rudi2004]

Hi we arrived France 2011 on the same visa you are applying for "visiteur" non-working with a view to staying here for the forseeable future. When applying in Sydney Aust for our long stay visa at the French Consulate we used "Allianz Travel Insurance" bought in Aust at a cost for both of us AUD$2,156.00 for the both of us. In Aust we did not need it translated into French but this week when we renewed our CdeS for another year they wanted a Fr translation but let it slide this time; just ask the company to give you in both languages which as youre in Canada it may be standard. Anyway this year we found AXA Belgium had a much cheaper policy "AXA Schengen policy" which was only 478.00 € for both of us. Travel insurance is fine as long as it covers repatriation; now one tricky thing with the AXA policy for the Schengen is that it has one line that says "*In all cases, the cover is limited to journeys undertaken within a maximum period
of 90 consecutive calendar days." Now we just crossed our fingers and they didn't see this but you may not be so lucky or as we were going to do was to say we intend to go to England and elsewhere from France for short trips breaking up the year so the 90 day stay would be fine. Still buyer beware. Next year we will get another kind of policy for France.
One thing we found is you won't get the Fr Consul to tell you beforehand if a document is ok you just have to do it at the appointment time.
Hope this helps.

[-mia-]

Originally Posted by Rudi2004

Hi we arrived France 2011 on the same visa you are applying for "visiteur" non-working with a view to staying here for the forseeable future. When applying in Sydney Aust for our long stay visa at the French Consulate we used "Allianz Travel Insurance" bought in Aust at a cost for both of us AUD$2,156.00 for the both of us. In Aust we did not need it translated into French but this week when we renewed our CdeS for another year they wanted a Fr translation but let it slide this time; just ask the company to give you in both languages which as youre in Canada it may be standard. Anyway this year we found AXA Belgium had a much cheaper policy "AXA Schengen policy" which was only 478.00 € for both of us. Travel insurance is fine as long as it covers repatriation; now one tricky thing with the AXA policy for the Schengen is that it has one line that says "*In all cases, the cover is limited to journeys undertaken within a maximum period
of 90 consecutive calendar days." Now we just crossed our fingers and they didn't see this but you may not be so lucky or as we were going to do was to say we intend to go to England and elsewhere from France for short trips breaking up the year so the 90 day stay would be fine. Still buyer beware. Next year we will get another kind of policy for France.
One thing we found is you won't get the Fr Consul to tell you beforehand if a document is ok you just have to do it at the appointment time.
Hope this helps.

But then that policy won't be valid in the UK. I'm not sure this it the right policy for you. It looks like a tourist policy. Sure it's cheap, but if you need to claim it seems there are a million ways they can back out.

If I were you (and I know I'm not!) I'd look for another policy before the 90 days is up.

Plus are you sure this is E478 per year or per 90 days?

[Rudi2004]

Originally Posted by -mia-

But then that policy won't be valid in the UK. [this if the France forum, not UK] I'm not sure this it the right policy for you. It looks like a tourist policy [Yes it is only to get the visa not to get coverage it's just an extra cost of getting the French visa]. Sure it's cheap, but if you need to claim it seems there are a million ways they can back out.[ we don't claim in our category of long stay visa retired we are in the group that has enough money to stay in France for a year or more without working; in fact you can't work under this visa and that's fine because we don't want to, we are all retired]

If I were you (and I know I'm not!) I'd look for another policy before the 90 days is up. [no the policy covers us for a whole year]

Plus are you sure this is E478 per year or per 90 days? [ whole year which is why the Paris Prefecture of Police renewed our long stay visas for another year just this week]

see 'bold' inserts above thanks

[-mia-]

Originally Posted by Rudi2004

see 'bold' inserts above thanks

Yeah, thanks I know what the forum is. You wrote that going to the UK will help you with the 90 day thing. You also said it's a "Schengen" policy. I didn't bring up the UK.

I'm not really talking about your visa. I'm talking about health coverage. The idea is not just to get your visa but to actually be covered.

Anyway, you did say "buyer beware" so everyone needs to do what they feel is best for them and do their own research. I didn't read the policy I just went by what you wrote.

[GordonG]

I checked out websites for the three companies mentioned in the posts - AXA, NOMADS and Allianz - and asked for quotes. Unfortunately, all three have an age limit of 60 and we therefore don't qualify. Any thoughts for us "greybeards"?

[Bevdeforges]

Originally Posted by GordonG

I checked out websites for the three companies mentioned in the posts - AXA, NOMADS and Allianz - and asked for quotes. Unfortunately, all three have an age limit of 60 and we therefore don't qualify. Any thoughts for us "greybeards"?

Travel insurance often has age limits like this. What you could do is to go to the AARO website AARO?s Health Care Program for Expatriate America On the page for their medical insurance (which you aren't eligible for since you aren't Americans) in the lower right corner, there is an ad for their insurance broker. If you contact them directly, they can help you find an insurance program without the age limits. (They deal with a number of insurers and have swtiched the AARO program from one to another to take advantage of better deals.)
Cheers,
Bev

[GordonG]

Thanks, Bev - I will contact them tonight.

Regards,

Gordon