The French Social Security site recommends that all French residents take a carte européenne d’assurance maladie with them when travelling to other EU countries or Switzerland. This card will ensure free or subsidized medical treatment (depending on the country visited of course) and is easy to obtain, assuming that you are already part of the great machine that is the French medical system.Resident in France?

Le vrai tombeau des morts c’est le cœur des vivants. Jean Cocteau I felt uncomfortable researching and writing this article. I am unprepared. I don’t want to think about it… but it’s the one absolute…

Once again, the prefecture of the Pyrenees-Orientales warns of the potential dangers of flu, reminding us that last year around 5 – 10 per day were infected.

If you are a resident of France, you should be registered with a specific doctor, a médecin traitant. If you do not have a nominated GP, you will receive less money back from the Assurance Maladie (National Health) via your care vitale.

New health reforms this year mean that people will have to sign an ‘opt out’ register (Registre National des Refus) if they do NOT wish their organs to be used for transplant. This is a computerised listing of people who have chosen not to donate organs or tissues after their death. Anyone not on the register will be presumed to have consented to organ donation.
BASICALLY, WE ARE ALL DONORS UNLESS WE OPT OUT[

If you need a visit from a district nurse for injections, dressing changes etc, you can look in yellow pages and pick somebody nearby – although it’s always best to get a recommendation where possible.