Post date: Apr 22, 2011 9:53:18 AM
Proving to be a bit of a bone of contention this one! Seems if you are a UK resident you can get an EHIC (?) card (used to be an E111 card) which lasts five years and gives you reciprocal heathcare rights as UK and France are all part of the EU. In principle you only have to pay a top up for which you can get private insurance, if you are permanently resident (hence staying longer than 5 years) then you are expected to be paying French tax whcih will give you rights to use their healthcare system.
Jersey is not part of the EU though so its not so straightforward (especially in my case!) as whilst there is a reciproval arrangement and you can obtain an 'Attestation Certificate' for you and your dependants (spouse, children etc.) this lasts for a year and meets 80% of the cost of hospital or emergency heathcare requirements for 'short stays' in France.
As a Jersey taxpayer (and ITIS) for the last 4 years I am effectively no longer entitled (it seems) to a UK reciprocal arrangement (though that has yet to be confirmed), after all I hold a UK/EU passport and paid UK NI contributions for something like 25 years!
So its looking like I shall have to continue paying ITIS contributions to Jersey as I shall still be working for a Jersey company though I shall be splitting my time between Jersey and France. With tax it is slightly different as Jersey are saying I 'only' pay tax for the days I am working IN Jersey, hilst in France I will be liable to pay tax to them as 'world income' but that is at a rate of currently 28%! French tax includes their health/national insurance etc. all rolled into one though so its actually not too bad a deal, unless you still have to pay for health contributions etc. elsewhere, such as in Jersey! Watch this space, more will surely follow as a I have ameeting with the Jersey Social Security Dept. in a couple of weeks.
RL_20110421