Health and the Business of Living in France
This was an area of wide-interest to a large number of members, primarily involving various ‘caisses’ and other agents of the French helath system as well as other social and pension organisations; what were the terms, conditions, advantages and disadvantages of joining AGESSA, which manages social security for authors in France.
We here publish Gregor’s preliminary notes on the subject:
Sécurité sociale
The French equivalent of the National Health Service is a system of obligatory health insurance. Anybody living in France, by law, has to belong to it -- though, in fact, there are fairly large swathes of the population that don’t. I personally would recommend it.
To join up you have to do it through your profession -- which strikes most foreigners as most peculiar (I think it harkens back to the Ancien Régime where a man’s position was determined by his état or his ‘status’ in the social order of things).
At any rate, if you are a teacher, you register via the National Education system. If you are a worker you’ll probably do it through your Syndicat. If you’re a plumber you’ll go through representatives of what are known as the Petits et Moyens Enterprises (PME). And if you are an independent writer…
Well there is an organisation known as AGESSA, l’Association pour la Gestion de la Sécurité Sociale des Auteurs which sits at 21, bis, rue de Bruxelles, in the 9e arrond. (01 48 78 25 00)
AGESSA is not what they call a caisse de sécurité sociale -- that is it not an organisation that will pay for your health problems. But they do give you good advice and I have found them quite user-friendly. They could put you in touch with the myriad caisses that actually pay out the sums when you have a problem.
-- What you will probably go through is a Social Security organisation in your own department -- it may be Paris, or in my case it is the department of the Eure -- that is known as the CPAM -- Caisse Primaire d’Assurance Maladie.
-- The CPAM won’t cover you 100 per cent., in fact, sometimes far from that. To top up the payments you need a mutuelle, which is again organised by profession.
--I belong to a mutuelle called the MNLPC, the Mutuelle Nationale de la Presse, du Livre et de la Communication -- which strikes me as a very political organisation and some of my friends have said it is too expensive, though its payments strike me as generous.
Of all the issues of the evening it was the AGESSA issue that was certainly one of the ones that grabbed many members’ attention. I fear we failed to even establish if ANY ONE of us was a member and if so why, and we left none the wiser as to what we needed to be doing as authors if our writing income was either our primary or secondary source of income.
There was no one present who could, and nor was it the environment to present a clear and comprehensive presentation on AGESSA, although a journalist/historical novelist present did report that the NUJ (who have a Paris branch) was endeavouring to understand and explain to their members the obligations and benefits of joining (or otherwise).
Alison Culliford has kindly offered to look into this matter, feed information to Gregor and hopefully we can soon expect a clear and user-friendly explanation of AGESSA and our obligations or otherwise to join it.
Key issues touched upon was the relevance annual earnings in a world where authors can receive a large advance and then very little for the coming years, and as a result what would be the costs of joining, the monthly payments, for authors in perhaps a 'quiet year'?
The AGESSA issue is definitely one that concerns a lot of members and we hope that this blog and future meetings will provide some clarity.
Question: What comments do you have to make concerning the Social Security system in France? Do you have information to share with us?
The meeting did not have time to cover other aspects of the business of living in France, such as dealing with France’s complicated legal system.
Question: Do you have any comments about the practical side of living in France that you would like to share with us?
We here publish Gregor’s preliminary notes on the subject:
Sécurité sociale
The French equivalent of the National Health Service is a system of obligatory health insurance. Anybody living in France, by law, has to belong to it -- though, in fact, there are fairly large swathes of the population that don’t. I personally would recommend it.
To join up you have to do it through your profession -- which strikes most foreigners as most peculiar (I think it harkens back to the Ancien Régime where a man’s position was determined by his état or his ‘status’ in the social order of things).
At any rate, if you are a teacher, you register via the National Education system. If you are a worker you’ll probably do it through your Syndicat. If you’re a plumber you’ll go through representatives of what are known as the Petits et Moyens Enterprises (PME). And if you are an independent writer…
Well there is an organisation known as AGESSA, l’Association pour la Gestion de la Sécurité Sociale des Auteurs which sits at 21, bis, rue de Bruxelles, in the 9e arrond. (01 48 78 25 00)
AGESSA is not what they call a caisse de sécurité sociale -- that is it not an organisation that will pay for your health problems. But they do give you good advice and I have found them quite user-friendly. They could put you in touch with the myriad caisses that actually pay out the sums when you have a problem.
-- What you will probably go through is a Social Security organisation in your own department -- it may be Paris, or in my case it is the department of the Eure -- that is known as the CPAM -- Caisse Primaire d’Assurance Maladie.
-- The CPAM won’t cover you 100 per cent., in fact, sometimes far from that. To top up the payments you need a mutuelle, which is again organised by profession.
--I belong to a mutuelle called the MNLPC, the Mutuelle Nationale de la Presse, du Livre et de la Communication -- which strikes me as a very political organisation and some of my friends have said it is too expensive, though its payments strike me as generous.
Of all the issues of the evening it was the AGESSA issue that was certainly one of the ones that grabbed many members’ attention. I fear we failed to even establish if ANY ONE of us was a member and if so why, and we left none the wiser as to what we needed to be doing as authors if our writing income was either our primary or secondary source of income.
There was no one present who could, and nor was it the environment to present a clear and comprehensive presentation on AGESSA, although a journalist/historical novelist present did report that the NUJ (who have a Paris branch) was endeavouring to understand and explain to their members the obligations and benefits of joining (or otherwise).
Alison Culliford has kindly offered to look into this matter, feed information to Gregor and hopefully we can soon expect a clear and user-friendly explanation of AGESSA and our obligations or otherwise to join it.
Key issues touched upon was the relevance annual earnings in a world where authors can receive a large advance and then very little for the coming years, and as a result what would be the costs of joining, the monthly payments, for authors in perhaps a 'quiet year'?
The AGESSA issue is definitely one that concerns a lot of members and we hope that this blog and future meetings will provide some clarity.
Question: What comments do you have to make concerning the Social Security system in France? Do you have information to share with us?
The meeting did not have time to cover other aspects of the business of living in France, such as dealing with France’s complicated legal system.
Question: Do you have any comments about the practical side of living in France that you would like to share with us?
posted by SOAF Chairman at 8:58 AM
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