Medical fees

Advice on medical costs please. I have developed a hearing problem, saw a GP and have been referred to an ENT doctor at Clinic Chenieux, Limoges. I don't have 'top up' health insurance so can anyone advise the costs? I have a Carte Vitale but having retired to France have not paid into the French social security system. The appointment is for 26th November and I shall be in England before then. A friend has suggested I have a 'free' hearing test done at Boots or Specsavers while there. Will not be in England long for a hospital referral.

I posed this question on a Facebook group, Ex-Pats in Limoges, and here. From the comments received I have decided to have a hearing test in England, either free or for £20.00, and based on the results make an informed decision as what to do next. If a hearing aid is recommended I will have to consider this carefully as they are no charge from the NHS but I can expect to pay up to €2000 for one in France. A private one in England would be a similar price. This is money I don't currently have available. If the problem requires a referral to a doctor then I shall keep the appointment at Clinic Chenieux, if not I will cancel it in good time. And no, I don't expect the French clinic to accept the test results from an English one. If you will excuse the pun, I will have to play it by ear.

I may be missing something here but if you have a Carte Vitale then presumably you are resident in France. How then are you able to get a free hearing aid from the NHS?

I may not have explained myself clearly. As a EU resident with EHIC I am able to obtain health care in member states on the same terms as residents of that country. If I visit England I would not have to pay for treatment but to obtain a hearing aid would require me to stay for some time, probably 3 months. That is not practical so I will have to think carefully about how to proceed.

Pardon. What did you say.

Wasn't the question about the extra you have to pay as you don't have top-up insurance?
We understood that the state pay 75%, and you or your insurance pays the 25%.
Is that not the case?

I'm a bit puzzled by all this.

Alpen, do you still have an address in the U.K. that you will be able to use when registering for your free test with Boots or Specsavers as I presume they will want an address, otherwise what are you going to tell them?

If your GP here has already told you that you need to see an ENT specialist then, I would imagine, he has already done some preliminary basic tests that have established there is a problem and/or done a physical examination of your ear(s) that maybe has shown him there is some sort of problem. Why then do you need a High Street free test to tell you that?

Why haven't you rung the ENT consultant's secretary, or the Clinic, and asked them direct how much a consultation will cost you? My guess (but I might be quite wrong) is that it will be under 100€ and will give you a much more comprehensive report on what your hearing problem is than going for a generic test in the U.K.