Regional News

Healthcare reforms

Nationwide, seven million people with a low income benefit from health cover support under the CMU-C or ACS schemes, where the ‘top-up’ portion of healthcare costs is covered in full or in part by the State. On 1 November the two schemes were combined and re-branded as Complémentaire Santé Solidaire (CSS). For those who are on CMU-C, there will be no change. Those on ACS now have the choice whether to continue with their current mutuelle or to switch to CMU-C (without penalty from their current mutuelle provider) and pay a monthly contribution according to their age group: 8€/month for under-29s, 14€ for 30-49, 21€ for 50-59 years, 25€ for 60-69 and 30€ for over 70s. They will also benefit from the costs being paid directly from the insurer to the health provider. If this impacts you, you should have received a letter explaining the changes, or you can apply directly to receive it on ameli-fr. Meanwhile, some glasses and dentures will be fully reimbursed from 1 January 2020 (with hearing aids following in 2021), honouring an election promise by Emmanuel Macron. According to a survey in 2018, patients paid an average of 43% of the costs for dental prostheses, 22% of optical costs and 53% for hearing aids.

Bordeaux Marché de Noël

Combine a Christmas shopping trip or a visit to MECA (see page 22) with a tour of the Grand Marché de Noël de Bordeaux. Located in Les Allées de Tourny near the Opéra from 27 November to 29 December, over 100 wooden chalets will be filled with handmade gifts from across Nouvelle- Aquitaine, a traditional carousel and plenty of opportunities to enjoy toffee apples, vin chaud and local dishes. Find the full details at www.marche-de-noel-bordeaux.com.

Holidays

It may feel like they have only just gone back to school after Toussaint, but the Christmas holidays will soon be upon us, with students across France breaking up on Friday 20 December and returning on Monday 6 January.

Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, both jours fériés, fall on Wednesdays.

Sizzling Summer

The outstanding weather this year has been credited with helping the region break previous tourism records. As well as strong domestic figures, Spanish visitors returned, and overall the inland departments showed strong growth, with Deux-Sèvres and Charente up 8.4% and Haute-Vienne up 5%. Rural and green holidays performed strongly. However, British holidaymakers fell overall by 8%, which has been put down to Brexit and the drop in the value of the pound. Here at LIVING we have seen a significant decrease in marketing efforts to attract British tourists and this must also play a role. Dordogne has been hardest hit by the drop in visitor numbers.