well, I have been very quiet or the better part of 8 months....on arrival in France I became seriously ill, and have been in and out of hospital since. There is now light at the end of the tunnel, so I thought I would share my experience of "on the ground " french actual health care.

1. it is outstanding ! a very holistic approach, everything pretty much organized for you, excellent equipment and full diagnostics done at every turn. inter hospital transport arranged, post op care and rehab also, plus post rehab exercise and home nursing when necessary. referrals are done expeditiously and you continually go "up the chain" as needed. Staff are for 99% empathetic, sympathetic and very caring.

2. cultural differences exist. you are responsible for your own paper work, which for a Brit is a shock, but less so if you are in the US system which drowns one in paperwork. everyone walks around with a bag of files.! medical staff do not expect to be questioned as much,but if done respectfully constructive dialogue is excellent. Interhospital communication is outstanding.
3. costs- are very reasonable compared to USA. Although I have paid thousand s of euros in the past 8 months, I doubt with all my US insurances it would be significantly more than my copays.

4 Care quality and competence. Outstanding. I may have been a bit lucky here (hard to say) as a lot was in Montpellier University hospital system, which is renowned for health care and research.I had a multi disciplinary surgical team for 7 hours, and am walking about after 6 weeks with no prostheses which I would unlikely have avoided elsewhere.

I am truly impressed ! as I was a t my brother in law's cancer care here 2 years ago.

For what its worth.

good luck and good health to all.

Mary