France and the welfare state

Tomorrow we're off to a beautiful spot called Les Glenans, you have to go there by boat. I'll be blogging my impressions of the place shortly thereafter but in the meantime I thought I would write a little bit about what the French government offers its citizens in return for the taxes that they pay.  I'm not really sure what percentage of their income French people pay in return for the services that they get, easy enough to look it up but this blog is not a treatise, I would just like to go on first impressions and what I've found out from people who live here, not dry statistical analysis.

First of all with respect to child care, it would be hard to fault the government and the systems they have put in place.  Not all of it is "free", you pay with your taxes and often there's an additional, usually modest sum attached.  If you're pregnant here you only get a maximum of 5 months leave unless you have another child then it can be longer.  You have a choice of "creche" (nursery) where there can be 25+ babies with one person, more or less, per every 5 baby.  Nobody's ever complained about there being not enough bodies on the ground to take care of the babies.  If that's not what you want, you can have a "nourrice"  (the old wet nurse term although they no longer breastfeed your child) come to your house, pick up the baby and keep him/her for the day at their own house.  A nourrice can only have 2 babies at any one time, 3 if the children are older than 2.  The nourrice gets paid 500 euros by the parents who are then reimbursed by the government according to how much income they make.  In general the average paid by parents is around 200 euros (a pittance compared to child caring costs) in North America.  Even Quebec doesn't favorably compare since a lot of the day cares subsidized by the government are few and far between.  A couple we know is paying $900.00 a month in Montreal right now.

Around the age of 2 and a half a child can go to a proper school with trained child care professionals, it's public and free.  The parents are responsible for purchasing meal time tickets (around 2.80 euro per meal).  The meals would be considered gourmet by North American standards and consist of 3 courses,not one day in the month is the same.  I've seen the menus and they are impressive.

When it comes to health care everybody is covered for what is considered basic health and dental care.  Most people buy an additional insurance called la Mutuelle which covers all those extras and costs for a family of 4 around 200 euros a month.  This seems like a lot but it's for 4 people.  I was paying $150.00 a month for both my husband and I in B.C. and am probably paying the same amount, maybe a bit more, in Quebec.  It's taken out of your taxes at the end of the year in Quebec so I'm not sure what the exact amount is.  That amount is simply for basic coverage.  There is no reimbursement for glasses or anything considered out of the "healthcare ordinary".  Furthermore we have lived in Quebec for one year now and still can't find a doctor in the community where we live.  That's not unusual with a lot of people having the same difficulty.  In comparison one has access to a doctor the same day here.  You could phone your obstetrician on a Saturday with concerns about your child and have the appointment that same day!  Unheard of in Canada, one must secure appointments with so-called specialists a long time in advance.  It's not unusual for a French doctor to visit a patient at home if the person is too ill, with something as mundane as a bad cold or a migraine, to make it to the office.

In general French people seem happy with the extent of the government's involvement in their lives except for the bureaucracy which can be daunting and a pain in the derriere royal or otherwise.

Just a little something to chew on while you contemplate the level of involvement of your own government whether that might be a positive or a negative thing.  In France I feel it's mostly a positive but I might be way off base.