Health

You must come to France with a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) which is valid throughout your stay abroad. This is a free card issued by your health insurance organization, enabling you to receive health care in a public establishment. This card entitles you to the same conditions and rates as people insured in France. We also advise you to take out private supplementary insurance, valid in France, to cover healthcare costs that are not usually covered by the French healthcare system. This supplementary insurance will then reimburse the remaining costs you are responsible for, depending on the policy you choose (partial or full reimbursement).

When you receive healthcare in France, you must present your EHIC (or provisional certificate). If you pay healthcare costs for treatment that is usually free of charge in France, you have two options for reimbursement:

• submit a claim for reimbursement to your health insurance organization in your home country, on presentation of supporting documents obtained in France (a priori, you won’t need to have these documents translated into the language of your home country, as European health systems are linked) or
• contact the Caisse primaire d’assurance maladie (CPAM) in France.

If you wish to be reimbursed in France, you must present the following documents to the CPAM:

• your medical claim form (and prescription if applicable),
• a photocopy of your EHIC card (or a copy of provisional certificate),
• your UBE school certificate (downloadable from your ENT online account),
• your RIB (bank account details – the account may be in a foreign bank, but it must be in your name),
• a statement saying that you remain financially dependent on your parents.
  Are you officially financially independent from your parents, or do you work in France or work online from France for a company abroad? If so, you must register with the French social security system in order to benefit from French health insurance. How to register? Once you have completed your administrative registration with the International Office, a member of staff from the registration team will be on hand to help you with the procedures for obtaining French health insurance. We also recommend that you take out supplementary health insurance, known as a ‘mutuelle’, which can cover the portion of healthcare costs not covered by basic health insurance. Do you have a modest income and can’t afford to take out a mutuelle? Check whether you are eligible for the complementary health insurance scheme, which will cost you nothing or less than 1 euro/day.

Good to know: in the event of hospitalization, you generally won’t have to pay in advance, as your EHIC card is sufficient (except in specific establishments in cities like Paris that are not covered by the French health insurance system).

Health insurance

Once you have completed your administrative registration with the International Office, a member of staff from the registration team will be on hand to help you with the procedures for obtaining French health insurance.

Campus France tutorials

• Everything you need to know about health insurance before arriving in France
• Social security registration

Supplementary health insurance (mutuelle)

Membership in the basic social security system enables you to receive care in the event of health problems, and covers the majority of costs (up to 70% on average). You are responsible for the remaining costs. To cover costs not covered by basic social security coverage, you are strongly advised to take out supplementary health insurance, known as a mutuelle.

This insurance is not compulsory, but it can be very useful, as it can cover all or part of your remaining out-of-pocket expenses, depending on the package you choose. If you would like to take out complementary health insurance, you can contact one of the many organizations that offer this type of insurance: student insurers (SMERRA, LMDE) or general organizations (MGEN, AÉSIO, MAAF, AG2R, MATMUT, MACIF etc.). There are various offers and packages to choose from, depending on your needs.

Do you have a modest income and can’t afford to take out a mutuelle insurance policy? Check if you are eligible for complementary health insurance that will cost you nothing or less than 1 euro/day.