Healthcare in France (Digital)

We may add updates of key information during 2025 and an email will be sent alerting buyers to these. Updates during 2025 are free and automatically added to your guide.  After this calendar year we would expect to publish a new guide (buyers would need to purchase this)

Contents include (for a full list click on Contents page left):

Overview of the French healthcare system

• How it compares internationally and France's strong and weaker points
• Registering and finding a GP
• What medical services are available
• How to find an English-speaking doctor
• How and why you should get a carte Vitale
• How to pay for medical treatment

Mutuelles

• How to shop for a mutuelle / top-up insurance
• What does 100% / 200% / 300% reimbursement actually mean?
• What to do if you have a problem with your insurance company
• How to switch companies
• Getting free or subsidised insurance cover for people on a modest income

Moving over

• What Brexit changed
• The healthcare rules for long-stay visas 
• Cover for second-home owners
• Health rights and the 90/180 rule for foreign visitors
• European versus Global (UK) health insurance cards
• Moving over as a British or EU state pensioner, the S1 system
• Moving over as an early retiree and private insurance
• Cover for self-employed workers

Pharmacies

• How you are reimbursed for medicines 
• Reciprocal rules on prescriptions within the EU
• E-prescriptions and other new trends in pharmacy services
• What extra services can pharmacies offer

Reimbursements

• Examples of tarifs de convention
• What costs apply to hospital stays? 
• Emergencies / Medical transport options / Medical supplies / Blood test labs  
• Nurses, speech therapists, psychologists, osteopaths, hypnosis and alternative medicines

New technologies

• How téléassistance and ‘health cabins’ work
• The digital carte Vitale and how soon you can get one
• France’s new online digital health space

Ancillary services

• Finding a doctor out-of-hours
• Vaccinations
• The 100% Santé reform for full reimbursement of dental, eye and hearing care
• Costs of crowns, implants and dentures
• Plastic surgery and cosmetic surgery
• The free two-hour health check open to all

Cancer and Alzheimer’s

• Cancer overview in France
• Details on different types of cancer
• Help for Alzheimer’s sufferers

Healthcare abroad for French residents

• Healthcare outside of France
• Other treatments in the EU
• Post-Brexit rights to healthcare in the UK

Disability benefits

• Exportable benefits
• French benefits
• Help for people who no longer work (full-time)

CPAM health authorities

• Contesting a CPAM decision

Readers' questions & answers:

• Why has my ‘carte Vitale’ stopped working?
• Are shingles vaccines free?
• Who covers the medical costs in the event of a car accident?
• French disabled people’s CMI cards: What are the benefits?
• Can I get an eye test at an opticians?
• Must I pack towels for the hospital?
• Can I stay more than 90 in 180 days for medical reasons?
• Can a doctor refuse to take on a new patient?
• Can you use Mon espace santé if not in the French system?
• Can I obtain glasses with a UK prescription?
• Can I swap to access healthcare via British S1 instead of French pension?
• Is there help available to install chairlift or other home adaptations?
• Are gluten-free foods part of ‘health reason’ imports?
• What happens if moving from Puma to S1 at state retirement age
• Are operations in a private clinic reimbursable?
• How can I get a prescription renewed if not well enough to visit a doctor?
• How long is a French prescription valid?
• Can I benefit from ‘100% santé’ to buy glasses?
• Is there a time limit for using ‘feuilles de soins’ for health reimbursements?
• What help is available for sciatica?
• What is the cost of cataract surgery?
• What is a ‘magnétiseur’?
• What help is there to cope with a new disability?
• Carte Vitale: rules when leaving France
• I am soon going for my first mammogram – what should I expect?
• Is ‘complémentaire santé solidaire’ restored to S1 holders?
• How do I get a mole checked out?
• How do I add documents to my online health space (Mon espace santé)?