Healthcare in Paris for travelers?

Question

I was watching Sicko and they were covering health care in Paris and if I understood it right they even gave free health care to non-citizens?

Is that true?

Answer 1

Getting your information from Michael Moore is not recommended.

Healthcare in France is not free.

Everyone with employee (salarie) status in France is covered by a national health insurance plan, known as securite sociale. Coverage extends to spouses and children without employee status themselves. People who are not entitled to securite sociale are required to take out special coverage, known as assurance personelle.Many people also choose to purchase additional insurance to complement or supplement the state-run program.

Premiums for workers are charged as a percentage of income and there is an earmarked social security tax of 7.5% (Contribution Sociale Generalisée - CSG) imposed on both employment and investment income. Most, but not all, of this general social contribution goes toward health insurance.

Under this system you pay for your medical treatment and then apply  for reimbrusement.

However, simple medical costs, such as an ordinary doctor's visit cost very little (about 31 euros).

Most basic medical costs are quite cheap compared to the Unided States because, first and foremost,  French doctors and other health care professionals  don't earn as much as their American counterparts, and also because medical malpractice law suits are less common, administrative costs are lower, and because standards of care are different.

The French Embassy has a more detailed explanation of the French Health insurance program on their website: http://www.ambafrance-us.org/atoz/health...

Answer 2

yes when i was sick in paris I was able to get great care from the local paris hospital. do not go to the american hospital they will try to charge you back here in the states

Answer 3

It is true for European Union citizens who get sick during a trip in another European country, not just in France. But to say treatment will be "completely free" is not always true, it depends on the country and on the medical procedure. In France, not every medical cost is 100% covered (most people purchase a complementary non-profit insurance for 10 € (student) to 50 € (super-fancy) /month to get "free" healthcare). Europeans traveling to another EU country used to apply for a form E111 which has now been replaced by an EHIC card: http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Healthcare/Healt...

I am French but living in the States and I do go to France to get medical exams that are 10-15 times cheaper than in the US but I have to pay out of pocket since I am not a resident of France any more. But yes, when I was in France, it was virtually free. You give your electronic health insurance card (Carte Vitale), the doctor or pharmacist puts it in the machine and that's it, the insurances will pay for it. If something is not covered 100% you pay the difference at the time of service (hardly ever more than a few cents or euros). It was only before electronic processing that you had to pay first and then get reimbursed a few days later.

It is true that costs are substantially lower than in the US for the reasons explained above and also because the health insurance being national, the state decides up to how much they will reimburse. Therefore doctors' visits are 22 € for a general practitioner and 28 € to 44 € for a specialist (for doctors having an agreement with the social security, which is most of them). The social security will pay you back based on these prices. If a doctor wants to charge more than the regulated price they are free to do so but most don't as  most patients wouldn't go to them. Prices have to be posted outside and any doctor charging more than the covered price has to state so. Also the Code of Ethics that any health care professional has to swear by stipulates that medicine is not a business and should not be conducted for commercial profit (therefore advertizing is illegal).

The national health insurance ("assurance maladie") is one branch of the social security system (which also includes retirement and many other benefits) and it costs an employee 0.75% of their paycheck and it costs employers 12.8% of their employee's salary. For the self-employed, it depends on their status and ranges between these two amounts. The unemployed get it deducted from their unemployment benefit instead of their paycheck and the very low-income people get free healthcare. All the social security services combined together cost on average 22.7% of your income, retirement being the largest chunk (about 6 to 7%).