In Europe, the high cost of medical care scares many international students, as if a visit to the doctor is equivalent to bankruptcy. In fact, many European countries have quite sound medical insurance, most of the expenses can be reimbursed, so even if you are sick, it is not as terrible as imagined, and the same is true for France. Today the penny will take you to pick up the medical insurance those things.
There are two kinds of medical insurance in France, the first is the basic main insurance, that is, Sécurité Sociale, which is mandatory and can get up to 70% reimbursement, and all people living in France must apply for it, and international students are no exception; the second is the additional supplementary secondary insurance, that is, the supplemental medical insurance (Mutuelle), which is purchased voluntarily, and fully or partially covers the social health care. The second is an additional supplementary health insurance, the Mutuelle, which is purchased on a voluntary basis and covers fully or partially the remaining costs after the reimbursement of the social health insurance.
Primary insurance - student social insurance
The "primary insurance" is the basic health insurance, which is compulsory for all, and in the case of international students it is La Sécurité Sociale (the student social insurance). In the case of international students, it is La Sécurité Sociale Tudiante (the student social health insurance). The insurance covers most of the medical services needed in daily life, including prescriptions, general outpatient care, hospitalization in general departments, etc., with a reimbursement of up to 70%. Under current regulations, student social insurance is valid from October 1 of each year to September 30 of the following year.
What kind of international students are applicable to the Student Social Insurance? According to the regulations, the following three conditions must be met:
1) you are a student at a higher education institution recognized by Social Security
2) you are younger than 28 years of age, although this age limit can be postponed in a few cases
3) you can provide a valid proof of residence permit and a certified French version of your birth certificate
How to Insurance
In France, student social health insurance is usually included directly in the school's registration fee and does not have to be delivered separately. When registering for administrative purposes at the school, students will be asked to choose a specialized student social security center to register with, after which the school will take care of your social security for you. The cost of the student social security is nationally standardized and according to the 2015-2016 fee schedule, the annual fee is 215 euros.
How it works
It comes into effect the day after you sign the official insurance contract, which is renewed every year. If you don't have a Carte Vitale (also known as a "green card"), you can use the Attestation d'Adhérence (certificate of social security) issued by your insurance company to access medical services at hospitals and pharmacies. The Carte Vitale application process is lengthy and often takes a long time before it is sent to you. The card contains basic personal information, and at any medical facility, just show it to the computer and the staff will know exactly what your insurance status and personal information is.
Without a Carte Vitale, you will have to pay for your own medical expenses first, and then you will be reimbursed by mailing the relevant documents to your insurance company; with a Carte Vitale, you will usually only have to pay the portion that cannot be reimbursed. It also depends on the rules of each insurance company.
Choosing an insurance provider
There are basically two types of insurance companies that specialize in providing social security for university students: either the local, provincial and national centers LMDE (La Mutuelle Des ?tudiants), MEP (Mutuelle ?tudiante en Provence), or SMER** ( The last two letters are different for different regions, e.g. SMEREP for the Paris region) and so on. Among them, MEP is concentrated in the south, like Avignon, Marseille, Nice, etc.
The choice of social security center varies according to the different registration methods of the major institutions:
1. If your school or college uses a special registration document (e.g., IUT), you can tick one of the options below the price catalog as your social security center, e.g.
Choix du centre payer
SMEREP ?LMDE
2. If your school/college uses a special student social security register, you can fill in your social security details at "Section Locale Universitaire de Sécurité Sociale Choisie". If your school or college uses a special student social security registration form, you can fill in the "Section Locale Universitaire de Sécurité Sociale Choisie" section.
3. If you register online, it is equally easy to choose your student social security center.
Médecin Traitant
Many people will be curious as to why they are reimbursed less by their social security than others, but it actually has a lot to do with whether or not you have a primary care doctor. In France, in order to avoid medical waste, everyone is required to have their own primary care doctor who is responsible for basic health care and treatment, who provides a thorough physical examination and diagnosis, and who will recommend a specialist to the patient if they encounter a problem that cannot be solved. In France, 99.5% of people choose such a general practitioner (Médecin Généraliste) as their primary care doctor.
The 70% reimbursement of medical expenses is only possible if you appoint your own doctor, so it is highly recommended that you choose a general practitioner as your primary care doctor. For students, you can ask for recommendations from people close to you, consult your neighborhood pharmacy (Pharmacie), or go online (recommended website: http://ameli-direct.ameli.fr/).
Supplementary insurance
In addition to the mandatory basic social insurance, there is also a voluntary supplementary insurance (Mutuelle), which covers the remaining 30% of medical expenses after the 70% reimbursement by the basic social insurance. Supplementary insurance covers many areas of medical care outside of the main insurance, such as glasses, dental appointments and consultations for certain specialized outpatient and special surgeries, etc. The reimbursement rate is very high, sometimes exceeding 100%. In fact, the vast majority of French people in France have supplementary insurance. If social insurance is the embodiment of France's high welfare society, then supplementary insurance is the embodiment of France's high quality of life. The following will briefly introduce the supplementary insurance by taking LMDE and SMEREP in Paris area as examples.
LMDE
There are three kinds of Mutuelle most commonly used in LMDE, which are "Soins Courants", "Tous Soins" and "Forfaits". Forfaits".
1. Soins Courants: Supplementary to the daily basic medical needs, such as visits to the doctor, prescriptions are reimbursed 100%, but only 70% of the dental, ophthalmology reimbursement.
2. Tous Soins: Tous Soins includes all the functions of Soins Courants, and basically reimburses 100% of the expenses that are not covered by social insurance, such as ophthalmology, dentistry, etc. Tous Soins also includes many special precautions for students. In addition, there are many special precautions for students to enjoy refunds, such as: contraceptive supplies, pregnancy tests, vaccinations, help to quit smoking and so on.
3. Forfaits: In addition to including the functions of the previous two types of secondary insurance, it also includes other items that can be reimbursed, such as glasses (including contact lenses), orthodontics, newborn births, etc., some of which are even reimbursed at a rate of more than 100%.
SMEREP
SMEREP also has three main types of Mutuelle business.
1. Indispensable SMEREP : The most basic secondary insurance, similar to LMDE's Soins Courants.
2. Mediane SMEREP : Equivalent to LMDE's Tous Soins, with 100% reimbursement for ophthalmology and dentistry.
3. Total SMEREP : Similar, this is the LMDE's Forfaits, which is arguably the most comprehensive secondary insurance, with 150% reimbursement for many items.
In short, the cost required for secondary insurance depends on the field of insurance chosen, the reimbursement rate, the pricing of each insurance company will be different, the monthly cost may be more than ten euros, or dozens of euros, you can choose according to their own needs.
Purchase of insurance in special circumstances
In addition to the above basic purchase of primary and secondary insurance, depending on the actual conditions of each person, some of the special circumstances of the different pricing or purchase, you can contact the school or the insurance company to confirm.
1. If you receive a scholarship from the French government: you do not need to pay for social health insurance for the year, you will be automatically covered by social insurance.
2. If you are studying in France for less than three months, e.g. a short-term exchange: you can choose to be covered by French social security, but it is not mandatory. If you already have a social insurance in China but have purchased a French social insurance, you can apply for a refund of the contribution.
3. If you are a salaried student: this is regardless of nationality, as long as you work at least 60 hours per month or 120 hours per quarter throughout the academic year, you will be excluded from the student social security coverage and downgraded to the ordinary coverage.
4. If you are over 28 years of age during your studies in France and are not a citizen of a European Union country: until the end of the academic year in which you turn 28, your student health insurance will remain on file and the refund will be valid. After the end of the academic year, even if you still have the status of a student with little or no income, you can no longer benefit from the student insurance and you will need to contact the social security center in your place of residence, who will take over your file. Of course, you can also choose to buy private sector insurance.
Additionally, if you don't have much income, you can apply for universal health insurance, such as CMU. to apply for universal health insurance, you need to go to CPAM, the health insurance center that belongs to your place of residence, and you can find the exact location online. The steps to apply are as follows:
1. Fill in the health insurance application form . There are 2 pages in the application form***, see the chart below for the information you need to fill in on page 1. 2. Prepare all kinds of supporting documents. Page 2 of the application form is a list of supporting documents that the applicant needs to provide, and the documents are quite complicated, so you need to be patient.
3. Submit the application form and the required documents to the health insurance center where you live. Your residence or administrative address will determine whether you need to mail the documents or go directly to the health insurance office to submit them.
4. If you meet all the requirements, your application will be valid from the date of submission. The health insurance office will give you a certificate of insurance and a card (Carte Vitale). If you already have a card, you can apply to renew it. Note that students with disabilities and students on leave of absence for medical reasons are not covered by this insurance.
Getting medical care
Finally, here are some tips for getting medical care in France, so you don't have to panic if you get sick!
Hospitals and clinics
There are several different types of medical institutions in France, including public hospitals, specialized private clinics, and general private clinics. The difference between them is not in the quality of care, but in the rate of reimbursement of medical expenses.
Every public hospital has an emergency department that is open day and night. In public hospitals, you have to pay the Ticket Modérateur, the part of the medical bill that is not reimbursed by the social security system. In the case of hospitalization, both public hospitals and private clinics require payment of a fixed fee for accommodation, which is reimbursed by the supplementary health insurance company only if the latter is insured.
The level of reimbursement from the general social security organization for dental or optical care in France is lower if you are not insured by a supplementary health insurance. However, in health clinics attached to universities or medical schools with dental and ophthalmology departments, free treatment is provided to final-year students in the relevant specialties under the supervision of a physician. A list of centers offering free mandatory vaccination and prevention can be obtained from the municipality of residence.
Pharmacies
In France, pharmacies have a monopoly on medicines sold with a doctor's prescription. Pharmacies are clearly marked with a green cross and have varying hours of operation, with fewer pharmacies open 24/7. However, there is usually a pharmacy on duty in every street to meet emergency needs. All practicing pharmacists are required to hold a diploma in the relevant specialty and must be registered with the National Pharmacists' Guild. Therefore, pharmacists are competent and qualified to provide consultative advice in pharmacy.
Physician's Prescription and Medical Record
Ordonnance is a prescription for medication or test voucher issued by a doctor, which must be presented when going to a pharmacy to dispense medication or laboratory tests.
The Feuille de Soins is a certificate of medical expenses, such as medical consultations, dispensing of medicines, tests, etc. When applying for reimbursement from the Social Security Institute, you must send a copy of the certificate of medical records and the prescription form.
Emergency and night duty
If you have a car accident, heart attack, premature labor, or other sudden medical emergency in France, you will need to go to an emergency room. In order to ensure emergency medical care, a system of on-call doctors and pharmacists is used in both urban and rural areas of France. A list of doctors and pharmacists on duty can be obtained from pharmacies or from the services section of local newspapers.
Overall, the French healthcare system is quite different from the domestic one. For example, hospitals in France do not sell medicines, and the hospital pharmacy is only responsible for the treatment of the patient during the hospital period, so the doctor will have to go to the pharmacy to buy medicines himself after he writes a prescription; and then, for example, in some cases where you can see the emergency doctor and receive infusion in the domestic one, such as the case of sudden onset of a high fever, even if you call the emergency doctor (SOS Médecin) in France, he will usually only come to your home to see the doctor, and will not be able to help you. In France, even if you call an emergency doctor (SOS Médecin) to come to your home to see the doctor, they will usually only give you medicine and ask you to rest, not give you fluids to reduce your fever. Therefore, it is highly recommended that you check with your insurance company about the basic treatment of special cases when you buy insurance, just in case.
No matter where you are, your health and safety always come first. In case of an emergency in France, please memorize the following emergency numbers:
1. SAMU: 15
2. SOS Médecin: 3624
3. SOS Europe: 112
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