Health Insurance in France
The French model of health insurance has been ranked as the best across the globe by WHO (World Health Organization). The insurance regulatory body provides high-quality of medical care ensuring the patient enjoys total freedom.
The health-insurance system in France is purely based on the profession of an individual. Under this programme, all the working individuals have to contribute a portion of their income to the health-insurance fund wherein the risk of illness is mutually agreed upon between the concerned parties involved in the contract and reimbursement on medical expenses incurred towards the treatment are carried out at varying rates. In addition, spouses and children of the insured are eligible for medical benefits. Based on the reforms initiated in Insurance sector in France recently, majority of the funds in France provide same level of benefits and re-imbursement to the policyholder.
In the management of Healthcare Insurance across France, the government’s involvement is as follows:-
a) Firstly to fix the rate at which the medical expenses should be negotiated. The tariffs are set annually with the help of negotiations and discussions.
b) Oversight of Health-insurance funds and ensure that such funds are appropriately managed and ensure smooth functioning of public hospital network.
All citizens and legal foreign residents of France are covered by one of the mandatory healthcare insurance programs that are funded by worker participation. Based on a law enacted in 2000 by the French government, the government provides health care cover to the individuals who remain uncovered by the mandatory regime i.e. those who are unemployed and who are not students, meaning extremely rich or extremely poor individuals. Such a scheme is financed by general taxation and reimbursement of incurred medical expenses is done at a higher rate in comparison to the profession-based system for those unfortunate individuals who can ill-afford to make up the difference.
An important element of the French insurance system is solidarity which implies that if an individual is frequently prone to illness, then the individual’s contribution to healthcare insurance fund is minimized. In short, individuals who are suffering from chronic or serious illnesses are eligible for 100% of the reimbursement on medical expenses that are incurred during the course of treatment. In addition, they are provided relief from co-pay charges.
The mandatory system does not cover private complementary insurance plans that are available across France which are characterized by their comptetiveness. Premiums are often subsidized by the employers and usually modest in nature. 85 percent of French citizens benefit from the from complementary private health insurance cover.
