🇫🇷 Paris · Healthcare
Doctors, insurance and emergencies in Paris
One of the best-funded systems in Europe, built on reimbursement rather than free-at-the-point-of-use, with a top-up policy filling the rest.
The thing people get wrongFrance reimburses; it does not simply pay. You hand over money at the appointment and Assurance Maladie refunds most of it, with a mutuelle covering the remainder. Skipping the mutuelle, or failing to declare a médecin traitant, both quietly cost you a large share of every reimbursement.
Indicative figures
- Emergency numbers15, 17, 18 or 112SAMU, police, fire, European number. SOS Médecins 3624.
- GP consultation€30Secteur 1 regulated tariff since December 2024; €19 back, being 70% less the €2 flat charge.
- Without a médecin traitantReimbursed at 30%Instead of 70% within the parcours de soins.
- Mutuelle€30 – €80/monthLess through an employer scheme.
Checked . Ranges, not quotes — your Insider confirms the current numbers in Paris before you commit to anything.
Assurance Maladie and the carte Vitale
Residents working in France are covered by the statutory system, administered through the CPAM. Once registered you receive a carte Vitale, the green chip card that automates reimbursement — you present it at the appointment and the refund arrives in your account within days without any paperwork. Until it arrives you pay in full and claim back on a feuille de soins, which is slower but works.
- Your employer starts the process; follow it up through your Ameli account.
- Once you have a number, the card itself takes about two weeks ordered through Ameli; the attestation de droits from your account works meanwhile, and a carte Vitale app exists too.
- If you are not working, PUMa normally requires three months of stable residence before rights open.
- EU arrivals can use the EHIC in the gap before registration.
The médecin traitant and the parcours de soins
You should declare a médecin traitant — a nominated GP — with Assurance Maladie. Going through them is what keeps reimbursement at the full rate; seeing a specialist directly without a referral drops it substantially, with defined exceptions for gynaecology, ophthalmology and a few others. Doctors are classed by sector: secteur 1 charge the regulated tariff, secteur 2 may charge above it, and the excess is not reimbursed by the state.
- Declare the médecin traitant on a simple form signed by the doctor.
- Secteur 1 doctors charge the regulated fee; secteur 2 dépassements d'honoraires are yours or your mutuelle's to cover.
- Doctolib is the standard booking platform for almost every practitioner in Paris.
The mutuelle
Statutory cover reimburses most but not all of a consultation, and considerably less of dental work, glasses and hospital extras. A complémentaire santé, universally called a mutuelle, covers the balance. Employers in France are legally required to offer a group mutuelle and to fund at least half of it, so the employer scheme is normally both cheaper and better than anything you would buy individually.
- Employer mutuelles are subsidised by law — check what yours covers before buying your own.
- Dental and optical cover is where mutuelle policies differ most.
- Tiers payant means the pharmacy or practitioner bills the system directly and you pay nothing up front.
Pharmacies and emergencies
Pharmacies are marked by a green cross, pharmacists advise widely, and each area runs a pharmacie de garde rota for nights and Sundays. 15 reaches the SAMU medical emergency service, 17 the police, 18 the fire brigade and 112 the general European emergency number. SOS Médecins, on 3624, makes home visits and runs clinics for urgent but non-critical problems, which is often faster than a hospital urgences department, where a visit without admission carries a €23 flat charge.