You must have a valid European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) for the whole duration of your stay.
IMPORTANT: EHIC rules changed in July 2014. It is now no longer possible to claim a reimbursement from your home country. This is why it is important to get an EHIC before coming to France.
The EHIC card is free of charge from all European health services.
More information about EHIC.
If you do not have an EHIC card, you have to take out a private health insurance for the whole duration of your stay.
It is mandatory, even if in some countries a private health or travel insurance is required for the visa application. This health insurance covers up to 70% of your medical expenses in France (GP consultation, medicines, etc.).
The registration can only be done in September and you will be covered from October onwards.
IMPORTANT: The French Public Health Insurance IS NOT A TRAVEL INSURANCE and DOES NOT COVER FOR REPATRIATION, civil liability, nor your travels across Europe. If you need such an insurance, EDHEC ISO recommends you take out a student travel insurance.
For a GP consultation, everyone usually has to pay 25€ in cash (please check our Useful Guide for a list of recommended GP) and then claim the reimbursement (more information in Reimbursement procedure). Once registered, you will get a document called “Attestation de Droits” providing your provisional social security number.
The provisional social security number is enough to claim the reimbursement of your medical expenses and/or medicines. It can take time until you receive the “carte vitale”, so we do not recommend that you apply for it if you are only staying in France for one semester.
If you stay for more than a year in France, it is worth applying for the carte vitale as the reimbursement is automatic.
To apply for a carte vitale, go to your reimbursement center with:
For any other specialists, you have to go through your General Practitioner first.
If you need to make an appointment at a GP or a specialist, you can do it online through Doctolib.
Please note that a French phone number is required to make an appointment online from this website.
Feel free to contact ISO in case you get any troubles.