Medical cover

When you enrol at a ParisTech school, you will have to join the Social Security scheme, and take out mandatory responsabilité civile (civil liability) insurance (about €12 for the year) to cover you in case of damage to the school or injury.

Social Security

In France, Social Security sets regulated rates for medical care (healthcare fees and medicine prices), and reimburses 70% of both.

That is why we advise you to also take out a mutuelle étudiante (student mutual medical insurance) policy to get 100% reimbursement (but this policy is not mandatory). For example, if you see a GP, you will have to pay €20, Social Security will reimburse €14 and your mutual insurance company will reimburse €6.

In practice, however, the same organisations provide both reimbursements (the Social Security’s mandatory regime for students is administrated by student mutual medical insurance companies.

So, whatever the case, you will have to register with the student mutual medical insurance company of your choice:

• For the mandatory system (you will only have to pay the basic contribution to Social Security)
• The mandatory system AND complementary mutual cover (fees will vary depending on the deal you choose, but you will get higher refunds on your medical expenses)

Why mutual insurance?

As Social Security does not cover everything, healthcare can soon add up and become very expensive without mutual medical insurance.

Mutual medical insurance companies usually cover 100% of the two types of care that students need most often:

• Hospital care (a stay in a hospital can be very expensive)
• GP consultations and medicine (the most frequent scenarios)

You can also choose more comprehensive mutual cover, according to your requirements. We will give you a list of mutual insurance companies when you enrol.

Student medical insurance branches

The student Social Security branches in and around Paris:

Specific cases

EU citizen students

E 111 or E 128 forms, which you can get in your country, will entitle you to reimbursement in France via the Caisse Primaire d’Assurance Maladie in the department you life in).

Students on the EGIDE programme (Eiffel scholarship holders, for example)

Egide runs the French Government’s international cooperation programmes (taking in scholarship students and foreign guests, and sending experts on missions abroad), and shares its expertise with all other international cooperation organisations (research labs, universities, communities, etc.).

If you qualify, Egide will cover 80% to 100% of your medical expenses depending on your age.

Enquiries, terms and conditions:
Egide
Tel. +33 (0)1 40 40 58 58

You are over 28 years old

There are 2 conditions to qualify for the Student Social Security system:

• Be less than 28 years old
• Be enrolled in a Social Security accredited higher-education institute

You may not join the student system if you are over 28 years old. So you will have to take out medical insurance in your country (and have it translated into French) or in France, from a recommended organisation:
SMEREP
28 rue Mogador -75009 Paris
54 boulevard Saint-Michel - 75006 Paris
Tel. +33 (0)1 44 63 51 00
Tel. +33 (0)1 56 54 36 34

What to do if you fall ill

You can go to the infirmary in your school, phone a doctor for an appointment, or turn up at a doctor’s practice without an appointment during his or her practice working hours.

Preferably, choose a médecin conventionné (approved doctor) who charges Social Security fees. After your check-up, your doctor will fill in a sheet with a list of recommendations (medicine you have to take, when you have to take it, etc.). That sheet is an ordonnance (prescription).
He will also hand you a form you have to fill out (with your first name, last name, Social Security number, etc.) and send back to the Social Security (for your partial reimbursement).

You will need your prescription at the chemist’s to get your medicine.
There is a sticky label (vignette) on every medicine box. The chemist will also give you a form to fill out and stick the vignettes on. Then, send this form to Social Security too.

A few weeks later, Social Security will transfer the reimbursement to your bank account and post a Social Security décompte (statement listing what it reimbursed) to your home address.

If you incur substantial medical expenses (for a stay in hospital, for example), your hospital will bill your mutual medical insurance company for your healthcare fees directly. So keep your Social Certificate registration certificate with you.