It should be noted that under both French and European Law a resident of France is obliged to join the French National Health system.

If you are resident in France you are obliged by law [99-641 & 95-116] to be affiliated to the State Healthcare system in one way or another. There are severe penalties for not doing so and the cover provided by the state may not be replaced by private health insurance policies.

If you are entitled to one of the "E" forms mentioned in Becoming Resident you will not be accepted under the CMU law and when applying you may be asked for evidence of refusal.

The notion that private insurance and private treatment is superior to publicly provided treatment is possibly correct in many countries but it is not correct in France. The fact is that the state system, supplemented by a good top-up, is superior in many respects, to any health insurance that the private sector could offer at affordable prices.

The public service does not impose any age limit, there is no medical test, anyone will be accepted without question regardless of their physical condition. Treatment in the best private establishments is freely available at the patients choice. CPAM settles its share of hospital bills direct and reimbursement of cash payments for such items as routine visits to the doctor are automatic and made within a few days.

It is important to understand that a national of any state visiting or resident in any other state, where rights are transfered by any means, is not entitled to healthcare as they would be in their mother country, but to that level of care, better or worse, which is provided to a national of the state visited or in which they are resident.

The transfer of rights is carried out in a number of different ways depending on your circumstances:-