As the home country for a large number of multinationals, France has developed
considerable expertise in designing and administering employee benefit plans
(régimes sociaux), particularly medical insurance (assurance maladie) for its
nationals outside France, whether on short- or long-term assignments.
Because France provides basic health care coverage for all its nationals through its
social security system (sécurité sociale), French nationals on short-term
assignments, known as “détachés,” usually have coverage for medical care
outside France integrated with their French social security plan under CNAMTS,
Caisse nationale d’assurance maladie des travailleurs salariés. French
nationals on long-term assignments outside France, known as “expatriés,”
may obtain the basic level of coverage through the Caisse des Français à
l’étranger (CFE); if they have not done so, they require first-dollar coverage
(au premier franc).
Reimbursement requests (décomptes de remboursement) and hospital stay approvals
(prises en charge hospitalières) may be handled in France by a claims staff
knowledgeable in benefits systems outside France with multilingual capabilities.
Managed care features (gestion médicalisée des dépenses) may also be present, in the
form of pre-authorization mechanisms (mécanismes d’ententes préalables),
reviews prior to reimbursement (contrôles préalables aux remboursements), or random
reviews after reimbursement (contrôles aléatoires après remboursements).
