The Carte Vitale – the Holy Grail of life in France. Access to the healthcare system, reimbursements on medical expenses, acceptance into French society, reaching self-actualization.
Well, at least half of those things are true. But being reimbursed for medical expenses is a huge milestone, especially for us Americans where affordable healthcare is not something we’re used to. Here’s what we had to go through to get our healthcare card, the Carte Vitale.
We live in the Alpes-Maritime department and applied through the CPAM office in Nice. Processing time and experience may vary wildly depending on which department is processing the application.
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The Social Security Number
Not to be confused with the Social Security Number of the US, the “numéro de sécurité sociale” of France is used for receiving reimbursements for medical expenses as well as a slew of other benefits.
New residents of France can apply for their number 90 days after arriving. The number allows for manual reimbursements of medical expenses while waiting to receive the official Carte Vitale, after which the reimbursements will either be automatic or the price simply reduced.
Technically the Carte Vitale is a separate application done through the Ameli portal, but that step just involves uploading a passport style photo plus ID, then waiting to receive the card in the mail. The bulk of the bureaucracy and difficulty is in applying first for the Social Security Number.
As soon as the Social Security Number application is sent, you qualify to receive reimbursements on medical expenses. It’s a manual process, requiring your doctor to fill out a Feuille de Soins and you to mail the form in when you do receive your Carte Vitale. Don’t procrastinate on this one, it can save you up to 70% on medical bills.
Applying for the Social Security Number
Before our 90 day milestone hit we walked into our local CPAM office with our half completed dossier. Our main question: do we need to translate our American birth certificates? The answer for our department: it depends but best to just do it anyways.
So we found a sworn translator in our city and sent her our copies. A week and €50 (each) later, they were finished. Of course, she made some mistakes that had to be corrected and wanted to stamp the original certificate, which we had to push back on. But that has largely been our experience here in France, make sure to double check any and all work before accepting it.
On day 90 we mailed (via lettre suivie) our completed application. It included:
- Copy of our Passport ID page
- Copy of our visas from our passport
- Copy of our rental agreement (proof of address)
- Letter stating we do not intend to work and why we’re in France (we used our letter from the VLS-TS application)
- Bank RIB (needs to be a French IBAN)
- Copy of our birth certificates
- Certified translations of our birth certificates
- Copy of our marriage certificate (untranslated)
After seeing our tracked letter arrived, we called to confirm and check the timeline. They said it takes five weeks to process the application, and we would either receive the Social Security Number or a request for more documents in the mail.
Incredibly, exactly five weeks later, we received two letters in the mail with each of our numbers in them: Mon attestation de droits à l’Assurance Maladie.
Ameli and the Carte Vitale application
As soon as we received our letters, we called CPAM about activating Ameli and applying for the Carte Vitale. They told us to call back in 15 days to get a temporary code which we’d be able to use to activate our accounts.
So 15 days later, we called back. We were able to receive activation codes by text to our French phone numbers and log into our Ameli accounts. They said we would receive applications for the Carte Vitale in the mail within two weeks. This can normally be done online, but somehow we got locked into the paper version of the application and had to wait, “Je peux pas.”
Two weeks later, no mail with applications. Calling back again, they say there’s been a nation-wide system issue but they’ll take note that we’re waiting. So far nothing out of the ordinary for French bureaucracy.
Finally we received emails from Ameli that we can proceed with the online application for the Carte Vitale. We uploaded our passport style photos from the VLS-TS visa application and a copy of our passports. And then we waited some more.
The coveted Carte Vitale
Voilà, two weeks after uploading our photos and IDs, the physical cards arrived in the mail. The whole process took us three months. Six months after arriving in France, we are finally officially and fully a part of the French health care system. All that’s left is to gather our various Feuille de Soins and mail them into CPAM for a manual reimbursement for our medical care over the three months we waited for the physical cards.
The need for a French Bank Account
I was really hoping to triumphantly write how there’s no need to open a French bank account and pay all of their fees; Wise would be the only bank you’d need to live in France. Unfortunately that’s not quite the case. Despite the EU’s stance on IBAN discrimination, there is no way to receive automatic reimbursements without a French or Monegasque bank account. My Wise’s Euro account uses a Belgian IBAN, which is rejected by Ameli’s entry form.
Luckily for us, we had no problem opening an account with our local Credit Agricole. The branch manager was extremely friendly, spoke fluent English, and didn’t even flinch at all the additional paperwork needed for banking with Americans. The upside is we now have a relationship with a local bank for when we hopefully apply for a mortgage in the future. The downside is we pay about €12 per month in fees for the privilege.
Conclusion
Start to finish, the Carte Vitale application took us three months and several phone calls to CPAM. We consider ourselves lucky, as we know some expats who waited over a year. Next up on the bureaucracy buffet, we apply for our residency cards. Stay tuned for that exciting update!
Questions? Comments? We’d love to hear from you in the comment section or feel free to write us directly.
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