Carte Vitale
The Carte Vitale is the electronic health insurance card of the statutory health insurance in France , which is borne solely by the social security. It was introduced as a chip card in 1998 to enable electronic billing of the costs of the basic services. Since 2007 the second generation, the "Carte Vitale 2" has been issued, which contains a photo of the card holder and some other new information. The card does not contain any information on the health status of the insured or the medical services provided.
Edition of the Carte Vitale
The Carte Vitale is issued to all French citizens who are subject to social insurance and to foreigners who are resident in France and who are 16 years of age or older. Insured children are registered on the cards of one or both parents upon application.
use
Billing of services
When using medical services, the insured person presents the card to the service provider (doctor, pharmacist, hospital, etc.). This has a facility for reading out the card and for transferring the data on the services provided to the primary insurance company. The operator of the read-out terminal must identify himself using an additional chip card ( Carte de personnel d'établissement, CPE ) assigned to him personally . If the insured person has a private supplementary insurance ( Mutuelle ) and this is known to the primary insurance, the information is also automatically sent to the supplementary insurance. The costs are then reimbursed automatically, both for the part borne by the primary health insurance fund and for the part borne by Mutuelle. This applies both to cases in which the costs are initially disbursed by the patient and reimbursed by the health insurances to the latter, as well as in the case of direct reimbursement by the health insurers to the service provider ( tiers payant ). The reimbursement from the primary health insurance to the patient should be made within 5 days.
Replacement procedure in the event of a defect, loss or breakdown
If the insured cannot present a Carte Vitale or if it is defective, he can get a health insurance certificate ( Attestation de droits ) from his primary insurance company ( Caisse primaire d'assurance maladie ). This can serve as proof of insurance, but does not enable the automatic recording and forwarding to the health insurance company when using medical services. In this case, the service provider must fill out a treatment confirmation ( feuille de soins ), which the insured person sends to his health insurance fund in order to benefit from a reimbursement of costs. This process is also used if the service provider does not meet the technical requirements for reading out the card electronically and / or for transferring the data.
Update of the data on the chip
Changes to the personal situation that have been communicated to the cash register can be transferred to the database of the card chip by the cardholder himself by updating the card at the terminals provided for this purpose. The terminals are available in most pharmacies and hospitals. The cardholder must update the card in this way at least once a year.
Use outside of healthcare
The Carte Vitale with photo can also be used as identification outside of the health care system, for example for identity checks by the police or as proof of identity when voting in political elections.
saved data
The type and scope of the data electronically stored on the Vitale 2 card are determined by an inter-ministerial resolution of March 14, 2007.
According to this, the electronic memory chip on the card contains a number of personal data in addition to some information about the card itself (type, serial number, date of the last update).
These include the first and last name of the cardholder, their date of birth, address and a photo that is not suitable for biometric control, as well as the identity of a doctor who may have been selected by the cardholder.
The memory chip also contains the social security number and information on the type of entitlement, any cost exemptions and their period of validity for the cardholder and every other beneficiary who is also insured by him and recorded on the card (e.g. children) .
Furthermore, information on existing private supplementary health insurance and insurance against accidents at work for all beneficiaries can be stored on the card in accordance with legal requirements.
Finally, the contact information of a person named by the cardholder who is to be notified in an emergency, as well as a note about the instructions on the rules for organ removal, can be saved.
Proof of insurance in other European countries
The Carte Vitale can only be used in France. In most of the rest of Europe, holders of a Carte Vitale can prove their insurance with the European health insurance card (EHIC, French: Carte européenne d'assurance maladie, CEAM ); Unlike the health insurance cards in Germany and Austria, however, this is not integrated in the Vitale card and has no electronic function. It is issued separately and only on request. In contrast to the Carte Vitale , its validity is limited to a maximum of two years, and every beneficiary (including children who are also insured) needs their own EHIC. The application for renewal can only be submitted after the expiry of a card that may still be available.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c La Carte Vitale. (PDF) French Ministry of Health, November 2008, accessed April 27, 2015 (French).
- ↑ a b c Carte Vitale. In: Service-public.fr - Le site officiel de l'administration française. Direction de l'information légale et administrative, accessed on February 16, 2015 (French).
- ↑ Votre attestation de droits en ligne. In: Ameli.fr. July 4, 2014, accessed on April 27, 2015 (French, insurance portal of the statutory health insurance in France).
- ↑ La feuille de soins. In: Ameli.fr. August 18, 2014, accessed on April 27, 2015 (French, insurance portal of the statutory health insurance in France).
- ↑ Quelles sont les règles en matière de contrôle et de vérification d'identité? In: Service-public.fr - Le site officiel de l'administration française. Direction de l'information légale et administrative, February 15, 2013, accessed on May 1, 2015 (French).
- ↑ Source pièce d'identité peut-on présenter pour voter? In: Service-public.fr - Le site officiel de l'administration française. Direction de l'information légale et administrative, March 20, 2014, accessed on May 1, 2015 (French).
- ↑ Arrêté du 14 mars 2007 relatif aux spécifications physiques et logiques de la carte d'assurance maladie et aux données contenues dans cette carte . In: Journal officiel de la République française . No. 65 , March 17, 2007, pp. 4983, text no.30 .