finance
A guide to French social security 13/10/2005 00:00
Like most things administrative in France, the social security system is a minefield of bureaucracy. Here is a general guide to stepping through it.
The key to the kingdom of French healthcare
The big picture
The welfare system in France is currently the subject of vast reform, and you are strongly advised to seek expert advice on any issue of particular concern. The following is a broad overview to help you decide to which agency you should address specific questions.
The French social security system, which the French familiarly call la Sécu, is divided into four different categories, which are called régimes.
The régime général is for salaried employees working in trade and industry, the régime autonome is for the self-employed, the régime agricole is for agricultural workers, and the régimes spéciaux are for special categories of workers like civil servants or railway workers.
The régime général, which covers some 80 percent of French citizens, divides up into four sectors:
- health insurance and accidents at work
- retirement
- family income support
- the collection of contributions
The system is one big alphabet soup of unwieldy agency names. To help you jump to specific sections that you want to research, here is a list of agency acronyms mentioned here:
ACOSS
AGESSA
CAF
CFP
CNAVPL
CMU
CRDS
CSG
CNAMM
CNAMTS
CPAM
URSSAF
How it works
Contributions are collected together by the URSSAF (Union de recouvrement des cotisations de sécurité sociale et d'allocations familiales), which has 105 offices around the country. You'll need to contact the office nearest you.
