Company health insurance in France: compulsory, employer share, effect on net pay

On your payslip, the health cover line is one of the few contributions whose amount depends not on your salary but on the contract your company chose. It is compulsory, at least half funded by the employer, and it has two effects on your net pay that few employees know about. This guide sets out the rules, shows those effects in examples calculated by the site, and says when you can do without it.

An employer obligation since 2016

Every private-sector employer, company or association, must offer group top-up health cover to all its employees, whatever their length of service; only private individuals employing domestic staff are exempt. It must pay at least 50% of it. The contract must cover a minimum basket of care: the patient's share (ticket modérateur) of reimbursed care, the daily hospital charge, part of dental prostheses and orthodontics, and an allowance for glasses. It is set up by a sector agreement, a company agreement or, failing that, an employer decision.

What you pay on your payslip

Your share appears among the health contributions, often labelled “complémentaire santé”. It is withheld from your gross pay like a contribution, but its amount is set by the contract, usually unrelated to your salary: two colleagues on very different salaries pay the same. The employer's share also shows on the payslip, in the employer column. The guide to your payslip explained places this line among the other contributions.

The effect on your net pay: the example

Non-cadre employee on €3,000 gross a month. Four situations, worked out by the site's engine:

Two effects show up. First, your share comes off your net pay, with a small extra cost: with the standard contract, your net pay falls by €22 for a share of €20, because the employer's share bears CSG and CRDS. Second, that employer share counts in your taxable pay: even when the employer pays for all of it, the cover costs you €4 net a month and adds €38 to your taxable income. To redo the calculation with your own premium, the gross-to-net converter has a “Health cover, employee share” field in its options.

When can you opt out?

Joining is compulsory, except in specific opt-out cases that you must request yourself, usually when you are hired or when the plan is introduced:

• you are already covered as a dependant (partner, parent) by another compulsory group contract;
• you have an individual policy running: the opt-out lasts until its renewal date;
• you receive the state top-up cover (complémentaire santé solidaire), for as long as you are entitled;
• you are on a short fixed-term contract or assignment, or part time with few hours: the employer may then contribute to your individual policy instead (the “versement santé”);
• you were already employed when the employer introduced the plan by unilateral decision with an employee contribution;
• some fixed-term employees and apprentices, when the act that set up the plan provides for it.

An opt-out is not an automatic saving: without company cover, you lose the employer's share and must cover yourself, often at a higher price for the same benefits.

Family, options and extra cover

The employer's obligation concerns your own cover. Cover for your partner and children is optional: many contracts offer it as an option, at a family rate towards which the employer does not necessarily contribute. Likewise, extra cover or options (glasses, dental, alternative medicine) may be offered, usually at your expense. Before signing up, compare the price and benefits with an individual policy.

When you leave the company

If your contract ends for a reason other than gross misconduct (faute lourde) and you are entitled to unemployment benefit, your company cover is kept during the benefit period, within the length of your last contract and a cap set by law: this is called portability. You must show the insurer that you are receiving unemployment benefit, and tell it when that stops. On retirement, the insurer must offer to keep you covered on an individual basis, at your own expense. The guide to unemployment and pay explains what you will receive during that period.

Health cover and negotiation

Better-funded health cover, or a good family contract, is worth money every month: ask for the table of benefits and the price before you sign, especially if you have a family to cover. On the employer's side, health cover is part of the total cost, just like gross pay: in our example, paying for the whole standard contract costs it €20 more a month. The guide to the cost of an employee and the employer cost tool break that cost down. And to compare two offers with different health cover, the job offer comparison tool accepts a different employee share for each.