Registering with a médecin traitant (GP)

Most newcomers to France should be able to join the French health system relatively easily, though how this will be organised will depend on your reason for coming to France (see Chapter 3).

Once in France, you are strongly advised to choose your own personal doctor to follow your healthcare, usually a généraliste (general practitioner – GP). This doctor is called your médecin traitant.

Contrary to some other European countries where people are allocated a doctor based on where they live, everyone in the French system is free to select the GP of their choice (there is no geographical restriction) provided the doctor they want is not fully booked. You cannot have a médecin traitant if you are not a resident.

You are also free to choose which hospital or clinic you go to for treatments and surgeries, though this will partly depend on which establishments the doctor you see typically works with. The state insurance system will fund your care on the basis of the medical act or service you receive (unless it is, for example, at an exclusively private clinic with no agreement with the state).

During a consultation with the doctor you want to be your médecin traitant, you will fill out a declaration form together. Ideally this should be the doctor who knows you and your health conditions best. If you want to change médecin traitant, you just repeat the process with a new doctor.

Typically, the médecin traitant is the first point of contact for healthcare for most people. While he or she will usually be a GP, those who suffer from long-term illnesses may exceptionally sign up with a specialist as their médecin traitant. In most cases, it is usual to ask for a referral from your GP to specialists, and if you do not, you will usually be reimbursed at a lower rate.

When your GP refers you to a specialist, this doctor is known as the médecin correspondant. This may be for suivi régulier (regular treatment) or an avis ponctuel (a one-off opinion), and both the cost of the consultation and the level of reimbursement can vary depending on which applies.

Usually, if it is an avis ponctuel, the doctor will not ask you to come back. In this case, the specialist may leave it to your GP to prescribe any ongoing medicines the specialist recommends. If he or she needs to see you again, or repeatedly, for example due to a chronic (ongoing) condition, this will be suivi régulier and lower tariffs apply.

Patients do not need to go via their médecin traitant under certain circumstances, such as common gynaecological procedures, seeing an ophthalmologist, a psychiatrist if you are aged 16-25, or a dentist.

However, everyone aged 16 or more and using the French system should designate a médecin traitant in order to benefit from the best levels of state reimbursement. Teenagers aged 16 or 17 also need a parent’s permission and signature. 

It is (optionally) possible for a younger child to have a médecin traitant, chosen and declared by a parent or guardian; however, in this case there are no financial penalties for not going via this doctor to see other practitioners. 

This measure is intended to help keep track of any long-term issues a child may have, such as the early-onset of obesity or learning difficulties.