Where in France can you get your carte vitale on your smartphone?
If you live in one of eight French departments, you can now download a digital version of the health card
The digital carte vitale is available to people leaving in eight departments in France
Maurice NORBERT / Shutterstock
What is the digital carte vitale?
The digital carte vitale is an app-based version of the physical card, which proves the holder is entitled to state healthcare in France
It can be used in doctor surgeries and pharmacies and means patients can download their healthcare spending receipts for seven days after their appointments.
However, its use is not obligatory and it does not replace the physical card.
It will initially be trialled in eight French departments before being progressively rolled out across France.
The digital rollout follows an announcement from the then Public Accounts Minister Gabriel Attal in May that he wanted to “move gradually towards merging the carte vitale and the identity card into a single secure card, as is the case in Belgium, Portugal and Sweden”.
It is part of a wider attempt to crack down on social security fraud in France, which hit a record €315 million in 2022.
Read more: France mulls merging ID and health cards: How could new plan work?
Who is eligible?
At the moment, the digital carte vitale is only available to those living in eight French departments: Rhône, Alpes-Maritimes, Loire-Atlantique, Puy-de-Dôme, Sarthe, Seine-Maritime, Bas-Rhin and Saône-et-Loire.
Everyone eligible will have received a letter in spring explaining the trial and how it will work. You must already have a physical carte vitale, be at least 16 years old and have a smartphone running either the Android 12 or IOS 7 - or newer - operating systems.
How do I set it up?
Once you have downloaded the carte vitale app, you must input your social security number and then upload some identification.
After the social security system has verified your identity, you can access a digital version of your carte vitale.
Once you have downloaded the carte vitale onto your smartphone, you will not need an internet connection to access it again.
How do I use my digital carte vitale?
When you go to the doctor or pharmacy, you can either show them the QR code on your digital carte vitale if they have a QR code reader, or you can tap your smartphone on their contactless reader.
Once the digital carte vitale has been scanned, via the QR code or contactless reader, an electronic healthcare form will be generated.
A version of this form will be available on the carte vitale app for seven days after the payment for the healthcare consultation has been processed.
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