EU citizens have difficulty obtaining French digital health cards
The paperwork required to sign up for the service is available to residency card holders and French citizens but not to other EU residents of France
A digital version of the French health card can be used in around a quarter of all departments
Image Point Fr / Shutterstock
An Irish Connexion reader has flagged up an issue with the digital version of the carte Vitale health card which limits the ability of non-French EU citizens to use the smartphone application.
The carte Vitale app, an alternative to physical cards, has been progressively rolled out and can currently be used in a quarter of departments.
Ameli.fr (the online French health space) accountholders who live in an eligible department should receive an email inviting them to join.
Read more: Digital carte Vitale begins in many areas: where and how will it work?
However retired journalist Robert Evans, who lives near the Swiss border in an eligible department, said that EU citizens are effectively barred from the service as signing up requires paperwork that EU citizens do not need to live in France.
Britons with a post-Brexit residency card are eligible to sign up to the smartphone app.
Mr Evans, 86, said: “It is frustrating. I eventually found via a chat on the Ameli website that other EU citizens are complaining they could not do this because a [specific] French document is required. A driving licence is not acceptable."
“Even though we have been EU citizens in France for 25 years we are disadvantaged compared to Britons who have their post-Brexit documents. So at least for some there is a ‘Brexit dividend’.
The physical cards are still valid for the moment, but that could easily change.”
Will carte Vitale rules change in the future?
GIE Sesam-Vitale, which manages the digital cards, confirmed that a French passport or ID card/residency card is required at present. It said “certain European documents will work in the future”.
Other than the convenience of having the card available on your phone, the app allows you to consult records of recent health expenses.
In future it will also offer the possibility of delegating use to a third party, such as grandparents who are looking after your child.
We asked the health insurance authorities if physical cards will be phased out but have not received a reply. No plans to do so have been announced.
