Feuille de Soins in France: What It Is and How to Use It
This guide is part of a series I’ve created to help fellow expats understand French healthcare step by step. Continue learning with other posts on Sécurité Sociale and mutuelles. Check back often—I’m adding new guides regularly to make French healthcare a little less confusing!
If you’ve been following my series on navigating healthcare in France, you probably already know the basics of sécurité sociale and how a mutuelle works. But what happens when you don’t have your Carte Vitale yet—or it doesn’t work at the doctor’s office? That’s where the feuille de soins in France comes in.
So, you’ve just moved to France and are starting to figure out the healthcare system. Chances are you’ve already heard about the Carte Vitale—that little green card that makes doctor visits and reimbursements super easy. But if you don’t have your card yet, or your doctor doesn’t accept it, meet the feuille de soins: your backup plan for getting reimbursed by sécurité sociale. It might look a little intimidating at first (lots of boxes and French medical jargon), but don’t worry—it’s just the old-school paper method. Here’s a step-by-step guide to handling it like a pro.
Table of Contents
What is a Feuille de Soins?
A feuille de soins is a paper form that acts as proof you’ve received medical care from a healthcare professional in France. Instead of your doctor or pharmacist swiping your carte vitale and sending everything digitally to sécurité sociale, you (the patient) take responsibility for mailing this form in so you can be reimbursed.
The form itself lists details about your treatment, the fees you paid, and the provider’s information. Once you’ve filled in your personal details and signed it, you send it off to your local CPAM office (Caisse Primaire d’Assurance Maladie), and they’ll process your reimbursement just like they would if it came through your carte vitale.
If you have a mutuelle, you will most likely also need to send it in to them as well. So be prepared to spend some time at the post office.
When Will You Need One?
Instances where you may receive a feuille de soins:
You don’t have your carte vitale (common for newcomers still waiting on their permanent social security number) yet.
You forgot your carte vitale.
You see a doctor, dentist, or other healthcare provider who doesn’t use the electronic system (yes, this still happens, especially with specialists or smaller offices).
If you are seeing a replacement healthcare professional.
You are visiting France as a tourist or using an EHIC (European Health Insurance Card)/GHIC (UK Global Health Insurance Card) card, and the provider does not process claims electronically.
How Do You Fill Out One?
You are not responsible to fill out the entirety of this form, the bulk of the information will be filled out by your healthcare provider. You only need to worry about filling in your personal information. This is typically the first box, Personne recevant les soins et assure(é). If you are already insured with sécurité sociale, you will simply need to put in your sécurité sociale number, birth date and address. If you are not yet covered, you will need to fill in your contact information. And you will need to make sure you have signed the form at the bottom. This is really important!
Where to Send It?
Once you’ve filled out your feuille and you’re ready to send it off, if you are in Paris, you’ll send your paperwork to the following address:
Assurance Maladie de Paris
75948 PARIS CEDEX 19
You have up to 2 years to send in your feuilles to be able to get reimbursed. If ever you loose your papers, you can ask for a duplicate from your healthcare provider and send this in.
If you are not in the Paris region and are looking for where to send your paperwork, head over to the Ameli.fr website and click on the Menu button on the top left. When you come to the website for the first time, you’ll be prompted to enter your zip code in a pop-up window. Under Besoin d’Aide, you’ll choose the option Contacter l’Assurance Maladie. Then you’ll click on L’envoi d’un document. Then you’ll be able to choose which document you are wanting to send and then it will give you the address you’ll need to put on the envelope.
Timeline for Reimbursement
It all depends on your CPAM or MSA, but you can check from your Ameli account, under Mes Démarches, then Consulter les délais de traitement de ma CPAM. Here, you’ll be able to input the date that you sent in your paperwork whether it sent in via la poste or it was dropped off in a letterbox. In my experience with Paris and the Hauts-de-Seine, it has taken about 2 weeks for it to show up on/in my account.
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