Is French Health Insurance the health system that reimburses the best in the world?

The Minister of Health Geneviève Darrieussecq announced, Monday, November 18, that the reimbursement rate for medicines by Social Security will drop by 5% in 2025, in order to make savings, while senators began to examine the social security budget 2025.

Maud Bregeon, the government spokesperson, defended the measure on the set of TF1 the next day, Tuesday November 19, claiming that he was “important to remember” that “Health Insurance remains the system in the world that best reimburses all expenses combined. Almost 80%”. True or False?

French health insurance, seventh in the ranking

In truth, this is false, French health insurance is not the one that reimburses the best in the world, although France still has the most advantageous health system in the world. These two statements seem contradictory, yet they are not. Explanations.

Health Insurance reimburses almost 80% of health expenses in France, if we include the little help from the State and local authorities which compensate the expenses of the most modest people. It is possible to find this figure in a rapport of the Drees, the statistics service of the Ministry of Health, published in 2023, but which relates to the year 2021. The next report which will cover the year 2022 must be published at the end of November.

Nevertheless, it is in seventh place in the ranking of OECD countries, which have a similar health insurance system, according to an international comparison carried out by Drees. After the Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Croatia, Cyprus, Slovakia, Germany and Austria. However, the gaps at the top of this ranking are not very large. Czech Health Insurance covers more than 85% of Czechs' health expenses, compared to around 80% for French Health Insurance.

The smallest “remains responsible” for health expenses

Despite this, the French health system is still the most advantageous in the world, thanks to the interplay of private insurance, complementary insurance and mutual insurance. These cover around 11% of the country's health spending.

Ultimately, after subtracting all this public and private coverage, the French only pay 8.7% on average of what their medications and medical consultations actually cost. This is what Drees calls the “remaining charge”.

It is from this point of view that the French health system is the most advantageous in the world. In comparison, Americans pay 10% of annual health care costs in their country, Germans and the British more than 12%. The European average is almost 15%.