Sécurité sociale

I started to do some of the reading from the assistant's handbook:

"Medical Visits and Reimbursement: The Sécu covers doctor's visits, prescriptions, etc. and is generally more comprehensive than most American health insurance plans. If you get sick while in France, you may go to a doctor of your choosing. At the end of your appointment, the doctor will either use your Carte Vitale to enter your information into the system and you will only have to do a very small co-pay (usually only a few euros!), or you can pay in full and then submit a request for reimbursement to the Sécu. Your doctor's office can provide you with the appropriate claim forms. It is important to realize that paying in full in France is much cheaper than paying in full for a doctor's visit in the U.S. and that the full out-of-pocket price for most medical visits is still only 20 to 30 euros." [Emphasis added]

Dang. That's really nice. I will let you know if universal healthcare ends up being all it's cracked up to be.