If you travel to Switzerland while pregnant

Before you leave, you must apply for prior authorization of coverage (S2 form).

The following types of care are subject to prior authorization:

• Care requiring the use of major medical equipment: scintillation camera with or without a positron coincidence detection system, positron emission tomography, positron camera, clinical nuclear magnetic resonance imaging or spectroscopy, CT scanner, hyperbaric chamber, medical cyclotron;
• Cardiological procedures using medical imaging, via the endovascular route;
• Neuroradiology procedures via the endovascular route;
• Procedures on the crystalline lens, with or without a vitrectomy, or any other surgical ophthalmological procedure;
• Ambulatory carpal tunnel and other superficial nerve release procedures, as well as other surgical hand procedures;
• Treatment of chronic renal insufficiency through extrarenal purification;
• Cancer treatment;
• The examination of a person's genetic characteristics or identification of a person through genetic fingerprints for medical purposes;
• Clinical and biological assisted reproductive technology procedures and biological prenatal diagnostics activities.

If approved, you will receive a portable S2 certificate for coverage in Switzerland. If you pay all or part of your medical expenses upfront, you can apply to your local health insurance fund for a reimbursement when you return to France.

The portable S2 certificate

The portable S2 certificate, Entitlement to scheduled treatment, authorizes you to travel to Switzerland to receive medical care. It means that your care will be covered as provided by local law and according to local rates. Indeed, you will receive the same care as members of the local social security system.

If you are covered under the general scheme, you will need to apply for this document (S2 form) by post to:

CPAM 56
CNSE MEDECIN CONSEIL
TSA 99 998
56003 VANNES CEDEX
FRANCE

For other French social security schemes, you will need to apply for this document (S2 form) from your local health insurance fund in France.

Your application must be sent along with a detailed medical certificate issued by your designated primary care physician (doctor registered in France or doctor registered in the EU/EEA/Switzerland), specifying:

• your medical condition
• the type of care you intend to receive
• the medical reasons for which you intend to seek care elsewhere in Europe
• the country and the facility in which you will receive care
• the expected beginning and end dates of your course of treatment.

You will receive notice of prior authorization or refusal of coverage from your health insurance fund within 14 days of receipt of your application. If you receive no response within this timeframe, your application has been approved.

You must apply for your authorization far enough in advance so that your local health insurance fund can process it before you leave.

Your authorization will not be granted automatically. Indeed, the following conditions apply:

• The care or treatments you plan to receive in Switzerland must be covered by the French social security system;
• This care or treatment must be appropriate to your state of health;
• This care must not be available in France, within a medically acceptable time frame, in light of your current state of health and the expected course of your illness.

If your application is approved, you will be issued with an S2 certificate you will need to show in Switzerland either to one of the local health insurance fund or directly to your health care provider so that your care is covered locally pursuant to local law.

If your request for prior authorization has been denied, the decision must be reasoned and include instructions on the appeals procedure.

SPECIAL CASE:

If you are not a resident of the competent State, you will need to apply for authorization of scheduled care through the institution of your place of residence, which will immediately forward your application over to your fund of membership (competent institution). In this case, authorization can be granted:

• if the care is among the treatments covered domestically by the State of residence and
• if the care cannot be provided within a reasonable timeframe from a medical standpoint with regard to your state of health and the probable course of your illness.

If you need critical emergency care and prior authorization cannot be denied (the care is covered domestically by the member State of residence and cannot be provided within a reasonable timeframe from a medical standpoint), you will be granted authorization by the health insurance fund of your place of residence on behalf of your fund of membership.

If you or your family members are residing in a State that has opted for the reimbursement of care on a lump-sum, the competent institution to issue the prior authorization will be the health insurance fund of your place of residence as that is the fund that will cover the cost of your scheduled care.

Coverage of transportation expenses

When the medical service processes an application for prior authorization of scheduled care, it must also process any request for coverage of related transportation expenses at the same time, using the criteria set forth by French regulations (submission of an application for prior authorization valid as a medical prescription).

Transportation expenses must have been medically prescribed to the patient and are reimbursed on the basis of the least expensive itinerary and means of transportation that are compatible with the patient's state of health.

Requesting reimbursement of your health expenses

• If you paid your medical expenses upfront, you can submit your paid invoices and proof of payment, along with a completed S3125c form, to your health insurance fund to request reimbursement. Your health insurance fund may require additional documents, such as medical reports or scan results.
  You have a two-year deadline to apply to your health insurance fund for reimbursement of your medical expenses.
  If your reimbursements are related to an illness, your two-year deadline begins on the date of care and expires at the end of the same calendar quarter, two years later.
  If your reimbursements are maternity-related, your two-year deadline begins on the date your pregnancy was medically confirmed.
• The fund will examine your request for reimbursement. In particular, it will check whether prior authorization had been granted and whether the conditions for reimbursement provided by French law, such as the requirement for a prior agreement or a medical prescription, were met.
• Where applicable, the fund will reimburse you for your care based on Social Security rates in Switzerland or, if you so request, based on French Social Security rates up to a maximum of actual expenses. A supplement can be considered if the foreign rates are lower than the French rates for the same treatment: the French health insurance fund will issue a supplementary reimbursement, up to a maximum of your upfront expenses. For example, for a procedure billed 150 euros, if you were issued a 100-euro reimbursement in Switzerland and the French social security rate is 150 euros, you may receive a 50-euro supplement from your French fund.

As a member or beneficiary of a member of a French social security scheme, you are entitled to coverage of care which becomes medically necessary during a temporary stay in Switzerland (e.g. during vacation, business trips, or foreign-language programs). This care is covered by your European Health Insurance Card (EHIC). The EHIC is proof of your entitlement to coverage under the French health care system. However, you may still need to pay for your care upfront.

The EHIC covers all care that becomes medically necessary during your stay: all unscheduled or emergency care, including hospital care, regardless of whether it is provided in a public or private facility in the country you are visiting.
If you paid for your care upfront, you will need to submit your paid invoices to your French health insurance fund. The fund will then consider your request for reimbursement as if the care had been received in France.

In particular, the fund will check whether the conditions for reimbursement provided by French law, such as the requirement for a medical prescription, were met.

Where applicable, the fund will reimburse you for your care based on Social Security rates in Switzerland or, if you agree, based on French Social Security rates up to a maximum of actual expenses.