6 min - BioSense Team - 2026-06-24
- level:essential
- prévention
- check-up
- remboursement
- sécurité sociale
There is no mandatory annual "check-up" in France, but two free programmes offered by the health insurance system are still far too little known, and many tests are reimbursed on medical prescription. This article reviews what France's national health insurance covers for your prevention, what remains at your own expense, and how to build a useful pathway without unnecessary costs.
The "check-up" is on everyone's lips. Online, platforms offer comprehensive panels for several hundred euros. Your friends tell you about the "annual check-up" they have at a private clinic. You wonder whether you should really go that route, and what your health insurance actually covers.
The answer, rarely discussed, is more generous than people think, and it has changed considerably in recent years. Here are the free programmes you can activate at no cost, the tests reimbursed on prescription, and what remains at your own expense — with, in each case, the reasoning behind it.
Why there is no mandatory "annual check-up" in France
In several English-speaking and Asian countries, the "annual physical" — a systematic yearly visit to a doctor with a battery of blood tests — is a deeply rooted cultural practice. This is not the case in France, and it is not an oversight of the system: it is a choice grounded in scientific evidence.
Several international studies, including a meta-analysis by the Cochrane Collaboration, have shown that a systematic annual check-up in healthy adults improves neither mortality nor overall morbidity. Running numerous, undifferentiated tests even exposes people to false positives and to anxiety-inducing, costly follow-up investigations, without clear benefit for healthy individuals.
The French approach is therefore different: no uniform check-up, but free programmes targeted by age, and tests prescribed by your doctor based on your profile and risk factors. This approach is less spectacular but better supported scientifically.
Key point — No mandatory "annual check-up" in France: the scientific evidence shows no benefit to a systematic panel in healthy adults. The French approach favours free programmes targeted by age and profile.
The two free programmes still far too little known
Two complementary programmes are fully covered by the health insurance. They are underused, even though they make an excellent starting point for your prevention.
"Mon bilan prévention" — at the four key ages of life
This is the most recent programme. Announced in 2022, piloted in 2023, rolled out nationwide across France in June 2024. In practice, you can have a free 30-to-45-minute consultation with a health professional (doctor, nurse, midwife, pharmacist — soon also physiotherapist) at the following four periods: between 18 and 25, between 45 and 50, between 60 and 65, between 70 and 75. One consultation per age band, not one per year.
The aim is not to investigate an identified health problem, but to take stock of your lifestyle habits: diet, physical activity, sleep, mental health, addictions, sexual health. At the end of the conversation, the professional draws up with you a personalised prevention plan (PPP) — a document that sets out one or two concrete health priorities and the actions to put in place. Twenty-one million people in France are eligible; only a minority have heard of it.
Covered at 100%, with no upfront payment. To benefit, simply book an appointment with an authorised professional, specifying that it is a prevention check-up. You can prepare for the consultation with a self-questionnaire available on Mon Espace Santé or downloadable from Ameli.
The Prevention Health Examination (EPS) — every five years
Older and more comprehensive, the EPS is a personalised health work-up that takes place in a Health Examination Centre (CES) — there are about 85 across France. Every five years, you can have one free of charge (general scheme, MSA, certain other schemes). Duration: two to three hours. It generally includes a clinical examination, a blood work-up tailored to your profile, sometimes an electrocardiogram, and dental and vision checks depending on the centre.
A useful feature: the EPS is designed in particular for people who are distanced from the health system (low income, people living alone, people in precarious situations), but it remains open to all insured people on simple request to their local fund (CPAM). An excellent option when you want a more comprehensive view than a single consultation.
Key point — Mon bilan prévention (free 30–45 min consultation, four times in a lifetime) and the Prevention Health Examination (free comprehensive work-up at a CES, every five years) are two complementary free programmes. Activate them first, before any paid "check-up."
The tests reimbursed on medical prescription
Beyond the two free programmes, your GP can prescribe blood tests reimbursed by the health insurance, provided they are clinically indicated. The main tests of the common annual panel after 40 fall within this scope.
- Lipid panel (total cholesterol, LDL, HDL, triglycerides)
- Fasting blood glucose and, depending on context, HbA1c
- Complete blood count (CBC) and platelets
- Creatinine, estimated glomerular filtration rate
- Liver transaminases (ALT, AST)
- TSH based on symptoms or risk factors
- Ferritin and iron work-up in cases of fatigue, heavy periods or suspected deficiency
These tests are covered at 60% by the mandatory health insurance; the remainder is usually reimbursed by your complementary insurance (mutuelle). Direct billing is standard in laboratories, which means you don't have to pay upfront.
Organised cancer screening programmes (breast, colorectal, cervical) are also fully covered in the relevant age ranges, with a systematic invitation from the health insurance. Vaccinations recommended by the immunisation schedule are reimbursed.
What isn't reimbursed — and why that isn't necessarily a problem
A point that often comes up in our exchanges with users: the confusion between "reimbursed by health insurance" and "clinically useful." Many tests offered by private check-up platforms or clinics are not reimbursed. That does not automatically make them useless, but nor does it mean they are missing from the public pathway.
The most illustrative case is vitamin D testing. Since 2014, its reimbursement has been restricted to specific indications (osteomalacia, bariatric surgery, repeated falls in older people, kidney transplant follow-up, prescription of certain medications). Outside these, testing is possible but at your own expense (around €11–15). The reason for this restriction is not blind cost-cutting: in 2013, France's High Authority for Health (HAS) judged that systematic vitamin D testing in a healthy person with no risk factor had no demonstrated usefulness — supplementation can be prescribed without prior testing under current guidelines.
Other tests frequently offered privately are not reimbursed as routine: broad micronutrient panels (vitamins, trace elements), tumour markers without clinical indication, hormone panels without symptoms, certain "wellness" biomarkers. Not all useless, but all to be weighed against their relevance to you, not their wow factor.
Key point — "Not reimbursed" does not systematically mean "useful but not covered." It is often the opposite: the health insurance reimburses what is shown to be clinically useful. Before paying for a private check-up, activate the free programmes.
The BioSense method
BioSense fits naturally into the French public prevention pathway. Once your blood test is done — whether it comes from your GP, from Mon bilan prévention or from the EPS — BioSense helps you understand the results in light of your personal context (age, history, lifestyle, treatments), official guidelines, and with tracking over time. This is precisely the "understand and act" link that is so often missing between the result and the next consultation.
*ChatGPT answers you. BioSense knows you.* *BioSense, your prevention companion.* BioSense does not provide a diagnosis and does not replace your doctor. It is a prevention companion that helps you understand, ask the right questions and act day to day.
Preparing for your medical appointment: three useful questions
Before your next consultation, here are three questions to ask in order to make full use of the free programmes you are entitled to:
- Am I in one of the age bands eligible for Mon bilan prévention (18-25, 45-50, 60-65, 70-75), and have I already had it?
- My last Prevention Health Examination is more than five years old — could it be useful in my case, particularly if I rarely see a doctor for routine care?
- Given my profile, which blood tests are genuinely useful this year, and which are more about peace of mind than prevention?
Import your blood test into BioSense. After your blood test — whether prescribed by your doctor, carried out during Mon bilan prévention or at a Health Examination Centre — import your results into BioSense. Receive a plain-language reading of each of your biomarkers, contextualised to your profile, and track your results over time. Your data is hosted in France on infrastructure certified for hosting health data (HDS).
[→ Import my report](/en/onboarding/upload)
Sources and methodology
- French Health Insurance (Ameli) — Mon bilan prévention: a dedicated time for health prevention (nationwide roll-out June 2024; four age bands 18-25, 45-50, 60-65, 70-75; 30–45 minutes, covered at 100%).
- Service-Public.gouv.fr — Taking stock of your health with Mon bilan prévention.
- Ministry of Health — Mon bilan prévention: health appointments at the key ages of life.
- French Health Insurance (Ameli) — Prevention Health Examination: the free health work-up (every 5 years, ~85-100 Health Examination Centres in France).
- French Social Security Code — Articles L321-1 to L321-3 and R321-2 to R321-6; order of 20 July 1992 (free health examinations, frequency and procedures).
- 2023 Social Security Financing Act, article 6 — Creation of the prevention check-ups at the key ages of life. Recommendations of the High Council for Public Health (HCSP) of 22 June 2023; national deployment from 2024.
- High Authority for Health (HAS) — Clinical usefulness of vitamin D testing: assessment report (published 30 October 2013).
- Krogsbøll LT, Jørgensen KJ, Gøtzsche PC — General health checks in adults for reducing morbidity and mortality from disease (Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2019, Issue 1, CD009009; update of the 2012 review).
- UNCAM — Decisions of 14 August 2014 and 25 November 2021 on the reimbursement of vitamin D testing.
*BioSense methodology: our content draws on official French guidelines (HAS, ANSM, Santé Publique France, INSERM, Assurance Maladie, Anses), European guidelines (ESC, EASD, NICE) and international ones (WHO, ADA, AHA, NIH), as well as specialised learned societies (SFE, SFBC, GRIO). It is reviewed with an educational approach before publication.*
Going further
- Annual blood test after 40: which tests to really ask for
- Blood test reference ranges: why "within range" isn't enough
- Why the same blood result doesn't mean the same thing for everyone
*This article is for informational purposes only and is neither medical advice nor a diagnosis. For any questions about your health, consult your doctor.*