Group Complementary Health Insurance: Means of Implementation that Vary According to the Firm. The Results of the 2017 Employer-provided Complementary Health Insurance Survey

QES n° 251
2020/11

ABSTRACT
Since 1 January 2016, every private-sector employer are mandated to provide complementary health insurance for their employees. According to the results of the 2017 Employer-provided Complementary Health Insurance Survey (Protection Sociale Complémentaire d'Entreprise, PSCE), almost all employees now work in a firm that provides a complementary health insurance scheme. […]The ways in which employer-provided complementary health insurance is generalised are strictly regulated by the law. The employers must cover at least half of the cost of the premium and provide coverage that is greater than or equal to the "basic" scheme, while respecting the constraints of ‘responsible' insurance policies that also impose certain coverage ceilings. This study shows the diversity of the ways in which employer-provided complementary health insurance is implemented, while respecting the legal regulations. The levels of coverage and the employer's contribution depend in particular on the activity sector, the size of the firm, and its qualification structure…
The higher the average wage and the greater the number of executives working in the firm, the more generous the coverage and the higher the proportion of the employer's contribution. The major firms generally provide the most beneficial conditions, as well as a greater number of possibilities of complementing the basic contract with optional coverage or supplementary contributions. Lastly, firms that already provided a complementary health insurance scheme before it became compulsory to offer better coverage and make a higher contribution to the payment of the premium than firms which had to comply with the mandate to provide insurance. Generally, the latter restrict their financial contribution to the minimum stipulated by the law.

See also Questions d'économie de la santé n° 251 in French: La couverture complémentaire collective : des modalités de mise en œuvre variables selon les entreprises. Résultats de l'enquête Protection sociale complémentaire d'entreprise 2017.