What is 100% Santé, and what does it actually pay for?

100% Santé is a French government reform covering the three areas where households were left with the biggest bills: dental prostheses, glasses and hearing aids. In each area the state defines a basket of treatment and equipment that carries no remaining charge once compulsory health insurance (Assurance Maladie) and a complementary contract have both paid.

It did not arrive all at once. The French social security portal states that the optical and dental prosthesis baskets applied from 1 January 2020 and hearing aids followed on 1 January 2021 (securite-sociale.fr).

Two conditions have to be true before the zero applies to you. You need to be covered by Assurance Maladie, and you need a complementary health contract that follows the "responsible contract" rules. If either is missing, the price caps still exist but your bill does not fall to zero.

Assurance Maladie reimburses dental care and dental prostheses at 60% of the agreed tariff, according to the service-public.gouv.fr page on dental reimbursement, verified 30 January 2026. On a crown or a bridge that leaves a large gap, which is what the reform was built to close.

The same page splits prosthetic work into three baskets:

• The 100% Santé basket: crowns, bridges and dentures the page describes as fully reimbursable by compulsory and complementary insurance together, with no remaining charge for you.
• The controlled-tariff basket (tarifs maîtrisés): crowns, bridges and dentures whose prices are capped, where a small remaining charge is possible depending on your complementary contract.
• The free-tariff basket (tarifs libres): everything else, where the page warns the remaining charge can be larger.

On the flat €2 participation forfaitaire, the same page says that as a general rule you do not have to pay it on dental care, but that you do pay it when the act is carried out by a doctor (a stomatologist or an oral surgeon), so "no remaining charge" describes the treatment rather than every line on the day. Source: service-public.gouv.fr, Remboursement des soins dentaires.

For glasses the reform uses classes rather than baskets. The service-public page on glasses and lenses, verified 13 March 2026, describes class A as the 100% Santé offer with no remaining charge for the insured person, and class B as equipment whose prices are set freely.

That page states that access to frames with no remaining charge applies to frames priced at €30 or less. Assurance Maladie's own share of optical costs is 60% of official tariff bases, and those bases sit far below shop prices, so the complementary contract is again doing most of the work.

The same page sets how long a prescription stays usable: one year before age 16, five years between 16 and 42, and three years from 43. That matters for families, because a child's prescription expires much faster than a parent's. Source: service-public.gouv.fr, Lunettes et lentilles.

Hearing aids are split into class 1 and class 2. The service-public page on hearing-aid reimbursement, verified 25 June 2025, puts class 1 devices inside the 100% Santé offer and describes class 2 as higher-end fittings whose prices are free.

That page sets a maximum sale price for a class 1 device of €950 per ear for adults aged 20 and over, and €1,400 per ear for people under 20 and for people who are visually impaired. Assurance Maladie reimburses 60% of a set base; whether the remainder of a class 1 fitting reaches zero depends on your complementary contract meeting the responsible-contract rules, so read the contract.

The page also states an obligation on the professional: "L'audioprothésiste doit vous proposer au moins une offre 100 % santé pour chaque oreille devant être appareillée", meaning the audiologist must offer you at least one 100% Santé option for each ear being fitted. If nobody raises it, ask. Source: service-public.gouv.fr, Remboursement des prothèses auditives.

The reform is a floor, not a ceiling. Nothing stops you choosing equipment outside the basket, and many people do.

• Class B glasses and class 2 hearing aids sit outside the zero-charge offer.
• Dental work outside the 100% Santé and controlled-tariff baskets falls into the free-tariff basket, where service-public warns the remaining charge can be larger.
• The flat €2 participation forfaitaire sits outside the basket. service-public says it is generally not charged on dental care, but that it does apply when the act is carried out by a doctor (a stomatologist or an oral surgeon).
• Without a compliant complementary contract, the caps apply but the bill does not reach zero.

The service-public dental page points readers to Assurance Maladie for treatment-by-treatment detail. If one specific procedure decides your budget, get it priced in writing before you agree to it (verify with Assurance Maladie).

100% Santé assumes you are already inside the French system. A family that has just landed usually is not, yet.

The French government's PUMa page states that once you are in France you must wait three months before your rights open (service-public.gouv.fr, F34308). Until Assurance Maladie cover starts, you are outside the arrangement the reform depends on, and a complementary contract sits on top of that cover rather than replacing it.

That first stretch is what private health cover is for during the visa year. Private cover for new arrivals normally deals with medical care, meaning consultations, tests and hospital treatment, while the public entitlement is being processed. Dental and optical benefits are handled separately from medical cover on most private plans and are commonly limited, so read your own benefit schedule rather than assuming the French reform reaches it. What is covered is whatever the policy wording says.

Once your Assurance Maladie rights open and you hold a French complementary contract, the reform applies on the same terms as for any other insured person.

In practice this reform lives on one piece of paper: the quote, or devis.

For hearing aids, service-public states the obligation directly, so the audiologist should present at least one 100% Santé option per ear. For glasses, ask the optician to put the class A option next to whatever has been suggested. For dental prostheses, ask the dentist to write on the treatment plan which basket each item sits in: 100% Santé, controlled tariff, or free tariff.

Then check the quote against your complementary contract. The zero happens when the item is inside the basket and the contract is a responsible one, and not otherwise.