The National Health Insurance Fund (CNAM) stated in a press release that, “In order to promote the proper use of the health system, to further secure the issuance of sensitive and/or expensive drugs, to limit fraud and to improve the traceability of the care path, it will now be compulsory to present your vital card in pharmacy to benefit from care.”

This means individuals must have their physical card or its digital version when visiting a pharmacy to avoid paying upfront. the CNAM specifies that this presentation will be “Systematically required to benefit from third -party payment, in particular for the issuance of risk or expensive drugs.”

A “Good reflex” to adopt

“Systematically required to benefit from third -party payment, in particular for the issuance of risk or expensive drugs”

The CNAM highlights medications prone to trafficking, such as those based on drugs or antidiabetics, as examples. Facing “The worrying increase in fraud and diversion of certain sensitive drugs”, health insurance urges everyone to adopt this “Good reflex” to ensure “A more efficient, safer, and always united health system.”

when questioned by AFP about whether this requirement applies to all medications or only those mentioned in the press release, the CNAM clarified that while the measure should be “Systematized”, it is indeed “All the more essential” for costly treatments or those with a high risk of misuse.

Exceptions will be made, “For example for infants of less than 3 months” or residents in nursing homes, according to the CNAM, which emphasizes “The right reflex to adopt.” Beneficiaries of state medical aid (AME) will need to present their AME card for third-party payment benefits.