I13 - Health Insurance, Public and PrivateReturn

The aim of the paper is to characterise the system of social insurance in France and to show the role of combined social and health care insurance companies called "mutuelles" in the framework of compulsory complementary health insurance in France. Historical roots of this non-profit organisation based on a system of solidarity, participation in expenses and management are mentioned, a wide range of coverage of health care as well as the way of reimbursement of expenses for care provided for their members are described, and its future prospects are outlined. The paper tries to point out the differences in terminology and content as there are analogical institutions with a different role or only partial content equivalence besides specific legal institutions. This relates to different social traditions in the given communities during their development. The goal is to bring operation of French institutions closer to the Czech legal system.