Pharmacies and prescriptions in France

Give the pharmacist your prescription (ordonnance), your carte Vitale (or certificate of entitlement) and your complementary health insurance card. Most pharmacies apply third-party payment (tiers payant): you do not pay the share covered by public insurance and, depending on your complementary insurer, often not its share either. Third-party payment applies if you accept generic medicines where they exist.

For a medicine to be reimbursed, three conditions apply: it must be on the list of reimbursable medicines, it must be prescribed by an authorised professional, and it must be dispensed by a pharmacist. The prescription must include the dose and length of treatment. Pharmacists usually dispense at most one month of treatment at a time, so a longer prescription is filled in several visits.

Public insurance reimburses medicines at one of four rates, depending on their medical benefit:

• 100 % for medicines recognised as irreplaceable and expensive;
• 65 % for medicines with a major or important benefit;
• 30 % for moderate benefit and some pharmacy preparations;
• 15 % for low benefit.

A deductible (franchise médicale) of €1 per box is deducted from your reimbursement, with an annual ceiling of €70 per person (Assurance Maladie, October 2026). If you used third-party payment, the deductible is taken from a later reimbursement. Children under 18, pregnant women from the sixth month and Complémentaire santé solidaire beneficiaries are exempt. Homeopathic medicines are no longer reimbursed.

When a cheaper generic (générique) exists, the pharmacist usually offers it instead of the brand-name medicine. If you accept the generic, you keep third-party payment.

If you refuse it without a medical reason, you pay the full price at the counter and are reimbursed only on the basis of the generic price, so you may get back less. This does not apply when your doctor has written a justified "non substituable" mention on the prescription, or in a few other cases such as when the generic is more expensive.

Since June 2024, trained pharmacists can carry out a rapid test and, if it is positive, dispense an antibiotic without a prescription for:

• sore throat (angine), for patients aged 10 and over, to check for a streptococcal infection;
• simple urinary tract infection (cystite) in women aged 16 to 65.

The pharmacist first checks that you have none of the exclusion criteria, such as pregnancy or a weakened immune system, and that they can collect enough medical information from you — which can be difficult if you do not speak French. The tests are reimbursed at 70 % by public insurance, the rest generally by complementary cover.

• Vaccinations: pharmacists can prescribe and give all vaccines in the official vaccination schedule to people aged 11 and over, with restrictions on live vaccines for people with weakened immunity. This includes seasonal flu vaccination during the annual campaign.
• Renewal of long-term treatment: in some cases a pharmacist can renew or adjust a chronic treatment when the prescribing doctor allows it.
• Prevention: colorectal cancer screening kits for people aged 50 to 74, prevention check-ups at certain ages and support for long-term treatments such as anticoagulants or asthma inhalers.
• Mon espace santé: pharmacists can work with your personal online health record if you use it.

Opening hours vary from one pharmacy to another. At night, on Sundays and on public holidays, on-call pharmacies (pharmacies de garde) take turns to stay open. The City of Paris points to the MonPharmacien website and app (monpharmacien-idf.fr) to find the nearest one.

If you need a doctor urgently outside office hours, call 15. In a life-threatening emergency, call 15 or 112.