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For portability, the priority documents to keep are your employment certificate and proof of entitlement to unemployment insurance benefits. The latter allows you to prove this entitlement to the supplementary health insurer.
Portability allows you to continue benefiting from your former employer’s healthcare expense cover after your employment contract ends, subject to certain conditions. If the company has a protection insurance scheme, it also applies to death, incapacity for work and disability cover.
Before comparing cover, gather the documents relating to your departure and your entitlement to unemployment insurance benefits. They will help you find the information you need to examine the continuation of your cover and prepare for what comes next.
Check the conditions for continuing employer-sponsored health insurance
To benefit from portability, you must meet all the following conditions: you must have joined the company’s supplementary health cover, your contract must have ended for a reason other than gross misconduct, and you must be entitled to unemployment insurance benefits.
Service Public lists, among other examples of contract termination giving entitlement to these benefits, a legitimate resignation, an approved mutual termination agreement, dismissal except for gross misconduct, including dismissal for economic reasons, and the end of a fixed-term contract.
For your own situation, check separately that you joined the scheme, the reason your contract ended and your entitlement to unemployment insurance benefits. Finding your employment certificate is useful when examining the continuation of cover; you must also be able to prove your entitlement to the supplementary health insurer.
Dependants who benefit from the cover on the date the employment contract ends can benefit from portability under the same conditions. If your cover also includes family members, check which benefits applied to them on that date.
Which documents should you keep and what are they for?
The employment certificate
The employer notes the continuation of cover in the employment certificate and informs the supplementary health insurer that the employment contract has ended. Keep this certificate with your departure documents: it will help you find the reference to continued cover when you review your situation.
When reviewing the certificate, look for the contract end date and the reference to cover. Keep it accessible in case you need to refer back to this information when communicating with the supplementary health insurer.
Proof of entitlement to unemployment insurance benefits
You must prove your entitlement to benefits under the unemployment insurance scheme to the supplementary health insurer. The certificate needed to benefit from portability is available electronically in your France Travail personal account.
Find the certificate in your account and keep it so that you can provide it to the supplementary health insurer. When communicating with the insurer, distinguish this proof of entitlement from the employment certificate: each helps you find different information.
Also keep your cover details close at hand so you can examine the benefits concerned. Organise your documents so that you can easily find the certificate, the proof of entitlement and information about your benefits when preparing a comparison.
When does portability start and end?
The company’s health and protection insurance cover continues from the date the employment contract ends. This date is therefore a useful reference to note when organising your documents.
Cover continues during the period in which you receive unemployment benefits, up to the length of your last contract or, as applicable, your last consecutive contracts with the same employer. It cannot exceed 12 months.
To review your situation, compare the contract end date, the length of the contract concerned and the information about your benefits. These reference points will help you prepare for the time when you need to consider what comes next for your cover.
Cover ends when the continuation period expires or if you take up a job that brings your unemployment benefits to an end. You must inform the insurer when payment of unemployment benefits stops.
If your situation changes, review your file and notify the insurer if benefit payments end. This is also an opportunity to check the cover you have in preparation for a possible comparison.
Prepare for the end of continued cover
After portability ends, the insurer sends an offer of continued individual cover no later than 2 months after it ends. To benefit from it, you must apply no later than 6 months after portability ends.
Keep the offer when it arrives and note the two deadlines: the deadline for the insurer to send it and the deadline for your application. These periods are counted from the end of portability; note that date so you can identify the deadlines.
This individual policy is paid for and covers healthcare expenses, not protection insurance. It allows you to retain the same collective, compulsory healthcare expense cover you had when you left the company.
The insurer is not required to maintain this cover for dependants. If family members benefited from your cover, examine their situation in the offer before making a decision.
How can you use these documents to compare?
To prepare a comparison, distinguish the collective cover continued during portability from the individual offer received afterwards. Examine healthcare expenses and protection insurance separately, as well as the situation of your dependants.
Review the employment certificate to find the reference to continued cover, then the certificate of entitlement to find information about your benefits. When you receive the individual offer, compare it with the cover you had and look at its cost before deciding.
This guide provides general information, not advice tailored to your situation. A comparison helps you examine the options: take time to check the documents and offer relevant to you before making any decision.