The preventive health examination (examen de prévention en santé, EPS) is a check-up of about two hours, fasting, at a health examination center run by French National Health Insurance (Assurance Maladie), open to insured people from age 16 and fully covered (100%). It includes a questionnaire, samples and tests depending on the person’s profile, then a medical consultation, and is aimed primarily at people with limited access to the health system.
In our practice, we regularly meet patients who have not seen a doctor in years, with no regular doctor (médecin traitant) and no recent lab work. The preventive health examination was designed for them, long before Mon bilan prévention, France’s national prevention check-up program. This page describes what it is, who it is for, how to sign up, how it differs from the prevention check-up at key ages, and when we, as professionals, should refer a patient to it.
What is the preventive health examination and who is it for?
The preventive health examination is the renamed former “free health check” (bilan de santé gratuit) of French Social Security. French National Health Insurance describes it as an appointment “not to be missed from age 16,” open to “all insured people over 16” and their dependents, and “intended primarily for those with limited access to the health system.” It takes place at a health examination center (centre d’examens de santé, CES), a facility run by French National Health Insurance itself.
Priority groups
Service-public.fr, the official French government information website, specifies who is served first: jobseekers, recipients of social benefits, students, non-working retirees and people exposed to health risks. This is not an eligibility condition — any insured person can request the examination — but an order of priority that reflects the program’s purpose: reaching out to those who do not come forward. A patient without a regular doctor, without a job or in a precarious situation is squarely in the target group.
Young people aged 16 and 17
The examination is open from age 16, even before the first age group of Mon bilan prévention. “Young people aged 16 to 17 may be accompanied by a legal guardian” or come alone with a signed parental authorization. For a teenager who has left pediatric care, it is a way into the health care system.
What does the EPS include: two hours, fasting, samples and tests?
The examination “takes about 2 hours” and is done “fasting.” Its content is tailored to the person’s profile: first a medical questionnaire, then “examinations and laboratory tests” — “blood samples, urine tests, hearing test, cardiorespiratory test” as needed — and finally a medical consultation. The examination also includes time for information about health rights and the care pathway, which sets it apart from any other check-up.
| Step | Content | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Welcome and medical questionnaire | Medical history, lifestyle, social situation, health rights | Used to personalize the tests |
| Examinations and tests “depending on the profile” | Blood sample, urine test, hearing test, cardiorespiratory test; other tests depending on age and risks | Come fasting; content not standardized |
| Medical consultation | Physical examination, review of results, personalized advice, referrals | The CES doctor does not replace the regular doctor |
| Information and support | Health rights, registering a regular doctor, help with administrative procedures | Specific to the EPS |
The results are given to the person; whether they are sent to the regular doctor, when there is one, depends on the center’s procedures. For the professional who then sees the patient, the benefit is twofold: recent lab work and, often, a first registration with a regular doctor.
How do I sign up for a preventive health examination?
There are three ways, described by ameli and service-public: contact “the nearest CES directly,” ask your health insurance office — CPAM (the local office of French National Health Insurance) or MSA (the agricultural health insurance scheme) — “to request it,” or reply to the invitation the office sends to some insured people. In all cases, “you receive a notice specifying the date, place and time of the examination.”
There are “about a hundred” health examination centers “spread across mainland France and Guadeloupe.” Some centers offer booking by phone, by email or online via a booking platform, as the local page of the Gers center shows. Waiting times for an appointment vary from center to center. The practical steps, for the EPS as well as for the check-up at key ages, are gathered in how to book a prevention check-up.
How often can you have the preventive health examination?
The national pages of ameli.fr, service-public.fr and sante.fr do not set any frequency. The examination is renewable, but the schedule is not written down. Third-party sites mention coverage “every five years”; the local page of the Gers center, for its part, states that it “can be done every two years.” Our advice: make the request to the center or your health insurance office, which will decide based on the person’s situation and priority. This frequently asked question is also covered in the free health check.
What is the difference between the preventive health examination and Mon bilan prévention?
Both programs are fully covered (100%) and can be combined, but they are not alike. The EPS is an examination of about two hours at a dedicated center, with samples and tests, open from age 16, by appointment notice. Mon bilan prévention is a 30- to 45-minute consultation with a local professional — doctor, nurse, pharmacist, midwife — focused on lifestyle and a Personalized Prevention Plan, once per age group at 18-25, 45-50, 60-65 and 70-75.
| Preventive health examination (EPS) | Mon bilan prévention | |
|---|---|---|
| Who it is for | Insured people from age 16, with priority for people with limited access to the health system | All insured people aged 18-25, 45-50, 60-65 and 70-75 inclusive |
| Where | French National Health Insurance health examination center (about a hundred) | Office, pharmacy, health center, home |
| Duration | About 2 hours, fasting | 30 to 45 minutes |
| Content | Questionnaire, samples and tests depending on the profile, consultation, information about rights | Self-assessment questionnaire, risk screening, prioritization of one or two topics, Personalized Prevention Plan |
| Lab tests | Yes, depending on the profile | No, no routine tests |
| Frequency | Renewable, frequency not set on the national pages | Once per person per age group |
| Coverage | 100%, with no upfront payment | 100%, with no upfront payment, no extra fees (€30, €31.50 in overseas departments and regions, paid to the professional) |
| Access | Contacting the center, request to your health insurance office or invitation | Direct booking with a participating professional listed on sante.fr |
| Afterward | Results provided, referrals, help registering a regular doctor | PPP provided and sent to the regular doctor, unless the person objects |
The two complement each other: a Personalized Prevention Plan can list the EPS as a resource for a patient with no lab work and no regular doctor, and an EPS can point toward the prevention check-up at the next key age. How the check-up at key ages works is described in the prevention check-up; compared with private check-up offers, content and prices are compared in private check-up or covered check-up.
MSA members and other schemes: what access to the EPS?
Members of the general scheme access the EPS directly through their CPAM. For the agricultural scheme, service-public states that access is “on request” from the MSA; for other schemes, “in some cases you can ask about the conditions” at your health insurance office.
The MSA’s “Instants santé”
The MSA has its own prevention program, the “Instants santé” (“health moments”), intended for its members “with little regular medical follow-up” and entirely free. It takes place in two stages: a first appointment with a nurse — in person, by phone or by video — who conducts “a personalized interview” on vaccination, screenings, sleep and diet, supplemented by advice from a dietitian; then a consultation with a general practitioner, who “prescribes, if necessary, additional tests” and refers the person to prevention activities. Access is by invitation: the MSA “may offer you the chance to take part in this program by contacting you directly by phone or by letter.”
Mon bilan prévention for all schemes
MSA members, like those of the general scheme, have access to Mon bilan prévention at the four key ages; the MSA publishes the self-assessment questionnaires for each age group online and refers to the sante.fr directory to find a participating professional.
For health professionals: when should you refer a patient to the EPS?
The prevention check-up at key ages that we carry out in the office includes no lab tests and is available to only four age groups. The EPS fills both gaps for the patients who need it most. We think of it in four situations.
- The patient without a regular doctor and without follow-up, often in a precarious situation: the EPS offers a full check-up, a consultation and help registering a regular doctor. The pharmacist or nurse carrying out a prevention check-up can include this referral in the PPP.
- The young person aged 16 to 25 with little access to care: the EPS is open from age 16; from 18, the prevention check-up is added to it, as we explain in the prevention check-up at 18-25.
- The jobseeker or non-working retiree outside the prevention check-up age groups, for example at 55, for whom Mon bilan prévention is not available.
- The patient who asks for “a full check-up” with a blood test, which the prevention check-up does not include: rather than multiplying prescriptions, refer them to the EPS if they belong to a priority group, or to a targeted prescription otherwise. Doctors carrying out the check-up will find this question covered in the prevention check-up carried out by the doctor.
The vocabulary of these programs — EPS, CES, Mon bilan prévention, PPP — is gathered in the prevention glossary.
Key takeaways
- The preventive health examination is open to all insured people from age 16, fully covered (100%) with no upfront payment, with priority for people with limited access to the health system.
- It takes about two hours, fasting, at one of the roughly one hundred health examination centers: questionnaire, samples and tests depending on the profile, consultation, information about rights.
- Sign up by contacting the center or your health insurance office (CPAM, MSA), or by invitation; frequency not set on the national pages, to be confirmed with the center.
- It differs from Mon bilan prévention (30 to 45 minutes, no tests, four key ages); the two can be combined.
- MSA members can access it on request and also have the “Instants santé”; all schemes have access to Mon bilan prévention.
What Sokrate lets you do
The Sokrate service replaces neither the preventive health examination nor Mon bilan prévention. It lets you prepare your prevention check-up online, at home, with an adaptive questionnaire covering lifestyle and risk factors, whose summary is sent to the professional who carries out the check-up; the plan is signed by a doctor and a letter is sent to the regular doctor, unless you object. You can join the waitlist for the Sokrate questionnaire; answers to frequently asked questions about the covered programs are on the FAQ page.