Compulsory group health insurance certificate: a 2026 guide

Since group health insurance became mandatory on 1 January 2016, every private-sector employer must offer a group health plan to its employees and fund at least 50 % of the premium. Membership is, in principle, compulsory for all employees.

The compulsory group health insurance certificate is the document that formalises this coverage. Issued by the employer, it sets out the collective and compulsory nature of the contract. It is particularly useful for the employee when justifying a waiver, cancelling an individual policy that is no longer needed, or proving their coverage situation to a third party (for example, a spouse’s insurer).

To benefit from social security exemptions on your employer contribution, you must prove that your group plan complies with statutory requirements. This involves two things. First, taking out a responsible contract (contrat responsable) covering all of your employees (and, where applicable, their dependants). Second, keeping all supporting documents whenever an employee is granted a waiver, namely their written request together with the corresponding certificate.

In the event of a URSSAF audit, you must be able to justify each waiver. A compulsory group health insurance certificate, or a written and signed waiver request from the employee, is then essential to secure your exemption.

If you join your company’s health plan while you were already covered by an individual policy, you may need to cancel the latter. Under the rules allowing mid-year cancellation, an individual supplementary health policy can be cancelled at any time after one year of commitment, with no fees or penalties. To cancel before this period, however, you must justify a legitimate reason, and the compulsory group health insurance certificate provided by your employer is precisely what proves that you are now covered by a compulsory group contract. Ask your employer for this document: it must state the compulsory nature of the group contract.

The law strictly defines the situations in which an employee may decline their company’s health plan. A distinction is made between waivers “as of right”, which the employer cannot refuse and which apply even if the plan’s founding act does not provide for them, and “optional” waivers, valid only if the employer’s unilateral decision or the collective agreement expressly mentions them.

Among the main cases, an employee may request a waiver if they are already covered, including as a dependant, by their spouse’s compulsory group health plan. The same applies if they benefit from the Complementary Health Solidarity scheme (Complémentaire santé solidaire, CSS), the waiver then ending when their entitlement expires. An employee already covered by an individual policy at the time of hiring may also be exempted, but only until that policy reaches its renewal date. Finally, employees on fixed-term contracts, assignment contracts or very short part-time hours benefit from specific waiver cases linked to the duration or working time of their contract.

In all cases, the waiver must be requested in writing by the employee, on their own initiative, and accompanied by the required supporting documents, renewed each year.

Declining the company health plan is not without impact. The exempted employee gives up the employer’s financial contribution, which represents at least half of the premium. They also lose the benefit of portability, the free continuation of coverage for a period of up to twelve months after the end of the employment contract. Finally, the level of cover offered by an individual policy or by the CSS may prove less favourable than that of the group plan. It is therefore essential to compare before opting out.