Faxing a health insurance fund
A sick leave notice sent too late cuts into your benefits: the send date counts double.
Statutory health insurance is run by the primary health insurance funds (CPAM), and the Ameli account groups together most procedures. Work stoppage notices are now sent electronically from the doctor's office: the fund notifies the employer directly, with nothing for you to forward. Fax still comes into play for certain paper forms or documents requested by mail, particularly for the medical department, when the fund supplies the number. Call the number given for that specific document, enter your social security number in the cover sheet, and make sure no diagnosis appears on the transmission report.
Why a health insurance fund still accepts faxes
Each fund organizes its own services — daily benefits, the medical department and its medical advisors, reimbursements subject to prior authorization — and receives submissions from doctors, hospitals, employers and policyholders. The fax machine remains an entry point that everyone knows.
The issue remains the date: a work stoppage notice sent or delivered late can reduce your daily benefits. A timestamped proof of sending covers you if receipt is disputed — provided you dialed the number the fund specifies for that document.
Where to find the valid number
- The fund's form or letter: it shows the address of the department concerned, sometimes along with a fax number.
- The Ameli account and the ameli.fr website, which display the contact details of your local fund.
- The ameli phone line or the fund's counter, to confirm that this particular form accepts fax.
What the cover sheet should say
- The name of the fund and the department concerned: medical department, daily benefits, reimbursements.
- Your social security number and, if you know it, your insured person number.
- The wording “Confidential — for the attention of the medical department” for a medical document, with no diagnosis on the transmission report.
- The subject — work stoppage notice, extension, prior authorization request — the relevant dates and the page count.
The proof to archive
Retain your sending receipt along with the file you faxed, then check through your Ameli account, or by telephone, that the document has been properly logged. For a work stoppage, note the start date of incapacity beside the sending date: it is that interval the fund examines.
Other channels, sometimes preferable
Electronic transmission by the doctor
The work stoppage notice now goes out from the doctor's office electronically: ask for it at the end of your consultation, and there's nothing to post.
The Ameli account
Tracking reimbursements, downloading certificates and messaging the fund: most dealings are handled there.
The fund's counter or mailbox
For an original or paper certificate, the branch counter and postal mail remain the standard options.
Other guides
- Disputed tax notice, document requested by the office: the case reference is everything.
- Pension, life certificate, RIB to update: a social security number copied without a single error saves months.
- Card to block: phone first. For everything else, a properly referenced document is often sufficient.
- An incomplete application, a missed exam: your student number and the date matter more than the format.
Send to an organisation
This topic
- Faxing an organization: instructions
- Card to block: phone first. For everything else, a properly referenced document is often sufficient.
- An incomplete application, a missed exam: your student number and the date matter more than the format.
- Reporting damage promptly and in writing protects everyone; notice to vacate, on the other hand, follows its own formal requirements.
Keep reading
Pages chosen to help you prepare a send, track it, or keep proof of it.