Consumer and banking · Health · bills
Your French hospital bill from the Trésor public: check, pay or contest
After a stay in a French public hospital, the share not reimbursed is claimed through a payment notice collected by the Trésor public. In 2026 the daily hospital charge is 23 euros and the patient contribution for a major procedure is 32 euros, which a top-up health insurance may cover depending on the policy. To contest the amount itself, you have two months from receiving the notice (article L1617-5 of the local authorities code).
- Official texts cited
- Sources checked on
- Drafted with AI assistance, our method
General legal information with official references and dated checks. It is not personalised advice: for a decision that commits you, have your situation checked by a qualified professional.
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Can you pay a French hospital bill in instalments?
Contact the public accountant named on the notice: only the accountant can grant time to pay, in exceptional cases you justify. If your income is low, your health insurance fund can also grant financial help with hospital costs, paid to you or directly to the third party concerned.
Read the referencesYou received a French hospital bill from the Trésor public: I can check each line with you and tell you what to send to your mutuelle.
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Why does the bill come from the Trésor public?
Because a French public hospital does not collect its own bills. The law hands its claims to the public accountant, under the rules for local authorities: the hospital issues a revenue demand, and you receive a copy of it, the payment notice (avis des sommes à payer), which the Trésor public collects.
If you do not contest it, the notice allows enforcement. It must state who issued it and how and when to appeal, and a hospital debt under €5 is not put into collection.
Code de la santé publique, article L6145-9Code général des collectivités territoriales, article L1617-5Code général des collectivités territoriales, article L1611-5Code général des collectivités territoriales, article D1611-1
Which lines can a mutuelle reimburse?
Depending on your contract: the 20% share of the stay costs that public health insurance does not cover, the daily hospital charge, the €32 contribution for a major procedure, and comfort extras such as a single room. The ER patient charge is reimbursed in full by a top-up health insurance.
Send your mutuelle the notice and the details of the stay. With a mutuelle governed by the Mutual Insurance Code, any claim is time-barred two years after the event that gives rise to it.
Service-public: hospital stays and health insurance coverService-public: patient share, flat charges and deductiblesCode de la mutualité, article L221-11
What does each line of the bill cover?
| Line | 2026 amount | Who may cover it | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daily hospital charge | €23 a day, day of discharge included; €17 in psychiatry | Mutuelle, depending on the contract; not owed with C2S or AME, in late pregnancy, after a work accident | Order of 27 February 2026, art. 1 |
| Share of the stay costs | 20% of the tariff, up to day 30 | Mutuelle; covered in full for an ALD, with C2S or AME, with a disability pension | Service-public F200 |
| Contribution for a procedure of €120 or more | €32 for the whole stay, instead of the 20% | Mutuelle, depending on the contract; not owed for an ALD, in late pregnancy, with C2S | Social Security Code, R160-16 |
| ER patient charge, no admission | €23; €9.96 for an ALD | Top-up health insurance, in full | Order of 27 February 2026, art. 2 |
| Single room requested | Price displayed by the hospital | Mutuelle, depending on the contract; never in intensive care | Social Security Code, R162-27 |
| Bed and meals for a companion, TV, telephone | Price displayed by the hospital | Mutuelle, depending on the contract | Social Security Code, R162-27 |
The daily charge is set off against the 20% share: you pay whichever is higher. It is, however, added to the €32 contribution, which replaces the 20%.
Order of 27 February 2026, article 1 (daily hospital charge)Code de la sécurité sociale, article L174-4Service-public: hospital stays and health insurance coverCode de la sécurité sociale, article R160-16Service-public: patient share, flat charges and deductiblesOrder of 27 February 2026, article 2 (ER patient charge)Code de la sécurité sociale, article R162-27
Does your bill match your stay?
Describe your stay and your situation: the tool lists the lines to expect on the notice, the ones to contest and the deadline to go to court.
Fictional example · expected lines
Expected before extras: €147. The daily charge and the €32 contribution for a major procedure add up.
- Daily hospital charge
- 5 × €23 = €115
- Your share of the stay costs
- €32 for the whole stay
- Single room
- Price displayed by the hospital
- Expected, before extras
- €147
- Contest the amount by
- 5 December 2026
- One €32 contribution for the whole stay, with no 20% share on top.
- To contest the amount, bring the case before the court named on the notice by 5 December 2026.
2026 amounts for a public hospital. Doctors’ excess fees and comfort extras are not calculated.
How and when can you contest a hospital bill?
To contest the amount itself, such as a charge billed despite an exemption or too many days, you have two months from receiving the notice to bring the case before the court it names. Doing so suspends the notice’s enforceability.
To contest an enforcement step, its form or the balance left after your payments, write first to the accountant’s administration within two months of being notified; its decision can then be challenged before the enforcement judge. This route cannot be used to dispute whether the debt is owed.
Code général des collectivités territoriales, article L1617-5Livre des procédures fiscales, article L281Livre des procédures fiscales, article R*281-3-1
Does an unpaid hospital bill eventually expire?
Yes: the public accountant has four years to collect the debt, counted from when the revenue demand is taken up, not from the date of care.
That period is interrupted by anything by which you acknowledge the debt, such as a part payment, and by acts that interrupt limitation. For a debt under €15,000, a reminder letter or a formal demand handled by a commissaire de justice, at your expense, comes before the formal notice to pay; enforcement with fees can follow eight days after it.
Code général des collectivités territoriales, article L1617-5
Which amounts apply in 2026?
What does article L1617-5 of the local authorities code say?
L’action dont dispose le débiteur d’une créance assise et liquidée par une collectivité territoriale ou un établissement public local pour contester directement devant la juridiction compétente le bien-fondé de ladite créance se prescrit dans le délai de deux mois à compter de la réception du titre exécutoire ou, à défaut, du premier acte procédant de ce titre ou de la notification d’un acte de poursuite.
In plain English: The article applies to public hospitals as well. A debtor’s action to challenge directly before the competent court whether a claim assessed and settled by a local authority or local public body is owed is time-barred two months after receipt of the enforceable demand or, failing that, of the first act based on it or the notice of an enforcement step.
Going to court suspends the notice’s enforceability: the accountant cannot enforce while the merits are in dispute. Challenges to the enforcement steps themselves follow a separate route, under article L281 of the Tax Procedures Code.
What else do patients ask?
Can you pay a French hospital bill in instalments?
Contact the public accountant named on the notice: only the accountant can grant time to pay, in exceptional cases you justify. If your income is low, your health insurance fund can also grant financial help with hospital costs, paid to you or directly to the third party concerned.
DGFiP: model payment notice sent to patientsService-public: difficulty paying hospital costs
Who pays the hospital bill after a death?
The debt passes into the estate. An heir who accepts outright is liable without limit, one who accepts up to the net assets pays only out of what they receive, and one who renounces is not liable for the debts. A public hospital can also act against those who owe maintenance to the patient, such as the spouse or children, before the family court; unmarried partners owe nothing to each other.
Code civil, article 785Code civil, article 791Code civil, article 806Code de la santé publique, article L6145-11Service-public: difficulty paying hospital costs
How much does an emergency room visit cost in France?
€23 per visit not followed by admission, since 1 March 2026, or €9.96 for a long-term condition (ALD) or after a work accident with an incapacity under two thirds. Nothing is owed by a pregnant woman covered by maternity insurance, a newborn under one month, or a military or disability pensioner. A top-up health insurance reimburses the charge in full.
Order of 27 February 2026, article 2 (ER patient charge)Service-public: patient share, flat charges and deductibles
Who is exempt from the daily hospital charge?
People on the complémentaire santé solidaire or AME, women in hospital during the last four months of pregnancy, for the birth or in the twelve days after, newborns in hospital within 30 days of birth, victims of a work accident or occupational disease in hospital because of it, patients in hospital-at-home care, holders of a military pension and members of the Alsace-Moselle scheme. A long-term condition (ALD) is not one of these cases.
Service-public: hospital stays and health insurance coverCode de la sécurité sociale, article L174-4
Which texts set these amounts?
- Code général des collectivités territoriales, article L1617-5Légifrance
- Code de la santé publique, article L6145-9Légifrance
- Code général des collectivités territoriales, article L1611-5Légifrance
- Code général des collectivités territoriales, article D1611-1Légifrance
- Code de la sécurité sociale, article L174-4Légifrance
- Code de la sécurité sociale, article R160-16Légifrance
- Code de la sécurité sociale, article R162-27Légifrance
- Order of 27 February 2026, article 1 (daily hospital charge)Légifrance
- Order of 27 February 2026, article 2 (ER patient charge)Légifrance
- Livre des procédures fiscales, article L281Légifrance
- Livre des procédures fiscales, article R*281-3-1Légifrance
- Code de la santé publique, article L6145-11Légifrance
- Code de la mutualité, article L221-11Légifrance
- Code civil, article 785Légifrance
- Code civil, article 791Légifrance
- Code civil, article 806Légifrance
- Service-public: hospital stays and health insurance coverService-public.fr
- Service-public: patient share, flat charges and deductiblesService-public.fr
- Service-public: difficulty paying hospital costsService-public.fr
- DGFiP: model payment notice sent to patientscollectivites-locales.gouv.fr
Texts cited last checked: 17 October 2026