Disability cover and assistance: what protects you beyond medical care

Assistance covers the practical organisation around a serious event: round-the-clock medical guidance, finding a suitable facility, organising a medical repatriation, and support for a relative in case of an extended hospital stay. The detail of these guarantees is explained on the repatriation and assistance page.

Disability cover (“prévoyance”) brings together guarantees that protect your household’s standard of living if the insured person can no longer work or in the event of death: daily allowances during sick leave, an annuity or lump sum in case of disability, a death benefit paid to designated beneficiaries. These guarantees are separate from the reimbursement of medical costs and are often taken out separately, even for CFE members (CFE offers its own disability guarantees alongside health cover).

In France, an employee generally benefits from Social Security daily allowances and, often, a company disability scheme. That protection doesn’t automatically follow you abroad: self-employed status, a local contract, or an expatriation outside the French general scheme can leave a protection gap in the event of an extended sick leave or disability, which only a dedicated disability guarantee can fill.