France’s RSI ends: what changes?
From this month social security payments and health and retirement cover for the self-employed will cease to be covered by the Régime Social des Indépendants (RSI) and, instead, will transfer to the general social security organisations.
Ending the RSI, which was regularly criticised for mistakes and poor support, was an election promise of President Macron. The change will affect workers and retired people.
Social charges will still be dealt with by local Urssaf offices.
Social security and health cover will be transferred to your Caisse Primaire d’Assurance Maladie (Cpam) and you should receive a letter or email by February 17 confirming this.
The transfer is automatic but you should update your Carte Vitale at a pharmacy or your new Cpam, to speed up reimbursements.
Until you receive the letter you continue to use your existing health insurance provider.
Paperwork in the system at the date of the changeover will be automatically transferred.
As of 2020 the pension fund you pay into is the Caisse d’assurance retraite et de la santé au travail (Carsat) if out of Paris or Caisse nationale d’assurance vieillesse (Cnav) if in Paris.
These also deal with salaried workers in the private sector. A Carsat/Cnav spokesman said: “We have enough staff and our site lassuranceretraite.fr is set up so you can access information about your retirement and calculate your pension.”
The situation is different for the professions libérales.
Many of the ‘regulated’ professions have their own pension scheme which they will keep. Around 20 others remain for now with the Cipav pension scheme (see La périmètre de la Cipav change at tinyurl.com/uk2u2zg).
Other members of unregulated professions libérales (translators, designers...) who have been covered by Cipav up to now have until 2023 to decide whether they want to stay or change to Carsat or Cnav.
The Carsat/Cnav spokesman said the choice depends on individual circumstances, including length of career and turnover, and anyone concerned should seek independent advice.
You can also contact the Cipav and your local Carsat or Cnav to ask for information.
However anyone starting up in this category since 2018 (micro entrepreneurs) or 2019 (classic réel regimes) has already been transferred to a Carsat or Cnav.
For more about the changes see secu-independants.fr or call the free number 3648.
