Company health cover on an apprenticeship: duty, exemptions, real cost

As soon as the contract is signed, someone hands you an enrolment form for the company health scheme. Should you sign? Not always. Here is how to decide, as we explain it to apprentices on SuperAlternant.

The principle: joining is compulsory

Every private-sector company must offer collective health cover to its employees and fund at least 50% of it. Since an apprentice is an employee, joining is in principle compulsory for them too, and the employee share is deducted from the payslip.

On an apprentice's salary that share is not trivial: a few tens of euros a month weigh heavily on an already tight budget.

Grounds for exemption

The law provides several situations in which you may decline to join. The most common among apprentices:

• you are already covered as a dependant on a parent's or partner's policy;
• your contract is fixed-term for less than twelve months;
• the contribution represents at least 10% of your pay — a classic case in the first year of an apprenticeship;
• you receive means-tested state health cover.

How to claim it

An exemption is never automatic. It must be requested in writing, on hiring or on the date you meet the condition, with the matching evidence: a certificate from the parent's insurer, proof of entitlement, and so on.

Keep a dated copy: that is what protects you if the contribution is deducted by mistake.

Our advice

Do the maths before signing anything. Compare the monthly employee share against the cover that is genuinely useful at your age — optical, dental, and above all direct billing. Staying on the family policy is often the better deal, but not always: some company schemes are markedly better for a comparable cost.