[bdukic]

>it's free (at least at the individual level)

Is it though? As far as I remember, to visit a doctor you had to pay €25 out of your pocket at the moment of the visit, 70% of which would be refunded by your health insurance at a later point (under the state system, and potentially more if you're paying for the additional private insurance or "mutuelle".

[Faark]

Cannot comment on France, but [0] is a german wikipedia article about a counterpart we had in germany. From 2004 til 2012, you had to pay 10€ to the first doctor you visited in a quarter.

Not a great system and we thankfully got rid of it again.

[0] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Praxisgebühr (in german)