“We are not England, we are not France”, said Hillary Clinton about health-care insurance during a recent US presidential debate. European models of health care have their own history in which redistribution forms the cornerstone of social solidarity. Aiming to guarantee social cohesion, France's Etat Providence is rooted in models of a welfare state that developed in Germany and the UK. Ensuring universal health coverage and financed through payroll taxes, and increasingly through a general social contribution on all types of income, French health insurance is characterised by a strong redistributive scheme that benefits the poorest and the most sick. 1 Haut Conseil de la Santé PubliqueSanté en France: problèmes et politiques. La Documentation Française, Collection Avis et Rapport, Paris2015 Google Scholar Private and public health-care providers coexist in France and patients have the choice to be treated wherever they wish. Patients are reimbursed by the compulsory national insurance with any uncovered costs covered by private companies, half of which are non-profit insurers. This model is widely considered efficient. France was ranked first in WHO's World Health Report on health systems in 2000, although the report also highlighted health inequalities across the country. 2 WHOThe world health report. Health systems: improving performance. World Health Organization, Geneva2000 Google Scholar Achieving universal health coverage in France: policy reforms and the challenge of inequalitiesSince 1945, the provision of health care in France has been grounded in a social conception promoting universalism and equality. The French health-care system is based on compulsory social insurance funded by social contributions, co-administered by workers' and employers' organisations under State control and driven by highly redistributive financial transfers. This system is described frequently as the French model. In this paper, the first in The Lancet's Series on France, we challenge conventional wisdom about health care in France. Full-Text PDF State humanitarian verticalism versus universal health coverage: a century of French international health assistance revisitedThe French contribution to global public health over the past two centuries has been marked by a fundamental tension between two approaches: State-provided universal free health care and what we propose to call State humanitarian verticalism. Both approaches have historical roots in French colonialism and have led to successes and failures that continue until the present day. In this paper, the second in The Lancet's Series on France, we look at how this tension has evolved. During the French colonial period (1890s to 1950s), the Indigenous Medical Assistance structure was supposed to bring metropolitan France's model of universal and free public health care to the colonies, and French State imperial humanitarianism crystallised in vertical programmes inspired by Louis Pasteur, while vying with early private humanitarian activism in health represented by Albert Schweitzer. Full-Text PDF France: a philosophy for healthThe dominance of English as the language of science and, increasingly, global health too often closes the door on the history and experiences of others. In France's case, careful study of the nation's struggle to achieve universal health coverage, together with its distinctive approach to global health, has much to offer those who seek to understand the diversity of paths to achieve better health at home and abroad. The two Lancet Series papers1,2 on France's contribution to health, along with four comments from French or Francophone leaders,3–6 aim to correct this imbalance in the English-language literature on health. Full-Text PDF