Abstract
This paper examines change in the health care system in the first half of 20^<th> century in France, focusing on the influence of the two World Wars. The institutional framework of health care was changed, first from a mutual aid society to a mandatory health insurance system after World War I, and then with the creation of a second health insurance system inside the new social security system after World War II. In order to understand this evolution, the paper focuses on the examination of the movements of both mutual aid societies and the medical association, the institutions concerned with health care during this period. This paper presents two main ideas. First, there is an important discontinuity between the natures of the two health insurance systems. Second, the two World Wars had a strong influence on the timing of the establishment of both health insurance systems, and on their discontinuous natures.
