Top up Health Insurance

[Athene]

I wonder if you can help me? I have read the back threads but these do not cover my present questions! 

 I  have the E121 that I am going to take to CPAM and then  my understanding is that  they will issue me a Social Security number. Now when I get this number, I am then entitled to register with a doctor. After this I can take it  to an insurer to purchase a top up insurance. However, I am still very confused as to how much I should spend on this to obtain cover for any hospitalisation  and any out patient treatments I might need (at present I have no existing conditions); I am near Bordeaux and not Paris where I read on here it is very expensive. In back posts, people have talked about 300% hospital cover and I do not understand what this means - in my book -100% of anything is all of it! There seems to be some basic hospital price and then extras on top of this? As you can see, I am struggling here and would really be grateful for some clarification.

Also in your opinion is it a good idea to cover prescriptions, dental and optical bills? We do not have any particular problems in these areas at the moment! Maybe it costs more for the insurance than paying yourself for these annual visits!  I have looked on-line for insurance quotes as a previous post suggested but they are massively confusing and I cannot understand just what is covered with them!

Also I read somewhere that the price charged for top ups is government regulated, so then perhaps wherever we bought our top ups, the price would be the same? So then we would just go to the same agent as insures our house?

Any help would be appreciated!

[Tourangelle]

ok, I'm going to give this a go.  So, you've got your cpam cover, and you are happily part of the French system.  Therefore you are covered at 65 or 70% for medical stuff, like the rest of us.  You don't have to do anything else.  If you are not ill or don't have any existing conditions, you could just chose to pay the difference yourself for your occasional visit to the doctor.  (Cue lots of people screaming in horror at this last phrase, and trotting out their awful stories of having to sell their pet cobra to finance their medical treatment.)  It is possible, I know people (even sensible people) who do it. 

However, you can choose to go for a mutuelle, which is like insurance (incidentally, is top up insurance a word used in these books?  because it can't really top up as it is not insurance as such in the first place, it's social security.  But I digress).  So you opt for a mutuelle.  You thought 70+30=100, right?  So why would you need more? Well, not all doctors are conventionné (part of the system).  Or,  they are conventionné but with honoraires libres which means they charge the basic rate and then some... with 100% cover you get reimbursed for the basic rate only, but with 200% you get more and so on.  I know you said glasses weren't an issue, but they are extremly badly reimbursed.  So, if you have 300% then your mutuel will pay for more of your glasses than the basic social security rate, and so on.  Same thing with teeth.  It is essential to have a filling, so the ss reimburses that quite well, but that cosmetic bridge work you quite fancy?  They might pay a bit, but without a good mutuel, you get stuck with the big bill. 

Have a look at maaf.fr they wont let you buy on line, but you can do simulations of how much it might cost with different options.

[Clair]

This page might help you understand (graph at the bottom):

http://www.empruntis.com/assurances-personne/guide/sante-guide-remboursements.php