holliebabes Posted December 26, 2006 Share Posted December 26, 2006 i am just about to be part of the health care system,and have been told that the top up insurance is compulsory?if anybody can give me any details would be gratefulthanks in advance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted December 26, 2006 Share Posted December 26, 2006 Top-up is not compulsory but you'd be crazy not to have it - hospital fees could bankrupt you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooperlola Posted December 26, 2006 Share Posted December 26, 2006 Yup, I second Cassis on this one. The top-up amounts you have to pay (around 3000 euros for a friend of mine who spent a few days in hospital) can be phenomenal - get covered! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chessfou Posted December 27, 2006 Share Posted December 27, 2006 Get a few quotes from both national groups (Groupama seem to be at the same time one of the biggest and often the cheapest) and local ones (most if not all départements have mutuelles that operate locally).Watch out for "stages" (the delay period, usually in the range 3-6 months, between when you start to pay and when you will be covered).It isn't cheap but it is more-or-less essential. I looked at "self-insurance" (i.e. no mutuelle, raid savings if necessary) which was a possible for us (having sufficient capital) but didn't like the idea of perhaps (however unlikely) having to shell out €20,000-30,000 or more for a serious operation with fairly lengthy hospital stay (there are many operations which can involve costs of €1,500-2000 per day; intensive care is even more).How realistic are those costs? I'm not entirely certain. Research was incredibly difficult (almost as though these numbers are state secrets) but I did eventually get hold of someone in the département's main hospital who gave me a few indicative numbers.You probably need to budget approx. €500-1000 per person per year, depending on age (if you are very young it may be quite a lot less). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimportequoi Posted December 27, 2006 Share Posted December 27, 2006 Also check carefully the detail of the cover offered. My insurance company AXA were, on the surface, offering cheaper cover than my mutuelle Mutouest, but when I looked into the detail, the cover was not as comprehensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allanb Posted December 27, 2006 Share Posted December 27, 2006 I agree with the people who have said that it's a good thing to have some top-up insurance, but don't assume that there's only one option. The company I use (Mutuelle de Poitiers) offers four different levels of cover with different premiums, and I assume that most of the companies do something similar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoverfrog Posted December 28, 2006 Share Posted December 28, 2006 I agree that some form of top-up insurance is vital.You can chose the level you want for each individual family member - for example me and the OH have 200% for dental work, but the kids only have basic as one is 4 and the other is still being treasted in the UK as she has orthodontal work ongoingIt costs us 83€ a month for 4 of us, which we've already seen back so far as I've had absolutely loads of dental work :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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