Large rise in the cost of Mutuelles

[NormanH]

Mine has gone up this year roughly 12%, despite my ALDs  which is pretty hefty considering that inflation isn't that high.

I know some of the reasons, but I wondered if others are suffering the same sort of increases in their premiums.

[mint]

Not for us, same as last year.

[Pommier]

ALDs shouldn't make any difference to premiums, only age. It's definately worth shopping around though; we reduced costs by quite a lot by changing insurer.

[sid]

Ours has gone up by 4.8% this time, which is not so bad, but over the past 8 renewals it has just about doubled. Might be worth making a few enquiries for next time but I'll probably leave it too late as usual! 

[Nell]

Up 13% and vignette blue reduced from 100% to 35%.

What I don't really understand - OH is covered 100% because of cancer, but mutuelle tells me he still needs cover !

[idun]

Needs cover? Should have cover, I would say. As he has an ALD for his cancer he is covered for anything related to that. But say he slips and breaks his wrist, or hip etc then he would need the mutualist or you would have to pay quite a lot towards everything that isn't covered by the state.

[NormanH]

Pommier is quite right, and we covered quite a lot of this in another thread recently.

I should perhaps have said

My Mutuelle has gone up 12% despite the fact that as I have an ALD they paid out almost nothing last year.

I intended to focus on the hike in costs.

As prices are related to age I suppose everybody's should go up each year, or at least every so often if ages are grouped in bands.

It is just another example of  how one the private sector gets involved in health greed runs rampant..

[woolybanana]

Did not the government increase taxes and charges on the mutuelles in the budget? I seem to remember something about it.

[idun]

Wasn't it inevitable that they would go up? As Wooly said, they were going to increase the taxes on the mutualist contracts, and even if they didn't........as the secu backs out of paying for so much and the mutualists have to pick up the bill.

[NormanH]

Yes, and it will continue I suspect. I was interested to see how many others have the same scale of increases.

[allanb]

No doubt greed plays a part, as Norman says, but the theory is that in a free market it's balanced by the force of competition – and generally I think it is. You can always go to another company.

For what it's worth, my mutuelle's increases on the last five renewals have been 3,0%, 5.1%, 4.1%, 3.9%, and last year 6.0%. (I've had the same ALD throughout that time, by the way.) I can't say that those numbers are unreasonable. The insurer is covering not only the effect of inflation, but also the effects of my increasing age.

However, February is when they usually announce the following year's premium, so there may be bad news in store for me. If my premium goes up by 12% or anything like it, I will certainly ask them why.

[ebaynut]

Another thing to bare in mind is that there are now many more new treatments and drugs available then there were say,even 5 years ago, so more things you can claim for. So the cost of all these will put up any insurance as they become available.

Of course in the UK the NHS covers this for most people, but BUPA state this as one of the reasons for increased yearly premium rises.

Its the same with pets, as things advance then the cost of insurance and vets bills go up. Twenty years ago if my dog had had stomach bloat, then he most likely would have died, now these days vets carry this operation out pretty regularly, still as it cost me nearly £3k for the op for one of my dogs three years ago, I am not surprised they learnt how to do it.  [;-)]

[mint]

You do have a good point there, ebaynut.

When I said our premium was the same, I meant, of course, that it was in line with what I expected.

There are many companies out there that wouldn't accept my OH as he is in his eighty-second year so I am only too glad that the increase was "only" about 7 %.

As I have mentioned before, it's me who uses the service regularly with my asthma and, in this past year, with recurring skin problems.  The old man just goes once a year for a certificate to say he could play table tennis.

He did go once last year for giddiness and had a blood test after much persuasion and then he decided the results must have been normal or someone would have rung us [:-))]

[SC]

[quote user="sweet 17"]

There are many companies out there that wouldn't accept my OH as he is in his eighty-second year [/quote]

I was under the impression that they have to accept everyone (at the same rates?), regardess of health or age, with 6 months advance payments being demanded for over 75s with no recent history of adhesion?

Steve

[idun]

As far as I was aware it has never worked like that, unless maybe one is employed and the CE/employer sorts out the mutual cover and then all employees pay the same rate. As was the case with us.

eg: our eldest looked at the rates that La Poste were offering and it started at around 20€ a month when he was early twenties and went up in age bands.He ended up with la Maif, I think and it was just the same with them, the difference being that the Maif covered him immediately where as at the time La Poste had a waiting period of either three or 6 months, I cannot remember now.

[mint]

[quote user="SC"][quote user="sweet 17"]

There are many companies out there that wouldn't accept my OH as he is in his eighty-second year [/quote]

I was under the impression that they have to accept everyone (at the same rates?), regardess of health or age, with 6 months advance payments being demanded for over 75s with no recent history of adhesion?

Steve

[/quote]

Knowing nothing about mutuelles when we arrived, we went with Exclusive Health as we wanted the reassurance of speaking to someone in our own language and having how everything worked explained to us, how to claim, what proportion can be claimed etc.

Then, we met someone in French class (English chap) who was the same age as my OH and he said he couldn't get cover from the mutuelle company in our nearest big town.

The following year and still knowing very little French, I got our house insurance agent to find us a mutuelle.  They found us the excellent April and we have been with them ever since.  Initially anyway, they were several hundred euros cheaper than Exclusive Health though I wouldn't know how premiums betweent the two companies would compare at the present time.

In the ensuing years I have spoken to perhaps 2 or 3 French people who have confirmed that people over 70 can have problems finding a mutuelle.  I suppose that assumes that they haven't lived in France for years and are seeking a mutuelle for the first time after coming to live here.  Strangely enough, I get the feeling that the commercial providers are more willing to accept older people than those who are supposed to be non-profit making (forgotten what they are called) but I am only comparing one or two examples and I have not done any real research.

As I said, I am only too grateful that we have been able to get cover and, as long as we can afford the premiums, we will keep on with our company.

 

[NormanH]

When I changed last year at 65 I was given the impression that it would have been much harder if not impossible if I had been much older.

[SC]

I have just tried for an online quote for an 82 year old from our mutuelle and it responded with a message about being between 16 and 70. However this website came up with quite a few quotes www.assuralys.fr/EspaceInformations/Mutuelle-Senior.php  at various charges.

Steve

edit:why has my text become green??

[mint]

Interesting, Steve, and our mutuelle is right up there on your list [:)]

Edit:  just thought I'd also mention whilst we are talking about ageism that it's also well nigh impossible to take out an annual multi-trip travel insurance policy and, as for hiring a car, you can give up the idea before you start.

Also, if you get a pension from the UK, expect to have to provide proof that you are still alive on a yearly basis.

It's as though you might as well give up once you reach that magical age of 70 [:-))]

[idun]

And if you get a pension from France, you have to prove that you are still alive on a yearly basis[:D]

[mint]

Blimey, id, I hadn't realised that![8-)]

Anyway, it's easily done, we go to the gendarmerie in the nearest big town, they look at OH, they look at his passport, they take some photocopies, they sign the "life certificate" and they put their tampon on it.

And we think, phew, that's another year bites the dust.....until next time, we wave good-bye to the gendarmette (as Wooly would undoubtedly call her; she's pretty too).

[powerdesal]

[quote user="SC"]

I have just tried for an online quote for an 82 year old from our mutuelle and it responded with a message about being between 16 and 70. However this website came up with quite a few quotes www.assuralys.fr/EspaceInformations/Mutuelle-Senior.php  at various charges.

Steve

edit:why has my text become green??

[/quote]

I am presently searching for a mutuelle and tried the site you quote Steve, just a minor (?) point of confusion - 'your regime' box, what the dickens do I highlight in that ?????????

[woolybanana]

Surely this will help PD?[6]

http://dictionary.reverso.net/english-french/regime

 

try régime matrimonial - I think it refers to the type of civil marriage contract you have? But it can also refer to the type of health insurance regime you have.

[idun]

[quote user="sweet 17"]

Blimey, id, I hadn't realised that![8-)]

Anyway, it's easily done, we go to the gendarmerie in the nearest big town, they look at OH, they look at his passport, they take some photocopies, they sign the "life certificate" and they put their tampon on it.

And we think, phew, that's another year bites the dust.....until next time, we wave good-bye to the gendarmette (as Wooly would undoubtedly call her; she's pretty too).

[/quote]

An appointment at the job centre and proof of ID and they stamp and sign the form and off it goes. Have to make sure it is done, as if the public pension stops, the private one will too, they are 'linked' in France.

[Hereford]

For proof of life both we and my parents have just gone to our (different) Mairies and they have stamped the forms - no nonsense about passports or id as both are small villages where everybody is known!