Which can company for Health Insurance

[Tim_Quincaillerie]

Just a quick question, which company has the best value for money rate for health insurance?

I  have received a quote for my wife and I and  2 kids and it came to 129 euros a month.

I appreciate it depends on the cover taken etc, but has anybody done a like for like? Is there not a french equivalent to Moneysupermarket.com?

[Wozza]

Just to clarify - do you mean health insurance as in the top-up scheme, or outright health insurance, as in Bupa-type?

I would guess that if anyone is to give you a like for like comparison, then you mustreveal the holiest of holies - yourwife's age, and yours of course, as your age bracket determines a chunk of yourcontributions, as does the level of cover you require.

I don't know if it helps, but my wife and I pay €65 a month for the top-up system, with 100% refund of all professional fees, care and prescriptions. Of course, weare both only 21, but put ourselves in the 40 to 45 age bracket to give them a bit more money....

Warren

[KathyC]

I've used this site for comparisons:

http://www.assurland.com/assurance-sante.html

I'd also look at :

www.exclusivehealthcare.com

who seem to get many recommendations on these boards. I've found it quite difficult to compare exactly like for like; I think that it may be better to decide on your priorities first, whether high level of reimbursement or good provision of dental/optical care.

[Quillan]

[quote user="Wozza"]

I don't know if it helps, but my wife and I pay €65 a month for the top-up system, with 100% refund of all professional fees, care and prescriptions. Of course, weare both only 21, but put ourselves in the 40 to 45 age bracket to give them a bit more money....

Warren

[/quote]

This is another area that you need to be aware of, there are 100, 200, 300 and the highest (I believe) 400% top ups.The reason for this is that specialists are graded ( I think its A, B, C and D but not sure) the grade also sets what they can charge. Lets say a speciaist is A rated and he/she charges 100€ for a consultation the state gives you say 70%, that's 70€ back and the 100% top up gives you the other 30€. If you want to see the top person he/she may charge 400€ because he/she is a grade D the state only gives you 70% of the grade A because it was your choice to see the top guy not theirs and the top up at 100% only gives you the same 30€ back (because they both only allow you to see grade A specialists) so you have to find 300€. If you have the 400% top up then the mutuelle pays the other 330€. You should not take any of my figures as gospel but its roughly how it works I am sure there is somebody out there who can explain it much better than I. So the older you are you should adjust the level of your mutual to fit. This also explains why some people appear to pay much less than somebody else, the trick is to ask what percentage of cover they get before compairing prices although in the the originators post I suspect they have a 400% policy that will cover just about everythiung you can think of.

There used to be a guy on this forum who did all this sort of thing, Peter something or another, I can't remember his surname but if he does read this I am sure he can explain it further and more accuratly than I have in my poor attempt.

Ahhhh just found it his user name is owen and is name is Peter Owen of pjowen@expathealthdirect.co.uk (This is his signature at the bottom of all his posts so its no secret). He is normally very helpfull and knows just about everything there is to know on the subject.

[KathyC]

When you get comparative quotes from Assurland (see above) you can put in your priorities as to cover required and their recommendations then list all the variables to help you choose.