French top-up health insurance tariffs to rise by 4.7% this year
Mutuelles say they have been affected by inflation, a rise in pay-outs and the long-term effects of the Covid pandemic
The cost of French top-up health insurance is to rise by 4.7% this year, a group of insurance companies has estimated
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Top-up health insurance (mutuelle) policies will become 4.7% more costly on average this year, with insurers citing inflation and an increase in pay-outs among the reasons why.
Currently, a mutuelle costs around €20 per month on average for a student or young person without any specific health conditions, €69 per month for people aged 25 to 45, around €100 per month for a family and up to around €125 per month for person over 60.
Figures suggest that around 96% of people in France have a top-up insurance policy, with private sector employers generally obliged to offer one to their staff.
La Mutualité française – which brings together the principal mutuelles on offer in France – has told Franceinfo that it has surveyed 35 different insurers, representing 18 million people.
They said that a charge increase was necessary because of the high inflation rate, and because of the launch of the 100% santé scheme, which aims to make sure that everyone has access to fully covered dental, eye and ear care.
This initiative means that the cost of glasses, dental treatments and hearing aids should be 100% reimbursed for people on the lowest incomes.
Read also: Does France’s ‘100% Santé’ scheme cover glasses without a mutuelle?
Mutuelles also paid out 10% more in reimbursements last year than they did in 2019, equating to an extra €49 per policy holder.
This is likely because in 2022, people went to their doctors in greater numbers with complaints that had had to wait during the Covid lockdowns.
Insurance companies have also had to pay a taxe Covid to the state to help plug the social security system’s post-Covid deficit.
In addition, in 2023, mutuelles will take on €300million of reimbursements instead of the social security service.
It has been announced that collective mutuelle contracts – covering all the employees in a company, for example – will increase the most, at 5.7%, while individual policies will be 4.1% more expensive.
La Mutualité française has pointed out, however, that the 4.7% average policy cost increase is still below inflation, which was 5.9% over a year in 2022.
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